Paul Lavergne, RP
BIOGRAPHY
Paul Lavergne has been in private practice for 8.5 years, working with compulsive sexual behaviours and betrayal trauma. He is a Sexual Recovery Therapist with the American Association of Sex Addiction Therapists. As a speaker and educator, Paul has been invited to high schools, seminars, conferences, and for EAP companies to present on a variety of topics, usually related to compulsive sexual behaviours and the intersection of technology, addictions, and relationship trauma.
He has extensive personal experience dealing with the subject matter as a clinician, in addition to personal interactions, interviews and relationships with other professionals in the field, including law enforcement, survivors of the sex trade, and those involved in the porn industry, as well as teens and youth impacted by tech and porn culture.
WORKSHOPS
How Technology, Social Media, and Online Porn is Impacting the Vulnerable Children and Youth of Today: 5 Things Every Mental Health Professional Needs to Know
Speaker: Paul Lavergne, RP
Currently, we are living in an unprecedented age – instant, unfiltered access to every kind of explicit violent and degrading porn is available to anyone with a smartphone; the average age of first exposure is 11; kids are getting their expectations and ideas about sex and what is “normal” form porn; social media and apps are now shaping the way teens and kids relate to one another; requests for nude photos from classmates from 15 and 16 year old girls is a daily occurrence; this inter-connectivity is allowing for sexual predators and human traffickers to gain easy access to a huge pool of potential victims, and the laws we have in place are 50 years out of date to deal with these scenarios.
This session will focus on awareness, education, ways that attendees can intervene and assess potential issues, proactive and preventative strategies, actions to take when encountering these situations, and resources. Assessments and examples of ways to approach these situations will be highlighted.
Key Take-aways
- Great understanding of how technology and online porn and social media are influencing kids and youth in a negative way
- Knowledge to assess, engage, and ask questions to take preventative and proactive action to minimize or avoid the potential damage this can bring