The Sexual Respect Tool Kit
for GPs, other medical and health and social care professionals to learn how to feel more confident about initiating conversations about sex and relationships with patients and clients 
Tool Kit’s BackgroundThe Conference we put on at the Royal Society of Medicine in 2009 was preaching to the converted and we needed to find a way to reach those who find the subject difficult. The conference was also too academic and this kit brings a pro-active diverse team together, both disabled and non-disabled. The idea of the kit came from a woman with MS, Alex, whose supra-pubic catheter was inserted in an inconvenient position . One of our team, Roger Clements, says, “Even gynaecologists can’t talk about sex”. We’ve seen too many situations where sex is not discussed, to the detriment of the client or patient. Why the Tool Kit is Needed
How we will overcome the fear
What the Kit will Comprise
Our Team and their ExpertiseAlex CowanPromoter of disability awareness and equality. Chair of a disability committee for a charity, advising them on inclusive access and design for their new North London development. Also a performer, writer and spokesperson on disability and sexuality. Alex was selected to speak on the Channel 4 TV Sex Education Show. Alex has MS and is the woman who originally had the idea for the Tool Kit. Roger Clements BA, BM, BCh, MA, FRCS(Edin.), FRCOGRoger was appointed consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at the North Middlesex Hospital 1973-1994. In 1991 he became its Medical Director until retiring from the NHS in 1994. He became the editor of the journal Clinical Risk and since 1970 has appeared in Court, acting as an expert witness in, more than 60 cases. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Experts and is a founding Governor of the Expert Witness Institute. Roger says
Dr Tuppy Owens BSc, DipHSWith a BSc in zoology, Tuppy became a successful publisher of sex education books from the 1960s to the 1990s. She founded Outsiders in 1979. She gained a Diploma in Human Sexuality from London University, qualifying her as a sex therapist and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate for Good Work from the Institute of the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco. In 2010 she was named one of the Family Planning Association’s 80 most influential achievers. Tuppy runs Outsiders, SHADA, the Sex and Disability Helpline and our associated fundraising events. She is the agony aunt for INSIDE. Dr Antony LempertAntony is a GP in rural Wales and runs the Secular Medical Forum. The Forum aims to stop religion interfering with people’s personal rights, abolish all forms of ritual genital mutilation, and improve access to emergency contraception and abortion. He expresses his views in a gentlemanly, yet logical manner. Helen CroydonHelen Croydon is a print and broadcast journalist, specialising in investigations and features on relationships and sex. Helen writes regularly for The Times, Sunday Times, The Telegraph, The Guardian, The Independent, The Daily Mail, and various magazines. She has a monthly column in The Erotic Review and has written “The Sugar-Daddy Diaries”. She won an award for Radio 4’s File on 4 and has produced and presented documentaries for TV and radio in the UK and in the US. Dr Daniel AtkinsonDr Atkinson is a regional clinical governance lead for primary care and sexual health for Assura Medical, based at the Langbaurgh NHS Medical Centre at Redcar Primary Care Hospital. He is a GP who is passionate about making sure that staff enable residents to live their lives to the full, which includes the opportunity for sexual fulfilment, rather than trying to ensure that residents conform to the rules in order to make the staff’s lives easier! He says, “thinking about discussing sex with patients is harder than actually discussing sex with them, the reactions we’re fearful of very rarely occur.” Susan QuilliamAuthor of the award-winning New Joy of Sex, and the writer of 21 books in 33 countries and 24 languages, including three for Relate and The Samaritans. She comments and writes regularly for the national and international media and is agony aunt for Top Sante magazine and five medical websites. She is the Consumer Correspondent for the Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Health and is an Associate member of the Royal Society of Medicine and a member of the College of Sexual and Relationship Therapists. Her work won PR Week Awards for Campaign of the Year and Ethical Health Care and she was recently named one of the Family Planning Association’s 80 most influential achievers in the field of Family Planning. Dr Brian WhiteheadProject Manager of SHOC, a unique agency delivering of evidenced-based sexual health initiatives rooted in the community. Brian pioneers in teaching GPs and other health professionals about improving their management of Sexually Transmitted Diseases and other sexual health issues. He organises conferences, workshops and seminars, and campaigns for GPs to do more to promote sexual health. He works as a counsellor in general practice in London. SHOC has made some successful films for young Londoners to encourage them to use safer sex. Sue LennonSue has combined her 20+ years experience in oncology nursing with psychosexual therapy to develop a novel NHS service in North Yorkshire. It offers specialist support to patients who experience sexual difficulties as a result of cancer or cancer treatment. Sue is passionate about helping other health and social care professionals to include sexuality in holistic care. To this end, she and another sex therapist, Michelle Donald, who is spinally injured, offer dynamic and interactive workshops around “cancer and sexuality”, “intimacy at the end of life” and “sex and disability” through i-said (see www.i-said.co.uk). Sue Lennon writes:
Michelle Donald PG Dip.PSTMichelle has recently been appointed psychosexual therapist at Stoke Mandeville National Centre for Spinal Injuries. Being spinal injured herself, Michelle knows how important it is to address sexuality after a spinal cord injury. She believes that this aspect of life is often neglected, with the focus being on the physical dysfunction. Michelle works from her own private practice in Lancashire. She is a speaker, trainer and mentor for The Back Up Trust, a national charity that helps spinal injured people build confidence, gain motivation, and independence. She and Sue Lennon run a training programme, i-said (see www.i-said.co.uk). Sue NewsomeTeacher specialising in sex. Sue runs groups and works with individuals to help them maximise their sexual pleasure and overcome any difficulties resulting in physical or emotional impairment. Sue’s work with a quadriplegic client was the focus of one of the performances at our conference at the Royal Society of Medicine. She is also currently a student at the Porterbrook Clinic, Sheffield, studying to become a sex therapist. Sally LeeSally works part time in a small physical disabilities social work team in Dorset and is doing a part time Professional Doctorate at Bournemouth University. Her initial research proposal concerns the sexual wellness of people with physical disabilities and whether the “caring” services, specifically the statutory sector, have a role to play in enabling people to achieve their sexual selves. Part of her research plan is to find out from service users what sort of services or advice regarding sexual wellness would be relevant and helpful, and to get information from social work and other professional colleagues about what they think would help them deal with this subject in a responsive and confident way. This is particularly difficult in her geographical area, as everybody knows each other’s business.Clare RichardsClare is the documentary maker who directed “Disabled and Looking for Love”, the BBC3 documentary about Outsiders that won her the Newcomer Grierson Award. She did the filming of disabled people for our conference at the RSM. She also worked on a series of six documentaries about the Katie Piper Foundation (people with disfigurements). She is totally trustworthy and sensitive. Preliminary meetingsSeven key meetings have been held in London, where disabled people met up with members of our team (sadly we never managed a conference where we could all attend) and collaboration continues. Antony and Tuppy are now writing a Sex Dictionary to assist the GPs and other health and social care professionals. As different scenarios were being acted out for the filming (which took place with some of the meetings), it was good to see just what benefits are created by discussing sex. The outcomes for us were basically:-
FilmingClare has filmed and recorded:
ProgressThe Kit is currently in a draft form and will shortly be sent out to be tested on various groups and individual in a wide variety of the professions, such as The Islington Multiple Sclerosis Nurse Service and Patient Advice and Liaison Service at Outlook. We are looking into sponsorship, working together with a commercial manufacturer to get the kit financed and distributed, hoping to speak to the Department of Health, seeking publishing deals and a whole range of outlets. |
Outsiders
Support Network 
 Roger Clements
I support Outsiders and particularly the Sexual Respect Tool Kit, which I think is in excellent hands and will help to guide us medics and all those in the helping professions. As a retired gynaecologist, I am acutely aware that even colleagues within my own speciality are often quite unable to engage with their patients on the technical aspects of sexuality — even with otherwise healthy patients. The idea that a disabled patient might want to express their sexuality (and might need help to do so) is anathema to them. They need to be educated!
Roger
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