Consultation

Often, therapists have a robust therapeutic alliance with their client, and then realize their client needs some guidance in the realms of sexual health, sexual dysfunction, problematic use of erotic materials, gender dysphoria,  or LGBTQ+ concerns generally, to name a few common areas of interest. We cannot be an expert in all areas of practice, and it is our ethical responsibility to get our clients expert care. Rather than disrupting the good work we are doing with a client when new concerns arise that are out of our wheelhouse, we can work to educate ourselves in the matter at hand.

Maybe you are a physician, midwife, primary care provider, or other health professional who has a patient who has expressed a sexual practice (kink/fetish) with which you are not familiar; you believe your patient's clinical presentation may have some psychological etiology; or a new patient has a gender of sexual configuration that you wish to understand more deeply. All of these topics and more are common areas of consultation, and the value to your patients can really not be overstated.

I am available for 60 minute consults at a rate of $100 via phone or video for a single provider. She is also available for training to residents, care teams, and other groups within practice settings. Please contact her to collaborate on getting your group continuing education needs met. 

Training

Trauma-Informed Self-Care Planning for Service Providers

Many healers and caretakers are drawn to our work because of our own history of needing to be cared for. We experience trauma and seek to use it for good, serving others in similar experiences. Counter-transference, or the effect of a client on the service provider, can hinder progress for the client, re-traumatize the provider, and lead to unethical behavior--and fast. But what if we can also use it to transform our care models and strengthen the therapeutic alliance? Attendees will learn to recognize counter-transference, burnout, vicarious trauma, and secondary trauma, map their own history and explore the effects on their current practice, and build a sustainable self-care plan for increase their own mental health and ability to serve their clients for the long haul. Click here for a program brochure.

Sex Ed for Service Professionals

I’ll give away my opening line to this presentation: Raise your hand if you are a sex educator. Spoiler alert: everyone’s hands should be raised! If you are doing the work of walking alongside other people as a case manager, therapist, teacher, or other “helping” professional, the way you communicate about sexuality is teaching those with whom you work. This workshop examines our language around human sexuality, and approaches the topic from a trauma-sensitive perspective. You will learn the basic “101” information on sexual health: anatomy, contraception, pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), local reproductive health laws, and a deep exploration of topics that impact your client population directly. Available as a two hour class or a four hour half-day workshop with more interactive learning and time for discussion, this is seek&summon’s most requested training. Many clients choose to pair this training with a consultation to evaluate the efficacy of current sexual health information their agency is relying on, health questionnaires being used by the agency, and other related concerns. 

Need something that seems to be in my wheelhouse, but don't see a training listed here? Reach out, and let's have a chat!

Public Speaking

After spending my childhood performing in local and regional theatre, I love being in front of a crowd, and merging that with my passion for education that leads to change. I am available as a lecturer, podcast guest, expert interview for media outlets, and keynote addresses. Below are a few common topics on which I am asked to speak:

• ​human sexuality
• healthy relationships
• intimate partner violence
• childhood grief and trauma
• culturally competent social service delivery
• self-care and burn-out prevention

​Mary Margaret is not only an ethically sound, incredibly smart individual, but also hard working, team focused, thoughtful, hilarious and a warm person. She's the kind of person you want on your team because you know they will make even the most difficult and arduous task both interesting and fun. I'm not going to tell you how to run your program, but it'd be a miss not to work with Mary-Margaret. In the words of Forrest Gump, 'That's all I've got to say about that'. Hire Mary-Margaret, you won't regret it. Time in her presence is time well spent.” Shannon Brasovan, CYO/owner, Practice Indie

Mary Margaret learned on the job when she started in customer service, with what little scattered training we had to offer at GrubHub at the time. She not only excelled, but saw the problem and fixed it on her own - she developed our first training curriculum so the next to join her team would be set up for success. With little support over a few months, the time it took to onboard new members shrank from weeks to hours, churn in her department sank to an all time low, and I can honestly say it refined the overall service in a way I didn't even anticipate. Whether she's training the trainers or training the field directly, the structure and framework she provides is invaluable." -Cat de Merode, former Technical Project Manager at Grubhub; currently serves as Vice President of Product for Fixer