Making Disclosure Possible

The session

A clinician is preparing to conduct an initial sexual health assessment with a new client referred for low sexual desire and relationship conflict. The referral note mentions nothing about trauma history. Before the session, the clinician reviews the intake form, notes a section left blank about prior mental health treatment, and decides to pace the session accordingly.

At the start of the session she introduces what the assessment will cover and explicitly invites the client to redirect or pause at any point. She asks about relationship context before asking about sexual function. When she asks about sexual history, she frames the question behaviourally rather than categorically.

Partway through, the client discloses that she was in a coercive relationship for six years. She has not disclosed this to a health provider before. She says: I didn’t think it was relevant.