Contemporary Sexuality - October 2008 - (Page 3) President’s Letter Support our troops: ‘Give an Hour’ By Helen “Ginger” Bush, MSW Added Satcher, “This message transcends partisanship or politics.” At the conference, I met Barbara Romberg, PhD. Concerned about the mental health implications of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, Romberg founded Give an Hour in 2005. Give an Hour is an organization that is creating a national network of mental health professionals who are providing free services to U.S. troops, veterans, and their families. Providing counseling to the military and their families is a way to help heal our nation. AASECT member Mitch Tepper of the Center of Excellence for Sexual Health at Morehouse School of Medicine believes AASECT and Give an Hour can form a wonderful partnership because AASECT knows how to address sexual health and intimacy concerns. The experts say that sexual intimacy issues affect the relationship of both veterans with physical wounds and those with mental health problems who are returning home. Give an Hour is a national effort that has nearly 1,400 licensed mental health professionals donating one hour per week for counseling in their offices, via telephone or in consultation with other organizations. Romberg says there are 400,000 licensed mental health professionals in the U.S., and her goal is to have 40,000 volunteers to meet this challenge. Clearly AASECT is one of the resources that can help to meet this challenge. Please go to www.giveanhour to volunteer. S ome of the headlines read: “Wounded Vets Worry About Their Sex Lives,” “Care for Female Veterans Falling Short, VA Finds,” “Stress Disorder in Troops is Soaring” and “Private Counselors Offer Free Help to U.S. Troops.” That’s why AASECT Executive Director Stephen Conley and I were excited to have the opportunity to attend “Wounded Troops and Partners: Supporting Intimate Relationships,” the first conference of its kind. It is important to note that combat is giving rise to co-occurring disabilities and polytraumas, including posttraumatic stress disorder, spinal cord injuries, amputations, burns, and traumatic brain injury. There is frequently a fear of rejection because of physical or other changes that form David Satcher, MD barriers in relationships, fear of reaching out to partners and awkwardness in talking about these issues. In fact, physicians often do not bring up any sexuality concerns, and patients are too shy or afraid to bring up the subject. Some of the following statements reflect many of the worries of injured veterans. • “How do I get a girl now?” • “It’s about sex, not sexuality.” • “I will write a book about the many sexual positions of a double amputee.” • “You cannot heal without love and touch.“ • And this, from a female veteran: “Will I ever be able to wear an evening gown again?” David Satcher, MD, former Surgeon General, addressed the need for us to act. “Our wounded troops and their partners deserve access to the health care, counseling and resources that they need to sustain the intimate relationships that provide support and promote healing,” he said. Give an Hour is a national effort that has nearly 1,400 licensed mental health professionals donating one hour per week for counseling in their offices, via telephone or in consultation with other organizations. Iraq, Afghanistan Wars Number of troops deployed: Number deployed more than once: 1.6 million 550,000 Number who have died (as of Aug. 29): 4,737 Number injured (as of Aug. 29): Estimated number with PTSD: Source: Give an Hour 39,977 Nearly 300,000 October 2008 Vol. 42, No. 10 | www.aasect.org Contemporary Sexuality 3 http://www.giveanhour.org http://www.aasect.org
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Contemporary Sexuality - October 2008 Contemporary Sexuality - October 2008 Contents President's Column Member Profile Quick Hits: Sex in the News News of Members Contemporary Sexuality - October 2008 Contemporary Sexuality - October 2008 - Contents (Page 1) Contemporary Sexuality - October 2008 - Contents (Page 2) Contemporary Sexuality - October 2008 - President's Column (Page 3) Contemporary Sexuality - October 2008 - President's Column (Page 4) Contemporary Sexuality - October 2008 - President's Column (Page 5) Contemporary Sexuality - October 2008 - Member Profile (Page 6) Contemporary Sexuality - October 2008 - Member Profile (Page 7) Contemporary Sexuality - October 2008 - Quick Hits: Sex in the News (Page 8) Contemporary Sexuality - October 2008 - Quick Hits: Sex in the News (Page 9) Contemporary Sexuality - October 2008 - News of Members (Page 10) Contemporary Sexuality - October 2008 - News of Members (Page 11) Contemporary Sexuality - October 2008 - News of Members (Page 12)
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.