For Professionals
“I thank God for this place!”
– Healing For Men Participant
Joining the Bethesda Workshops Team
Any clinician interested in applying for a staff position with Bethesda Workshops must first sit in as a Therapist Observer. In addition, a candidate must meet the following conditions:
- Appropriate clinical training in treating sexual addiction. Preference is given to those with the CSAT certification
- Evidence of a life committed in personal relationship with Christ and participation in a local community of faith
- At least one year’s experience leading groups for either sex addicts or partners of addicts
- At least two years of uninterrupted personal sobriety if in recovery as an addict or as the partner of an addict
- At least three months of attendance at weekly 12 Step meetings (May attend a mixture of open AA and Al-Anon meetings if not personally in sex addiction recovery)
- Completed a course of personal therapy with a clinical professional
- Tell his or her story to the workshop staff
- Submit a resume
- Provide personal references:
- Personal current or former therapist
- Clergy reference
- Provide clinical references:
- Current clinical supervisor (if applicable) or a clinical colleague
- Clinical professor of highest graduate degree program if completed within the last 3 years
- Stay on-site with the workshop staff during an internship (even if living within driving distance)
After observing a workshop, the executive director may invite a clinician to intern at a workshop by co-leading a group with a Bethesda staff person. After successfully completing an internship, a clinician may be invited to facilitate a small group as the need arises. Group leaders are independent contractors.
Effective Training for Professionals
As our sexually saturated culture brings into the public eye the problem of pornography and other forms of sexual acting out, more people and their partners are seeking help for sex addiction. As a clinician, pastor, physician or support group leader, you are uniquely positioned to guide or assist the healing process. Are you equipped?
Learn Proper Tools
Today, the sex addiction field has evolved enough that excellent training is available. The CSAT program (Certified Sexual Addiction Therapist), developed by Dr. Patrick Carnes and offered through the International Institute of Trauma and Addiction Professionals (IITAP), is considered the gold standard in the field. Clinicians who want to specialize in this area are highly encouraged to obtain this kind of specific, rigorous training.
IITAP has also developed a training for clergy called the Pastoral Sex Addiction Professional. This two-part training equips clergy to respond appropriately to the needs of Christians who seek their advice for issues related to sexual addiction. Visit www.iitap.com for information about either the CSAT or PSAP program.
Bethesda Workshops provides training for clinicians, pastors and lay helpers. We also offer teaching conferences, CEU events, and church seminars.
Common Mistakes in Treating Sexual Addiction
Unfortunately, many Christian helpers are ill-equipped to address sexual addiction or to help partners of sex addicts. Standard approaches like cognitive-behavioral therapy and using scripture alone are rarely effective. In fact, uninformed Christian counseling often adds to the sufferer’s shame and makes the problem worse. Appropriate training is vital.
Most often – and most damaging – is the error of addressing only the sin component of sexual addiction. Sex addicts already know their behavior is wrong, and they’ve already prayed to be free. Motivating addicts through guilt never works long-term. Exhortations to “Just stop!” or “pray more” only add to the person’s shame. Shame, in turn, further fuels the addiction.
Helpful professionals understand that sexual addiction is a complicated issue. It is multi-faceted problem requiring a multi-faceted approach that covers all the components of this disease: physical, mental, emotional, and relational, as well as spiritual.
Next, untrained helpers often only focus on the specific acting out behavior(s) and ignore the deeper issues. Arresting behavior is the first treatment task, but it’s only the beginning. The sex or relationship addict must uncover, understand, and heal from the underlying issues that drive the behavior. A trauma-based approach (one that examines woundedness and false core beliefs) is essential.
Sexual Addiction Online Training
Breaking The Bonds Training NOW FULLY ONLINE
For counselors, pastors, church leaders, life coaches, and support group leaders
Presenter: Marnie C. Ferree, M.A., LMFT and Certified Sex Addiction Therapist
Continuing Education: The online video series is not eligible for continuing education credits.
Cost
$159 for entire series; individual segments also available for purchase.
Topics
- Sex Addiction 101
- Roots of Addiction
- Partners of Addicts 101
- Recovery 101
- Couples Recovery 101
- Adolescents, Culture & Pornography
- Healthy Helpers
Questions, Call 615-467-5610
Position Papers
Disclosure
Few things in recovery are as difficult for the sex addict as disclosing the secrets about his or her acting out, and probably nothing is as hard for the partner to experience. After disclosure, everything changes. The partner’s world shifts, and life will never be the same. The pain on both sides is nauseating and at times feels unbearable.
Disease Model of Addiction
Is this sin or is it an addiction? That’s one of the most frequently asked questions about sexual addiction. Our immediate answer is “Yes!” Sexual addiction is both.
At Bethesda Workshops, we unequivocally identify inappropriate sexual and relationship behaviors as sin. We don’t sugarcoat that reality. At the same time, we believe the “sin model” as it’s normally understood is inadequate – too simplistic – to describe this problem and its solution.
Program of Recovery
Attending a treatment program, including one more long-term than a Bethesda Workshop intensive, is only the beginning of the journey of transformation. Getting help is an important first step, but if that’s all someone does, he or she won’t recover successfully. Genuine, lasting transformation requires more.
Treatment Model
We use an eclectic theoretical approach which draws on the best of several treatment modalities. In simplest terms, we use a trauma-based model, which means that we believe trauma (in its broadest sense) is the root of compulsive sexual and relationship behavior. Simply stopping the problematic behavior isn’t enough without healing the woundedness that drives it.
Treatment Planning
An effective treatment plan for addicts and partners is a dual-track approach. The first rail is arresting the problematic behaviors and creating a healthy lifestyle of accountability and community. The second rail involves healing from the woundedness that fuels the unhealthy coping methods of addiction and codependency. Both tracks are addressed simultaneously, though in the beginning stage, more emphasis is given to achieving and maintaining sobriety (for addicts) and grieving and establishing healthy boundaries (for partners).
Couples Counseling
While we strongly insist that both partners do their individual work, we also introduce couples therapy early in the process. The addict/partner marriage is in extreme crisis, and we believe couple’s sessions can help the partners stop the bleeding in the relationship. We advocate a marital time-out where both spouses agree to postpone any major decision (like divorce) for 6-12 months while they both work on their individual issues and begin to examine patterns in their coupleship.
Length of Treatment
Recovery from sexual addiction is a lengthy process. Short-term therapy is insufficient, for sure. Patrick Carnes, Ph.D., asserts it takes three to five years to fully recover. At Bethesda Workshops, we’ve found that those who come through our whole program – an individual workshop for each spouse plus the couples’ workshop – cut that time in at least half.
We often tell couples, “You can do this the hard way or the harder way – there’s not an easy way.” The Bethesda Workshops program greatly accelerates the recovery process, and most people find significant improvement, both personally and within their coupleship, within six to twelve months if they’re willing to do the work.
Life-Long Recovery Plan
Recovery is a forever process, ongoing and unending. It’s like our spiritual journey of transformation, which certainly doesn’t stop when we accept Christ as our personal savior. Recovery becomes a way of life, which again, is like our spiritual walk.
Many people find benefit from life-long attendance at recovery groups, at least occasionally. It’s like church attendance, where someone goes for fellowship with other Christians as well as worship. Going to a Twelve Step or faith-based recovery group becomes a tool for healthy living instead of a safeguard against acting out or dealing with someone who is.
Giving back is an important activity for someone in recovery. Offering help and hope to someone new on the journey is an act of gratitude and redeems the pain of sexual addiction for both addicts and partners.
Twelve Step Recovery
Bethesda Workshops strongly supports the Twelve Step program of recovery, and we believe it is vital to an individual’s success. These programs are rooted in Biblical principles and dovetail cleanly with Christian faith practices.
Alcoholics Anonymous, the original 12 Step program, grew out of the Oxford Group, a Protestant movement that started in England in the early 1900s. The group met in houses and encouraged members through testimonies, Bible study and informal talks.
Bill Wilson, the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, traced his journey of sobriety back to the Oxford Group. They emphasized deflation of pride, dependence on God, moral inventory, confession, restitution, and working with other suffering people – all clearly Biblical principles. Eventually, Wilson broke away from the Oxford Group because of its rather aggressive evangelism. Still, the group’s principles and Scriptures remained the foundation for AA and the Twelve Steps. Today, a number of Bibles incorporate recovery principles and match Steps to specific Scripture passages. We especially like Serenity: A Companion for Twelve Step Recovery, which includes the New Testament, plus Psalms and Proverbs, along with extensive material about the Twelve Steps.
