Sex Complex
a Blog From Emerald Sexual Health Consulting, LLC
April 15, 2020
You need to evaluate the services you provide your clients or students for many reasons. Tracking improvement through evaluations can help guide day-to-day operations, long term planning and improve the chances of scoring funding. Sexuality educators make perfect consultants for how to evaluate and improve your organization, especially if it does not have specialized sexuality education programs and training.
Sexuality educators are skilled at using resources wisely, reporting outcomes, and improving curricula. They hold a unique perspective on how to improve your organization’s services.
Why Evaluate?
Are you using your funds wisely?
How much of an impact are you having?
Where are your weak links?
How can you strategically improve?
Do you need to secure funding?
Evaluation guides planning.
The funder requires it.
Reason #1: How Well Are You Using Funds?
Running programs involving sexuality education can be difficult due to limited funding. Sexuality educators are often faced with needing to find work arounds for their programs, a common struggle being unable to use and provide condoms when teaching how to use… condoms. This makes them very savvy when it comes to utilizing funding and being creative with resources. Your organization may not even be able to hold sexuality education programs due to lack of funding or leadership support. They can help you integrate sexuality education into other aspects of your organization.
Reason #2: What is Your Impact?
How do you really understand the impact your programs are making? Collecting outcomes is extremely important. Is your organization doing post-outcomes studies? Do you know your impact 6 months or 12 months after your clients or students leave your service? Sexuality educators can provide consultation on the right questions to be asking when it comes to knowing if your programs are successful.
Reason #3: Find your Weak Links
Your weak links can be individuals, teams, procedures, or the assessments and curricula you are using. Sexuality educators can help evaluate the many elements of your organization. Even if you don't have a sexuality education program, your staff are faced with helping clients with the sexual needs, especially when it comes to protecting them from sexual abuse. They can help determine if the assessments or curricula you are using are out-of-date, which is a common problem because of quickly evolving technology.
Reason #4: Implementing Strategic Improvement
Once an educator identifies where you need improvement, they won't just leave you hanging. Sexuality educators will provide your teams the methods to strategically improve your current programs. They can work with your organization’s training and development teams and the human resources department to improve staff training and resources. They can help develop customized assessments and curricula for your clients and students. New issues are always arising and are often individualized, therefore sexuality educators will develop a support plan when you need additional personalized consultation.
Reason #5: Secure Funding
While a sexuality consultant can’t guarantee funding, they will work tirelessly to help do all that is necessary to increase the chances of securing funding. Sexuality educators have experience collecting data for research studies and grants. They can provide consultation on the best ways to present data in order to improve your chances of securing funding.
Reason #6: Guide Planning
The results of your evaluations can help guide your day-to-day operations and long term planning. It can also help determine if new programs are needed and can be funded. Being a sexuality educator and consultant requires skills in project management. They can provide your team consultation on how to take on the new projects.
Reason #7: Funders Require Evaluation
Your funders want to see how your organization takes improvement seriously. While it’s never fun to try to expose the bad stuff, it is necessary to become a stronger organization. Knowing that you have taken extra steps to bring in outside resources to provide evaluation and consultation for improvement will make your funders very happy, especially when you can show the return of investment.
It is highly important that you use the sexuality educator’s unique perspective on how to improve your organization. Utilizing their services will truly be beneficial to the growth and sustainability of your organization.
For more information, contact Ashley Gadarowski at emeraldsexualhealth@outlook.com