LGBTQIA+ Specific Sexual Concerns

Description

June 13-14, 2024

Held via live simultaneous webcast; no asynchronous registration allowed.

10 am – 6 pm Eastern/7 am – 3 pm Pacific

– Discounts for Early Registration End May 12

Thu – Jun 13

• Invisible Identities in Sex & Couples Therapy with Emma Smith, LPC

Fri – Jun 14

• Clinical Interventions with Gender Expansive Partners; Using Sensate Focus with Trans and Their Partners with Lucie Fielding, Ph.D., MA, LMHC

**Not available as a resale course. This item will be live only, do not miss your opportunity to attend this special training. 

Courses are often available at a later date as an eLearn. eCourses and presenters may be adjusted periodically. Please check this page or contact our Administration for the most up-to-date schedule. You must attend the entire course live to receive CE credit, no asynchronous registrations are allowed.

Thu – Jun 13, 10 am – 6 pm ET — Invisible Identities in Sex & Couples Therapy with Emma Smith, LPC

In the realm of sex and couples therapy, a crucial aspect of delivering exceptional care is the profound understanding of our clients’ identities and their navigation of the world. Increasingly, clients find themselves grappling with a dissonance between their authentic selves and the perceptions imposed upon them in various spheres – from societal norms to interpersonal dynamics, even within the therapeutic setting.
Some clients’ identities may not be immediately evident during sessions, yet they wield significant influence over the dynamics of their romantic and sexual relationships, as well as their trust in the therapeutic process. Individuals identifying as bisexual, pansexual, nonbinary, agender, or genderqueer (among other identities) frequently encounter erasure, both within society and within the therapeutic space. Recognizing and addressing these nuances is paramount for effective couples therapy, requiring a therapist adept at navigating and challenging cisheteronormative structures while acknowledging the profound impact of marginalization and erasure on desire.
A competent couples therapist must release assumptions regarding the issues at hand or the desired outcomes of these relationships. Instead, they must prioritize communication, cultivate compassion amidst conflict, and explore innovative methods to navigate intimacy and sexuality in a binary-centric world. By doing so, therapists can empower their clients to forge fulfilling relationships that honor their authentic selves.

Fri – Jun 14, 10 am – 6 pm ET  — Clinical Interventions with Gender Expansive Partners; Using Sensate Focus with Trans and Their Partners with Lucie Fielding, Ph.D., MA, LMHC

All of us grow up with toxic narratives of how our bodies are “supposed to” function and how we “should” experience pleasure, but for trans and non-binary folx these narratives pose particular problems, as they prematurely foreclose the stunning erotic possibility of trans sexualities and designate potential pathways of exploration un-safe or off-limits. And when conversations are foreclosed, we unwittingly replicate oppressive structures and become tools of social control. Unfortunately, few therapists are trained to help trans and non-binary folx navigate pleasure-positive sexuality, and the therapeutic relationship is frequently marked by imaginative failures concerning our erotic lives.

Through lecture, experiential activities, value clarification exercises, and explorations of case material this highly-interactive, four-hour course will provide a set of frameworks and tools to help sex and relationship therapists better attend to the heterogenous sexual health concerns of trans, non-binary, and gender expansive clients as well as support trans erotic embodiment. Students will learn how to re-orient their practices around gender-pleasure, radically queer and enliven clinical practice, approach their clients from a place of ethical curiosity, and deploy somatic, pleasure-centered frameworks and tools that are steeped in “intimate justice.”

About the Trainers:

Emma Smith, MS, LPC, NCC, CCTP, CTC is a licensed professional counselor in private practice in Washington, DC and serves populations DC, Maryland, Virginia and Texas. In her private practice E.J. provides individual and relationship therapy, supervision and consultation with special emphasis on sexual trauma and LGBTQ+ clients. She works from an existential-feminist and trauma-informed lens and is committed to supporting the queer, trans and nonbinary communities. In addition to being a therapist, E.J. is a sought-after presenter on clinical issues related to interpersonal/relational trauma, and working with sexually and gender-diverse clients. E.J. can be contacted through her website, http://www.unicornhealthcare.com/ or at ej@unicornhealthcare.com.

Lucie Fielding, MA, Ph.D. is an expert in kink and CNM-/ENM-knowledgeable, and she also specializes in providing affirmative support to sex workers as well as queer, trans, non-binary, and gender-expansive adults. As a queer and trans provider, she is particularly attuned to the ways that social stigma, discrimination, and oppression manifest in disruptive ways and can lodge themselves in the body. Her book, Trans Sex: Clinical Approaches to Trans Sexualities and Erotic Embodiments aims to equip clinical providers with both conceptual frameworks and concrete tools for better engaging their trans, non-binary, and gender-expansive clients in pleasure-centered discussions of sexual health.

Integrative Sex Therapy Institute is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Integrative Sex Therapy Institute maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

This program meets the educational requirements of the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists (AASECT) and is approved for 7 CE credits. These CE credits may be applied toward AASECT certification and renewal of certification. Completion of this program does not ensure or guarantee AASECT certification. For further information please contact info@assect.org or go to www.AASECT.org.  Please contact your local certifying organization for detailed information on courses they accept for CEs.

Integrative Sex Therapy Institute policies on attendance, refunds, and grievances are available here.