Something Positive for Positive People

Shaina French is a Certified Nurse Midwife. She joins us on SPFPP this episode to talk about a Team approach to health care. We discuss time restrictions and workload providers have to navigate in order to meet the requirements necessary to be able to take insurance, and what we’re paying for in order to get that extra time and quality of care from those who opt out of taking insurance. Overall we discuss bias and stigma, and that communication and awareness are essential to the quality of care someone is receiving and able to give. Patients and providers both have needs and we discuss how social media CAN potentially meet those needs, even though simultaneously it could cause different challenges. We discuss the importance of a referral list and I inquire on bias vs identity compatibility which speaks to one’s scope of practice. Talking about sex in the doctor’s office presents a number of challenges that can be resolved by having practice talking about sex in the doctor’s office, and that is one of the things your donations to SPFPP support. Connect with Shaina on Instagram at 1whiskeytangofoxtrot. Shaina (she/her) is a Certified Nurse Midwife and Sex Counselor with 16 years experience specializing in gynecological care and the care of pregnant/birthing people. In the last half of her career she has focused her skills on assisting her clients in addressing their sexual health concerns, such as navigating vulvar dermatological problems and in individual or partnership counseling sessions for low libido or lack of orgasm. She uses a biopsychosocial approach to tailor treatments to each individual in a shared decision making model of care. She is an Accredited Sexual Healthcare Provider ™ , Kink Affirming Practitioner ™ and Fellow in the International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health (IF). She currently is caring for birthing clients in hospital only, but coming this fall will be returning to in office sex medicine/gynecological and sex counseling care. Stay tuned to her Instagram for details @1WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot or contact her at shainafrenchwtf@gmail.com

In a candid discussion, a Planned Parenthood nurse practitioner shares insights on the stigma surrounding STIs and the critical role of communication in care. The conversation highlights gender differences in responses to diagnoses and touches on trauma-informed healthcare. Listeners gain valuable advice on destigmatizing conversations about sexual health. Authentic communication is emphasized as a key to empowering patients, while the societal implications of herpes stigma are explored, alongside advocacy for better sexual health education.

We discuss how stigma cannot survive the presence of truth. We talk about how addressing stigma may not necessarily be something to address with the health care provider or patient. It could be something to address with parents in the home and educators at school. I been thinking about giving providers practice talking about sex with patients, but maybe its the teachers who need this education to distill to the youth so that we don’t see so much stigma prevalent in adulthood. Theresa has been an RN for 47 years, working mostly adult care -- in hospitals, long-term care facilities,  in a underserved clinic and as a case manager for an insurance company. Currently, she is semi-retired, working part-time from home as a remote triage nurse, which is great.

So what exactly does a Sex Therapist do? In my exploration of trying to identify opportunities for patients and providers to best communicate about sex, what I’m finding is that there’s a lot more to understand than the stigma component. Kimberly shared that on the surface, doctors don’t talk about sex with patients because of time, but what we learn is that that’s just an excuse for a much larger issue. Kimberly Resnick Anderson, LCSW, is an AASECT Certified Sex Therapist, speaker, writer, and professor, with more than 30 years of experience treating individuals, couples and groups. She specializes in helping her clients achieve optimal sexual health and satisfaction. In her practice, she has been known to make her clients feel extremely safe to discuss deeply intimate topics. Over the years, she has been praised for her special style of talking to people about sex that is both comforting and profoundly liberating. Her life-changing technique that she has coined, “Comfort-Inducing Sexuality Dialogue” is her own unique clinical model that has helped save the marriages of hundreds of her clients. Ms. Anderson conducts Support Groups, Couples Retreats, Intensives and traditional couples counseling. She has a special interest in the impact of chronic and acute illness. She has also treated thousands of individuals with alternative sexual lifestyles including LGBTQ, Polyamory, Ethical Nonmonogamy, and BDSM; and has been a champion of depathologizing these marginalized populations. Ms. Anderson is regularly quoted in Playboy.com, CNN.com, Cosmo.com, Huffington Post, Yourtango.com and dozens of other national and international publications. Ms. Anderson has published articles in medical journals including The Female Patient and The Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy. She was also an on-air expert and consultant for the TLC’s “Strange Sex” series. As a sought-after speaker and expert, Ms. Anderson has been quoted and mentioned in over 25 countries. She is a speaker at sexual health conferences around the globe. Kimberly also hosts and produces a podcast Called Sex Savvy, which tackles all things sexual. Click here to listen. Her work in graduate medical education makes her a popular Professor among physician trainees and mental health professionals, teaching them to comfortably discuss sexual issues with patients and clients. She is currently an assistant professor of Psychiatry at UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. In addition to in-office therapy at her Los Angeles-based location, she offers online sex coaching and teletherapy programs to her national and international clientele. She also teaches a sex therapy training program to licensed professionals, offering her unique approach. Contact Kimberly via: www.kimberlyresnickanderson.com Phone: 818-334-5811 (For a free 15 minute call/consult)

I wasn’t sure if I’d publish this as a podcast episode considering I’m exploring the new territory of just collecting information from health care providers that can support my mission to help people navigate the stigma that comes with not only a herpes, but any STI diagnosis. As I learn more, I learn more. While I filter and curate this information from them to you, maybe you’ll have my same experience and growth while I’m learning out loud here through these conversations. So I decided to get their consent to share these recordings that aren’t quite podcast episodes, but conversations with providers on their challenges and perspectives as they treat patients. Dr. Lourdes here is the first interview in that series. I look forward to sharing with you here. Lourdes Mantecón-Garza obtained her medical degree in 1982, at the medical school of the Autonomous University of Nuevo León, in Monterrey, Mexico. She continued with specialty studies in Internal Medicine at the SSA Metropolitan Hospital in the same city in 1988. She completed a master's degree in business administration at the University of Texas (MBA, UT-PanAmerican) in 2005. She continue with studies on human sexuality at the Institute for Advanced Studies of Human Sexuality (IASHS) and at the Buehler Institute, both in California USA. Dr. Mantecón is a certified clinical sexologist by the American College of Sexologists International and is also a certified sexuality counselor by the American Association of Sexuality, Educators, Counselors and Therapists (AASECT) also in the US. Dr. Mantecón -Garza has fellow studies in women's sexuality by the International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health (ISSWSH). She is a visiting professor for human sexuality readings at different educational institutions in Mexico (UANL) and the United States (UTRGV school of medicine and family residency). She has presented research papers at national congresses in Mexico and the United States and world ISSM (International Society for Sexual Medicine) 2018, WAS (World Association for Sexual health) 2019 and ISSSWSH 2020. In addition to her practice, Dr. Mantecón Garza decided to write reference books that could be available to the population without the difficulty of medical technicalities. His first work, “The diet and the diabetic”, was published by Editorial Trillas in 1996, the second is “Healthy Sexuality” in the process of printing with the same publisher. She is dedicated to work as sexuality counselor at her office in McAllen Texas, she also offers services through telemedicine in English and Spanish.

Our guest, Fran, lives in Australia and talks about sobriety after years of having her identity as a party girl. She got herpes 6 months into a health, monogamous relationship that ended after 2 years for none of the reasons you may be thinking. We talk about something big here, which was how Fran thought her purpose was to be a party girl, and how she just didn't know any different. We discuss the illusion of presence that can come from sex that just doesn't feel connective, and how we aren't looking for "attention" and "validation" necessarily, but we're seeking presence in our relationships. Join Patreon for our after show where we got deeper into some of Fran's self reflections that we uncovered during our episode. www.patreon.com/spfpp

I've been interviewing people with herpes since 2017. I started this platform with the intention of just keeping people with herpes from wanting to kill themselves. All these years later, we've become the leading sexual health communications resource for people navigating herpes stigma. I wanted to do something special like a fundraiser for this occasion, but things just fell through. This episode is a combination of what's for people to understand from the business side and a significant amount of my own personal experience here. I had a dream that I'm integrating into my personal existence as well as how I run SPFPP moving forward, and that's from a place of presence, choice and intention. I have been so afraid of success and failure, but those were covering up my true fear which is my damn self.

Dr. Evelyn Molina-Jacker, a family physician and sex educator, returns to discuss the STARS Talk framework for disclosing herpes status to partners. She emphasizes the importance of open communication in redefined intimate relationships, addressing safety and emotional well-being. The conversation delves into the significance of consent, nonverbal cues, and overcoming stigma surrounding STIs. Listeners are encouraged to embrace honest dialogues to foster deeper connections and navigate the complexities of sexual health with confidence.

Our guest is a woman approaching age 40 who was diagnosed with herpes at age 14. This podcast Episode speaks to the important topic of "Sexless Sex Education", a talk I give teaching youth educators to talk to youth about sex, without talking about sex. It integrates these lived experiences of people who've had a diagnosis into sex education in order to aid std prevention efforts. Much of what we learn from this guest's experience is that there was no leadership or direction, just what "not" to do, which as you'll hear in this episode is only 1 of 360 degrees of directions people can go. Take away that 1 degree of what NOT to do and you have 359 other ways people can go. We have to lead our youth otherwise they'll seek leadership from unsafe places and unfortunately we hear another reference to how common this can be like we heard on episode 97 (https://www.spfpp.org/podcast/episode-97-normalized-dysfunction). Apathy creates an environment of normalized dysfunction and we gotta do something about that as adults. I propose talking to each other and bringing back accountability. What she shares in this story is illegal and it sounds like the adults just neglected doing their job. This STI minimization isn't exclusively for people living with herpes. It isn't just for sexually active adults. It isn't just for health care providers. It isn't just for sex educators. This is for all of us. The non-sexual components of sex education are omitted from the conversation because of peoples' fears and emphasis on the intercourse element. While this is PART of sex education, it's more important that it be accepted than avoided because we so quickly throw out elements of consent, boundaries, healthy relationship management skills, and the ability to seek support in the event of a boundary or consent violation.

Our guest this week is a 21 year old who was recently like less than a week recently diagnosed with both HIV and HSV. His experience is very fresh so this podcast episode will be different than what you may be used to, but he was on board with sharing his fresh perspective which I know people are often seeking. We met today and he was willing to record today so we made it happen. Shoutout to him! I also want to point out the most incredible part of this man's story which is just how non-attached his identity is to his sexuality. I found his ability to speak to his identity to be very mature. I hope someone newly diagnosed has something to take away from this episode. Shameless Care: https://shamelesscare.com/?ref=643 for This week's $30 off your first at home STI test kit. www.viventhealth.org for free STI testing (or search free STI testing near me" for similar sites in your area)