Disability & Mental Health Workers

This stand-alone workshop introduces participants to a wide range of education resources that may be borrowed from SHINE SA and provides permanent access to an electronic resource on CD that can be applied immediately in the workplace.
People considering attending may include:

• Disability support workers, service coordinators, social workers or psychologists
• Special education teachers, school services officers or parents
• Sexual assault workers, Police or Court personnel

Participants will share and explore a range of case studies from their workplaces and seek ideas for strategic approaches to effective education and advocacy using the materials provided. Rules About Sex – Getting Them Right has been produced particularly to assist workers and carers to assess knowledge and teach rules about touch and sexual behaviour and strategies for sexual safety and improved relationships. The aims of the resource are to:

• reduce sexual victimisation of people with disability
• reduce the incidence of sexual behaviours which may cause offence to others
• help vulnerable people to develop a voice about sexual behaviour issues
• prevent vulnerable people with a disability from involvement with the law and possible long-term consequences of this

The first CD contains a printable manual including information sheets that help interpret South Australian laws about sexual behaviour in plain English using CAN and SHOULD NOT statements and questions. These relate to consent, age of consent, private places, sexual harassment, sexual abuse, assault and safer sex.

Both CDs contain line drawings which can be used individually, in sequence, or layered electronically or manually to create new resources which are tailored to individual needs. Facial expressions can be altered to change the emotional tone of illustrations. Images can be combined with photographs of real places and real faces.

Potential resources to be produced include flashcards to assist conversation, illustrated social stories, comic strip resources or posters. Final products can be easily sent to users as an email attachment. The module emphasises sensitive and ethical use of the images as well as practical application to solve the educational needs of individuals.

Important: Please bring a laptop computer with:

• a CD drive
• external plug-in mouse
• MS Word, MS PowerPoint or equivalent

Additional training dates may also be negotiated in a range of metropolitan and rural areas, and may be combined with other Tailored Training.

If you have any questions or wish to discuss training options or content, please contact us on 1300 794 584 or via email at shinesacourses@shinesa.org.au.

Download the flyer here: Rules About Sex: Getting Them Right

This course, developed for professionals, defines and explains all the options available to women experiencing an unplanned pregnancy. It is open to nurses, doctors, counsellors, community health workers, school counsellors, youth workers, Aboriginal Health Workers, and any professional who encounters clients with unplanned pregnancy.

More information: Pregnancy Choices Training

SHINE SA’s Library & Resource Centre is a key community resource for the disability community, with a large collection of books, manuals, videos and specialist teaching resources tailored for disability and sexuality learning. Many ages and disabilities are catered to. Books and some videos are available free-of-charge and anyone may join. Parents and individuals living with a disability are especially invited to join the Library. To find out more see SHINE SA Library.

Organisations may access the specialist teaching resources and most videos for an annual fee. The catalogues can be accessed at Resource Centre.

A small selection of relevant sexuality and disability related resources are also available electronically at Sexual Health and People Living with a Disability.