Connections for Healthcare Professionals

In 2022, Fittleworth launched a programme called Connections, designed to support ostomates in reconnecting with their own bodies post-stoma surgery and to strengthen their physical and emotional relationships with others.

Connections gained huge support from the nursing community, and we’ve listened to feedback and surveyed many Stoma Care Nurses regarding using the Connections toolkit and how patients have received it. Responses were overwhelmingly positive, but it soon became apparent that it wasn’t just patients who needed guidance when discussing sex and intimacy; it was also Healthcare Professionals.

NEW from Fittleworth! Connections for Healthcare Professionals is a programme devised and developed for Healthcare Professionals by Healthcare Professionals.

The Connections workshop will support HCPs to encourage conversations around intimacy with their patients, with guidance from an expert panel, including experienced Psychosexual Therapist and Intimacy Coach Charlene Douglas and a team of Clinical Nurse Specialists.

Charlene Douglas, famous for Channel 4’s Married at First Sight UK, will support you throughout this new programme, coupled with step-by-step patient guides and materials.

Connections is a powerful tool that will ultimately help nurses to:

• Avoid subconscious judgements surrounding patients and their intimacy journey;
• Build self-awareness regarding your own triggers;
• Reflect on your own practice and ask questions;
• Learn and implement ways to open the conversation, support during the conversation and feel comfortable to close the conversation with patients around intimacy;
• Understand clear signposting for further support and advice for patients;
• Have a strong and competent knowledge of the tools featured in the workshop and workbook to explain and guide patients through the process;
• Feel confident and comfortable speaking to patients about sex and intimacy as part of their post-operative recovery.

Please note that registrations for our April 2024 workshop are now closed.
If you’d like to attend future Connections events, or would like to arrange a local meeting through our Dispensing Relationship Managers please contact us via marketing@fittleworth.com