Keeping our children safe is a top priority of parents and caring adults especially in the context of sexual health. In this episode, I talk with licensed clinical social worker and sex therapist, Kristin Hambridge (aka ‘SexStuffwithKristin’), about strategies caring adults can use to promote body autonomy, self-awareness and a sense of safety within our children. Kristin explains the concept of ‘tricky people,’ why it is important to allow your child choice, fostering healthy body boundaries, and teaching your child how to connect with their gut instincts. She emphasizes that these strategies are not about being scared but being prepared.

• Safely Ever After, Inc by Pattie Fitzgerald


• Do You Have a Secret? (Let’s Talk About It!) by Jennifer Moore-Mallinos


• RAINN (Rape Abuse & Incest National Network)- Safety Support for Parents


• Additional resources for families

And as always:

• Be sure to follow us on Instagram, Twitter and YouTube for regular sex-positive content and updates.


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• Leave a review in Apple Podcasts to let us know how much you’re enjoying the podcast. This gives us great feedback from our community as well as expands the reach and visibility so we can serve more families!


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  TRANSCRIPT

  
  

  
  
  
  

{Soft instrumental music plays as introduction} 

{Person speaking} 

Welcome to Sex Positive Families where parents, caring adults, and advocates come to grow and learn about sexual health in a supportive community. I’m your host, and the founder of SPF, Melissa Carnagey. Join me, and special guests, as we dive into the art of sex-positive parenting. Together, we will shake the shame and trash the taboos to strengthen sexual health talks with the children in our lives. Thank you so much for joining us! 

{Person speaking}

Hello families!

So since starting Sex Positive Families, one of the most requested topics parents and caring adults seek consultation on is safety. How can we raise sexually healthy children and keep them safe from harm? 

Because this is such an important piece of parenting in a sex-positive way, I decided we should start here and give you some knowledge and strategies to approach this aspect more confidently. 

So on today’s episode, I have Kristin Hambridge who is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Sex Therapist working toward her board certification from AASECT. 

If you’re on Instagram and follow sexual health content, then you may know her already as @sexstuffwithkristin. Kristin is a blogger and contributing writer for a number of online magazines as well as a YouTube vlogger covering a myriad of sexual health and sex-positive topics. 

Alongside her professional passions, she is a parent of a three-year-old son, so she is living sex-positive parenting every day. This episode has a wealth of safety tips and strategies for parents and caring adults, so let’s get started.

Melissa Carnagey: “We are on today with Kristin Hambridge. Some of you may know her as @sexstuffwithkristin (now @sexstuffwithkris). Kristin, how are you?”

Kristin Hambridge: “I am good. Thanks for having me! I’m really excited to be on your podcast! This is awesome.”

M.C.: “We are so excited to have you and we are excited to pick your brain because you do a lot for the community in terms of sexual health messages and really getting creative, or as you coin at your shop, ‘a little snarky with it’, and so I’m excited to have you in this space. 

I’ve been a follower for a while now and I love your content and I know that there are a lot of listeners who feel the same way. 

You create blogs, you create vlogs on a range of sex-positive and sexual health topics. You’re a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, but tell us about your journey to this work that you’re doing now.”

K.H.: “So as you said, I’m a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, and after a period of years of working with children, teens, and adults, I felt like there was a big part of my work that was missing. That was, making sure that I was trained and had expertise in sex, sexuality, and gender. 

It felt like something that is so important, but unfortunately not in all higher education, as far as social work and licensed mental health counseling and some doctoral programs, it’s not a huge focus, which is a problem and needs to be changed. But I think that there’s a lot going on that’s moving in that direction. 

I felt like that was an aspect of my studies that was missing and it was coming up so often in the work that I was doing in lots of different ways. So, I decided to go back and work towards my board certification in Sex Therapy through the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists. So, that’s currently what I’m doing, I’m very close to finally getting my certification. I have all of the educational pieces done as far as the courses I need to take and things like that, I’m just finishing up on my supervision hours that are required with a board-certified Sex Therapy Supervisor. So I’m doing that now, and that’s kind of the direction I’ve gone. 

Like I said I’ve worked with so many different people from all socioeconomic backgrounds, different demographics and you know one thing I think that we absolutely have in common, even though there are lots of things we have in common, is sex and sexuality. That’s kind of where that brought me.”

M.C.:  “Yeah, we have that common thread, yet especially in America, you know there’s such a taboo and such shame and such secrecy surrounding sex, sexual health and sexuality. This then makes it challenging certainly as a parent, you know, when you move into that role and you’re trying to raise the next generation and educate. 

We often as parents did not get the fullest education, and perspectives in preparation for that. So aside from all that you have worked for in terms of your career path, personally, you can relate in terms of parenting, is that right?” 

K.H.:  “Yes I have a 3-year-old son. So I am kind of in the thick of a lot of this, right? Because 3- year-olds are super curious, they ask a ton of questions. They want to know about their own bodies, they want to know about the bodies of people who are important in their lives. 

So while I have this educational training, I’m also probably like many of your listeners in these situations all the time I spend with my son, who’s asking a billion questions about everything, and it’s reall