New Sexual Health Program

Remember when you were a child and your parents asked you what you wanted to do with your life? I do. And I can honestly say that "being a community leader in the sexual health field" was nowhere on my mind. Back then I was pretty sure I wanted to be a florist.

I think I can honestly speak for many of my fellow colleagues in the field of sexual health when I say that it is almost completely by accident that we have arrived  here. I'm a historian by academic training with a public relations professional background and most of my colleagues share similar trajectories of being health educators, teachers/professors, social workers, therapists, clergy, doctors, journalists, social scientists and the list goes on. What would it have been like for all of us to have had actual focused professional development training in sexual health as we made our decision to move into this field? How much more productive and effective could we all have been…or perhaps still be...?

Thanks to the newly launched Sexual Health Scholars’ Program of The Center of Excellence for Sexual Health (CESH) at Morehouse School of Medicine we are that much closer as a field and as a society to hearing people say that they want to be community sexual health leaders in addition to whatever career choices they make in life. And considering our persisting national sexual health crisis, which positions ignorance over knowledge and well-being, the CESH Sexual Health Scholars” Program’s arrival is none too soon.

The CESH Sexual Health Scholars' Program is a 10 month long community sexual health leadership practice-based intensive where scholars are instructed and provided mentoring by a multidisciplinary faculty of some of the nation’s leading experts in sexuality, medicine, community leadership and public health. Scholar applicants can be academics, journalists, health practitioners and other related professions (a Master’s Degree is now required)—and those who work with underserved communities are especially encouraged to apply. One of the primary missions of the program and CESH itself is to eliminate sexual health disparities, especially in the areas of race, gender and disability through a focus on science as well as faith in people’s everyday lives. 

Bethany Stevens, a current CESH Scholar, lawyer and graduate of SF State’s Master of Arts in Sexuality Studies, said, “This program provides various professional pathways to working within the field of sexual health, paths that tend to not be very well demarcated yet.”

The CESH Scholars’ Program Director, Carey Bayer, EdD, RN says that the program requires each scholar to develop a business plan that they can then use moving forward in their careers. Throughout the 10 months, scholars learn about professional development, communication, leadership styles, network building, research production and consumption, while apprenticing with three levels of organizations (small, medium and large sized) within the Atlanta area. In addition, upon completion of the program, scholars receive a portion of the required elements to become certified as Sexuality Educators by the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists (AASECT).

Here at NSRC, we have been holding an annual Summer Institute in the field of sexuality for almost a decade. We’ve educated hundreds of practitioners, graduate and undergraduate students from all over the nation and internationally—primarily in sexuality research methodology and social science approaches to sexuality studies. Our MA in Sexuality Studies is one of the only degree programs in the nation that utilizes an interdisciplinary social science research framework and is designed for students to focus on sexuality research. Over the years we have also had many students within both the Summer Institute and the graduate program who decide they want careers in sustainable sexuality health, education and rights based businesses or in working with community and/or non-governmental organizations. The CESH Scholars’ Program now provides the kind of intense, practice-based community leadership training they and many others around the nation have been requesting.

If you or someone you know might be interested in the CESH Scholars’ Program, please bookmark the web site: http://cesh.msm.edu Information about future application cycles will go up soon.

Please join NSRC in spreading the word about this innovative new resource for our field.