Workshops
» Touching Base Service Provider Awareness Training
Target Audience
Disability service providers, policy officers and carers in New South Wales
Rationale
The Touching Base Committee believes that there is a clear need for our training project, to provide education for providers and carers, assisting them to fulfill their legal obligations to assist people with disabilities to follow the sexual lifestyle options of their choice, including non-heterosexual lifestyles.
The training will help facilitate healthier sexual health outcomes for people with disabilities by enabling them to make better-informed choices for themselves, and empower both people with disabilities and their carers to address this often neglected area of service provision. In the last few years SWOP has received extensive inquiries from service providers regarding how best to access Sex Industry services.
The initial Touching Base Forum in Feb 2000 asked "How could carers better support or facilitate a relative or client to access sexual services?" Participants identified the needs to
Assist groups to overcome historical view of morality of sex/sexwork
Encourage networking with other carers or advocacy groups
Find out what sex services are available from local workers and
Empower clients to make choices and decisions as sexual beings.
The Touching Base Survey of Service Providers in NSW examined barriers service providers and carers faced when accessing sexual services for their clients. 27 - (75%) of respondents indicated that they felt they would benefit from training and education in relation to assisting with and/or arranging access to sex work services, and 29 - (81%) indicated that they felt their organisation would benefit from such training.
Goals
Assist service providers, policy officers and carers to challenge myths and prejudices they or their organisation may hold regarding sexworkers and the diverse sexuality of people with disabilities.
Educate participants of the vital role sexworkers play in HIV and other STI prevention strategies and how discrimination plays a role in the transmission of HIV infections.
Inform of Disability Service Act obligations to support sexual lifestyles of people with disabilities and Department of Community Services policy on assisting access to sex workers and sex aids.
Inform on better practice in assisting access to Sex Industry services.
Outcomes / Objectives
Participants will gain knowledge on how to fulfill their duty of care without enacting discrimination towards sex workers or people with disabilities who don't identify as heterosexual
Advocates healthy public policy
Discovery of best practice models
Increased recognition of the sexual rights of people with disabilities
Reduced discrimination for people with disabilities who don't identify as heterosexual
Improved quality of life for people with disabilities
Increased awareness of the role sex worker play within HIV and other STI Prevention
Reduced discrimination for sex workers
Sex workers and people with disabilities will be empowered through their vital collaboration in the development and presentation of this training seminar
Increased networking and making links with marginalised communities who are often hard to reach
Evaluation
In the future we hope to develop a thorough assessment process so that participants can seek Certificates of Attainment based on their ability to meet certain Competency Standards - yet to be developed. As a part of these Competency Standards becoming recognized by the Australian National Training Authority, a place for them would be found within the Australian Qualifications Framework.
Outline
The one to two days of training will cover a range of topics and can be adapted to the needs of individual organisations for an in-house staff training event.Options for topics include:
Touching Base Project Overview
Overview of NSW Sex Industry
The Diverse Sexuality of People with Disabilities
Addressing the Myths and Prejudice towards both groups
Outlining obligations under Disability Services Act - examining Department of Community Services policy guidelines & work-shopping participant's needs for policy guidance.
Exploring Barriers to access - work-shopping participants experiences and introducing the Touching Base Survey results
Introducing the use of the Touching Base Committee's - 5 step path to Sex EXpression
Using the resource FAQ's on accessing Sex Services in New South Wales NSW, Australia