Reclaiming Intimacy: Navigating Childhood Sexual Abuse in Adult Relationships

February 5, 2027

AbstractChildhood sexual abuse (CSA) is a pervasive and often under-addressed trauma that can have enduring effects on adult sexual relationships, including challenges with desire, arousal, trust, communication, and relational safety. Survivors frequently navigate complex intersections of shame, dissociation, attachment disruptions, and trauma-related beliefs that shape their experiences of intimacy well into adulthood. Despite the prevalence of these concerns in clinical settings, many clinicians report limited training and discomfort in addressing sexual health within a trauma-informed framework.
This presentation will explore the nuanced ways CSA impacts adult sexual functioning and relational dynamics, integrating current research with clinical insight. Attendees will gain an understanding of how early trauma influences neurobiological responses, cognitive schemas, and interpersonal patterns that emerge in adult intimate relationships. Emphasis will be placed on recognizing clinical indicators that sexual or relational difficulties may be trauma-related, even when not explicitly disclosed.
This presentation will also provide practical, trauma-informed interventions to support healing and reconnection, including strategies for fostering safety, addressing shame, improving communication, and supporting clients in reclaiming agency and pleasure within their relationships. Special attention will be given to the therapist’s role in creating a validating, culturally responsive, and ethically grounded space for discussing sexuality.

In individual counseling, clinicians can support survivors of childhood sexual abuse by prioritizing safety, stabilization, and the gradual processing of trauma while integrating discussions of sexuality at a pace that aligns with the client’s readiness. Interventions may focus on identifying trauma-related beliefs, reducing shame, increasing body awareness, and rebuilding a sense of agency and choice in intimate experiences. A trauma-informed, culturally responsive approach is essential to help clients reconnect with their own needs, boundaries, and desires.

In couples counseling, therapists can help partners understand how trauma responses may manifest within the relationship, including patterns related to avoidance, hyperarousal, communication difficulties, or mismatched desire. Emphasis is placed on fostering emotional safety, enhancing attuned communication, and supporting both partners in developing empathy and shared language around intimacy. Clinicians play a key role in helping couples navigate consent, pacing, and mutual respect, while avoiding pathologizing survivors’ responses. Integrating psychoeducation and relational skill-building can promote healing not only at the individual level but within the partnership as a whole.

This presentation aims to increase clinical confidence and competence in addressing the long-term relational impacts of childhood sexual abuse, ultimately supporting more holistic and effective client care.
 

Potential to Distress: Yes

 

Target Audience

Those seeking to participate in this webinar must be licensed mental health professionals (psychiatrists, psychologists, clinical social workers, mental health counselors, accredited psychotherapists, etc.). ISSTD staff will audit license information prior to the start of the course and may request additional documentation for your license.

We do accept students enrolled in a program of study leading to a degree or certification in the mental health field and who have an interest in trauma and dissociation. Students must submit proof of student status such as a transcript or registration record. For those who have completed their degree and are currently in the pre-licensure stage practicing under the license of another clinician, you must provide the name and license information for the person you are working with. Documentation should be sent to ISSTD staff at [email protected] before registering. 

This webinar content is at the beginning/introductory level.

Learning Objectives

Upon Completion of this webinar, participants will be able to

  •  Identify at least three common ways childhood sexual abuse impacts adult sexual relationships, including effects on desire, arousal, trust, and relational safety
  • Explain the role of trauma-related processes (e.g., shame, dissociation, attachment disruptions) in shaping adult sexual functioning and intimacy patterns
  • Apply at least three trauma-informed, evidence-based interventions to support clients in improving sexual health, communication, and relational intimacy
  • Demonstrate strategies for fostering safety, consent, and empowerment when discussing sexual concerns with survivors in clinical practice
  •  Evaluate the impact of therapist stance (e.g., validation, pacing, cultural humility) on client engagement, trust, and therapeutic outcomes in this population

 

    Course summary

    Available credit: 
    • 1.50 APA
      The International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
    • 1.50 ASWB ACE
      The International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD), #1744, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 08/20/2024 – 08/20/2027. Social workers completing this course receive 1.50 continuing education credits.
    • 1.50 ISSTD Certificate Program
      This program is eligible for 1.50 credits in the ISSTD Certificate Program. No certificate of completion is generated for this type of credit.
    Course opens: 
    09/01/2026
    Course expires: 
    12/31/2050
    Event starts: 
    02/05/2027 - 11:00am EST
    Event ends: 
    02/05/2027 - 12:30pm EST
    ISSTD Member cost:
    $35.00
    Your Price:
    $35.00
    Part of: 
    2027 Webinar Pass
    Add to calendar: 
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    Presenter: Jessica Wiener, PhD, LPCC-S
    Jessica Wiener, PhD, LPCC-S is an Assistant Professor and private practice owner. She has over a decade of supervision experience in agency, private practice, and graduate program settings. She has provided several modalities of supervision, such as in-person, virtual, triadic, individual, and group supervision for students, interns, as well as dependently and independently licensed counselors. She has a passion for supervising clinicians of all levels. She has clinical experience working with trauma, grief, women's issues, and couples. Dr Wiener graduated with her PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision from the University of the Cumberlands in 2025.

    Presenter: Shannon O'Mara CT, PRS
    This presenter is a counselor trainee at the University of Akron, specializing in counseling children and adolescents. She is also a 988 Lifeline worker who has served callers across the lifespan with various presenting concerns, including suicidal ideation, homicidal ideation, trauma, and grief. She is also a Promise Leader through Sandy Hook Promise, where she has received training on violence prevention programming designed to support students. This presenter has co-facilitated multiple trainings and presentations through the American Counseling Association, the Association for Child & Adolescent Counseling, and upcoming conferences through the Association for Spiritual, Ethical, & Religious Values in Counseling and the Counselors for Social Justice Association. She has designed and implemented programming on multiple occasions outlining trauma-informed approaches to working with survivors of sexual violence, domestic violence, and intimate partner violence. She also holds several leadership positions, serving on executive boards and committees on the Ohio Association for Resiliency and Trauma Counseling, the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence, the Summit County Suicide Prevention Coalition, the Ohio Asssociation of Child and Adolescent Counselors, the Association for Child & Adolescent Counseling, and the Ohio Counseling Association. She has been trained in behavioral threat assessment and management and participated in community stakeholder and tabletop exercises through the Summit County Behavioral Disaster Preparedness Project. She is also a certified crisis specialist through the American Association of Suicidology, a certified advocate through Hope & Healing Survivor Resource Center and the National Advocate Credentialing Program, and a certified Peer Recovery Supporter through the Ohio Department of Behavioral Health. She has designed and implemented programming on multiple occasions outlining trauma-informed approaches to working with survivors of sexual violence, domestic violence, and intimate partner violence. This presenter is dedicated to early intervention, holistic treatment strategies, and advocacy to promote trauma-responsive, client-centered continuity of care.
     

    Available Credit

    • 1.50 APA
      The International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
    • 1.50 ASWB ACE
      The International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD), #1744, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 08/20/2024 – 08/20/2027. Social workers completing this course receive 1.50 continuing education credits.
    • 1.50 ISSTD Certificate Program
      This program is eligible for 1.50 credits in the ISSTD Certificate Program. No certificate of completion is generated for this type of credit.

    Price

    ISSTD Member cost:
    $35.00
    Your Price:
    $35.00
    Please login or register to take this course.

    "Your Price" above reflects your final price based on your membership status and career level. 

    • ISSTD defines a student as those enrolled in a program of study leading to a degree or certification in the mental health field and who have an interest in trauma and dissociation. 
    • ISSTD defines an emerging professional as mental health professionals who have completed an advanced degree and are in the first three years of their career (or first three years after graduation for researchers).
    • If you do not fall into one of the above categories please register as Professional/Retired. 

    These prices are for Tier I countries. For a list of countries by Tier click here. If you are located in a country that falls into Tier II-VI please contact ISSTD at [email protected] to receive the appropriate discount code.

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