Talking about Sex (Part 2)

This is Part 2 of a 2-part workshop. Info & tickets to Part 1 here.

Sex doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Our culture, history, experiences & values all come with us into the bedroom. This workshop provides space for participants to reflect upon & explore dominant sexual norms (who ‘should’ do what, when, how, why & with whom) & the impact these norms have on our collective psychological & relational health and wellbeing.

Participants will be invited to explore what sex actually is, why we have it, where we learnt about it, what we learnt and how to emancipate ourselves from the roles, scripts & judgements that do not serve our erotic wellbeing. Participants will be encouraged to reflect on how dominant sexual scripts have informed their experiences, identify strategies to re-write scripts in service of authenticity, pleasure, intimacy & embodiment and explore how to apply these therapeutically to support clients to access a transformatively expansive perspective about what sex is and can be.

Every therapist is also a client– currently or previously. Every therapist is someone who’s had to navigate the sexual norms that saturate society, whether inside and/or outside the bedroom, wherever they are on the spectrum between alosexual (someone who experiences sexual desire) to asexual (someone who doesn’t experience sexual desire). This workshop invites participants to engage congruently- sensitive to how these themes resonate for them as an embodied, relational, sexual person as well as a client and a therapist.

This workshop is grounded in a biopsychosocial model of understanding sexology, Sexual Health Principles & intersectional analysis of how structural inequality informs individual psychology & social relationships.

Through facilitated discussion, personal reflection, activities and games, this workshop will engage with the following questions/themes:

• Sexual anatomy- more than the reproductive system!
• Arousal, desire & pleasure: what are they & how do they relate?
• Sexual Response Models
• Pleasure: what is it & how to get more?
• Navigating internalised beauty myths- supporting clients with critical body image
• ‘Dysfunctional’ bodies: navigating problems with desire, penetration, erections, ejaculation & pain
• Cultivating sexual consent: how to go off-script & create consensual space
• Sex-positivity: what is it & how to incorporate into therapeutic practice
• Working sex-positively with sex-negativity: validating without colluding
• Sex involves Big Feelings: navigating shame, vulnerability, rejection, performance anxiety, insecurity, jealousy

All qualified/ trainnee counsellors, therapists & adjacent professionals welcome! You are welcome to attend Part 2 without having attended Part 1 of this workshop, however please note that familiarity with the themes explored in Part 1 will be assumed to accommodate those attending the full workshop.

Looking forward to seeing you there! Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions!

Tickets are priced on a sliding scale, from £0-£45 (standard price) with an additional option to support low/no cost access by buying a ‘pay it forward’ ticket.

The full price ticket is significantly cheaper than similar training available, reflective of my own subsidy (offered from my position as someone who’s benefited from unearned resources & cultural capital myself) as well as my commitment to making these workshops accessible to everyone.

Please choose the ticket type that most accurately reflects your position & experience (you may not identify with every point- that’s OK!- choose whichever feels the most relatable). These workshops are not funded and will only be available with sufficient Type 1-4 ticket sales!

Type 4 tickets: £45 (standard price)

Suitable for those who

• have plentiful resources to pay rent /buy necessities or
• own property or
• fully or partially live off unearned (gifted / inherited) resources or
• earn enough money from a secure job to enjoy a hefty disposable income or
• might spend £30+ at the pub/on a meal out without having to thrift elsewhere

Type 3 tickets: £30.

Suitable for those who

• comfortably have enough resources to pay rent /buy necessities or
• partially live / have lived off unearned (inherited /gifted) resources or
• Earn enough money to enjoy some disposable income
• Have the education/ skills/ cultural capital/ network to likely get a job if currently not working or
• cannot live lavishly but would not feel the pinch if spent £30 on this workshop

Type 2 tickets: £20

Suitable for those who

• are students with the standard maintenance loan or
• can afford to pay rent /buy necessities but have to be mindful elsewhere or
• Support 1+ dependents
• work in the third sector or
• volunteer / work in the sexual & gender-based violence / mental health / LGBTQ+ sectors or
• might go out for coffee or a pint once a week or more without having to thrift elsewhere

Type 1 tickets: £10

Suitable for those who

• do not have much disposable income but would not have to thrift elsewhere to buy £10 ticket or
• Have a gender identity/expression, ability, class or racialised identity that has significantly affected capacity to generate income or
• have never lived off unearned (gifted / inherited) resources or
• are working on a zero-hours contract or
• Are paid minimum wage
• would consider a meal out or similar expenditure a treat

Type 0 tickets: free

Suitable for people who

• cannot comfortably afford any of the other ticket options
• are unwaged (unemployed / on benefits / unpaid carer / not entitled to work in the UK) or
• Have a health condition that makes a steady income difficult / impossible or
• experience difficulty paying for rent / necessities or
• have significant debt or
• don’t have access to resources from family/network or
• could not comfortably afford spending £10 on meal out / at the pub

Pay it Forward: If you find value in these workshops & want to support me to continue offering low/no-cost access to those unable to pay the full price, you can subsidise the low/no cost places by purchasing ‘pay it forward’ tickets.

I’m committed to ensuring the learning, healing, insight & solidarity these workshops generate remains accessible & inclusive, regardless of financial position. I’m grateful for your support in making this accessibility sustainable.