Advancing Sexual Health for the Christian Client Data and Dogma

Advancing Sexual Health for the Christian Client is an essential toolkit for professionals working at the intersection of Christian belief and sexual health. In this book, Beverly Dale and Rachel Keller deconstruct potentially harmful Christian beliefs around sexuality to support clients stuck in sexual guilt, shame and fear.

Combining the experience of an ordained Christian clergy with a certified sexologist, this guide promotes a new approach to sex and faith for therapists, which will help their clients to reconcile a belief in God?s love with sexual knowledge and fulfilment. Grounded in historical and cultural contexts, and drawing from both academic research and scriptural exegesis, the authors offer practical clinical applications and interventions to enable clients to re-examine their sexual beliefs in a way that encourages sexual healing.

By understanding the goals of a sex-positive, body-positive Christianity, professionals can find a common language with the person of faith and build an effective therapeutic relationship. This book will be a key point of reference for any sex therapist, educator, or student looking to integrate faith-based concepts into their approach.

1. A New Mindset 2. The Influence of Culture 3. Jesus: A Liberating Spiritual Movement that Got Off Track 4. The Bad News 5. From Ignorance to Knowledge 6. From Scarcity to Abundance 7. From Suspicion of Pleasure to Freedom 8. Embracing Discernment 9. Joining with the Client 10. Identifying Negative Sexual Beliefs 11. Reframing Sex Negative Beliefs 12. Healing Rituals and Meditations 13. Tools 14. Case Studies 15. Sex-Positive Christian Resources: An Annotated Bibliography

Beverly Dale, DMin, is an ordained clergy in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) who has served in local parishes and as an ecumenical campus minister at the University of Pennsylvania. As founder and chair of the Incarnation Institute for Sex & Faith she teaches an inclusive, science-friendly, sex-positive Christianity.

Rachel Keller, LCSW-C, CST, is a practicing psychotherapist specializing in sexuality and trauma. She is certified through the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists, licensed with the Maryland Board of Social Work, and is an active member of the American Academy of Psychotherapists.