Exemplar Health Care Welcomes New Sexuality Champions
Exemplar Health Care, has welcomed its first group of Sexuality Champions to encourage and normalise conversations about friendships, sexuality and intimacy within care homes.
Working in tandem with Exemplar Health Care’s existing sexuality training programme, the two initiatives help build the confidence and knowledge of colleagues and residents on these sensitive subjects, whilst challenging perceptions about sex and disability to empower people to maintain fulfilling, healthy personal relationships.
The motivation for introducing the new Sexuality Champions initiative was research carried out with Leeds University in 2019 that found many people living in care homes thought they weren’t allowed personal relationships and as such struggled with low self-esteem.
Residents who took part in this study indicated that they were rarely (if ever) asked about these needs and that team members didn’t always know how to manage or discuss the topic with them in an appropriate and professional way.
The study further highlighted that people receiving care too often miss the company and social interaction that relationships bring, and individuals in wider society take for granted in their day-to-day lives.
To combat this issue, Exemplar Health Care partnered with national charity ‘Enhance the UK’ to first deliver training on this topic in 2020, upskilling around 3,000 colleagues. As part of Enhance the UK’s #UndressingDisability campaign, which aims to normalise sex and disability, team members at all Exemplar Health Care homes are trained to help residents exercise their right of sexual expression in a safe, healthy, and legal way. This training will now be led by the new Sexuality Champions, to ensure everyone continues to be educated on the topic and feels confident to continue having these conversations.
The Champions are trained in topics including sexual expression, privacy, gender identity and sexuality, mental capacity, the law, professional boundaries, pornography, and sex workers. The programme is supported by Lianne Ford, Head of Nursing, Lorraine Thomas, Advanced Behaviour Support Practitioner, and Sophia Feurtado, Service User Engagement Manager.
Lianne Ford, Head Nurse at Exemplar Health Care, said of the Sexuality Champions initiative:
“We all want to be loved, look and feel good, and have meaningful relationships. Our Sexuality Champions are here to ensure that this isn’t any different for people who live in care homes.”
“Our Champions deliver training and support to both colleagues and residents to improve care around sexuality, intimacy and relationships, in a safe and lawful way. The aim is to make this part of ‘the norm’ at Exemplar Health Care, and we will continue to put in the work to make sure this becomes the case.”
