Public Relations, Media & Advocacy (PRMA) Committee Update

The last year has been an exciting one for PR, Media and Advocacy (PRMA). One highlight was releasing our position statement regarding sex addiction and getting so much support within AASECT as well as from the media. We received considerable coverage from over 20 major publications, including USA TODAY, New York Magazine, SELF Magazine and Esquire Magazine. Going forward, I hope that we will continue to release other position statements on important topics, and I'm always open to hearing from AASECT members who are passionate about topics and would like to see AASECT advocate more on behalf of pressing issues that affect our work as educators, counselors and therapists.

I'm also quite excited about the press and media hub we've created for certified members who want to be more visible in the media. At the moment, we have over 100 certified members who are regularly interacting with members of the Press and Media, and we've received close to 100 inquiries from the Media thus far. This hub operates as a meritocracy, so if you're an AASECT certified member and you'd like to respond to media inquiries on topics related to our field, please let us know via this Google Group. And if you're interested in seeing how AASECT is making headlines, we are now archiving our media coverage on AASECT's website - https://www.aasect.org/aasect-news.

Next year will hopefully be one in which we build upon this year's accomplishments: creating and disseminating more position statements, reaching out to media on important topics like the debate around sex addiction through our statements and press releases, and making ourselves available to a wider variety of media outlets when a story requires our expert commentary. We are also considering ways to provide more media training to our membership., If you would like to become more involved with the PRMA committee, please email me directly at iankerner@gmail.com.