Creating A Healthy Connection To Sexuality Following Abuse (4 CE hours)

Description:

Healing sexuality is the final phase of trauma recovery — not a return to sexual activity, but the developmental work of reconnecting with oneself at the deepest level. This four-hour course introduces the Restore phase of the Connected Recovery® framework and its application to survivors of sexual abuse.

Grounded in Chapters 11–15 of Healing from Betrayal, Infidelity, and Problematic Sexual Behaviors (Knowlton, 2025), the course moves through five clinical pillars — Education, Honesty, Boundaries, Communication, and Connection. Participants will learn to help clients define healthy sexuality on their own terms; identify and process sexual trauma using structured tools and evidence-supported modalities; establish sexual boundaries through a four-step process of recognizing, replacing, reclaiming, and redefining; guide shame-free self-exploration across emotional, physical, and arousal domains; and rebuild sexual connection rooted in emotional safety and consent rather than performance.

Each concept is paired with clinical application (assessment cues, in-session interventions, and scope-of-practice guidance) so that therapists, bodyworkers, educators, and coaches can apply the material within their respective roles. Foundational frameworks include the Dual Control Model of sexual response (Janssen & Bancroft), arousal non-concordance (Nagoski), Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan), and trauma-processing modalities including EMDR, Somatic Experiencing, and Internal Family Systems. The course models a non-shaming, consent-led, trauma-informed stance throughout, and emphasizes pacing: recovery happens in layers, and both clients and clinicians take this work at a speed that preserves safety.

Learning Objectives:

Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

1. Define healthy sexuality as a connection to self — distinct from sexual activity or performance — and articulate the four dimensions of sexual health (physical, emotional, mental, social) as an assessment map.
2. Explain the Dual Control Model of sexual response and the concept of arousal non-concordance, and apply both to reduce shame and self-blame in survivors of sexual abuse.
3. ​Identify forms of sexual abuse and the elements of informed, ongoing consent, and recognize the clinical indicators that distinguish stabilization needs from readiness for sexuality-focused work.
4. Describe structured tools (sexual trauma egg, sexual history timeline, impact letter) and evidence-supported modalities (EMDR, Somatic Experiencing, IFS, psychodrama) used to identify and process sexual trauma, and sequence their use within a client’s support capacity.
5. Apply the four-step boundary process (Recognize, Replace, Reclaim, Redefine) to help clients restore agency over the words, items, and situations affected by trauma.
6. Facilitate shame-free self-exploration across the emotional, physical, and arousal domains, honoring client-defined structure and, where relevant, an explicit relational contract.
7. Guide the rebuilding of sexual connection grounded in continuous emotional safety and consent, and help clients redefine sexual success as connection and presence rather than a physical outcome.
8. Determine appropriate scope of practice across clinical and non-clinical roles, and apply trauma-informed pacing and referral practices that protect both client and practitioner.

Activity Schedule

0:00-0:15 – Welcome, content advisory, orientation. Explanation of Restore phase in the Connected Recovery® model

0:15-1:00 – Component 1 – Education: Defining Healthy Sexuality. Includes the Four Dimensions of Sexual Health, Dual Control Model, shame and sexuality.

1:00-1:55 – Component 2 – Honesty: Identifying and Processing Sexual Trauma. Includes defining sexual abuse and sexual abuse within relationships, Consent, Arousal Non-Concordance, applying Parts Work and Trauma Treatment models to recovery from sexual abuse, structured tools (Impact letter, sexual trauma egg, sexual trauma timeline), stages of grief

1:55-2:05 Break

2:05-2:45 – Component 3 – Boundaries: the Four R’s (Recognize, Replace, Reclaim, Redefine). Application to words, items, and situations. Use of Trauma Treatment models in relation to the four R’s.

2:45-3:20 – Component 4 – Communication: Self-Exploration, Rediscovering Self. Three domains (Emotional, Physical, Arousal), deepening the work from Pillar 1 including defining self, understanding desires and struggles, sensory input, impact of shame, balancing personal desires with moral beliefs.

3:20-3:50 – Component 5 – Connection: Sexual Connection. Creating emotional safety in sexual connection, structure and boundaries (including defining levels of connection – sensate focus expanded), domino effect, defining sexual success.

3:50-4:00 – Conclusion, Q&A

Speaker Bio:

Dr. Laney Knowlton (she/her), LMFT-S, CST, CSAT-S, CPTT-S, CCPS, CCRDS-S, CCBRT, RAE, holds a master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy and a PhD in Clinical Sexology from Modern Sex Therapy Institutes. Having worked in the mental health field since 2009, she specializes in Problematic Sexual Behaviors (PSB), infidelity, betrayal, and sexual abuse. She is the creator of the Connected Recovery® model — an attachment-focused framework integrating PSB treatment, betrayal recovery, relational counseling through an EFT lens, and sex therapy. Dr. Knowlton has authored multiple books, most recently Healing from Betrayal, Infidelity, and Problematic Sexual Behaviors (Routledge, 2025), and contributed to edited volumes. She is an AASECT Certified Sex Therapist and the current President of the Society for the Advancement of Sexual Health (SASH). An internationally recognized presenter and educator, she bridges clinical practice and professional development.

Class originally recorded: upcoming

Social workers completing this course receive 4 general continuing education credits.