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Consent as Foundation: Understanding Sexual, Gender & Relationship Diversity

Additional Information

• • Target audience

    • This course is intended for psychologists, counselors, social workers, marriage and family therapists, and other mental health and related professionals. 

  • Recommended Prerequisite - none

    • This workshop serves as a foundation for all other workshops in this series

  • Full description

This introductory workshop provides a foundational, evidence-informed framework for understanding sexual, gender, and relational diversity (SGRD) in contemporary psychological practice, with consent positioned as the central ethical and clinical organizing principle. Drawing on current empirical research, professional guidelines, and established ethical standards, the program supports clinicians in developing culturally responsive, affirming care for clients whose identities, relationships, or sexual expressions fall outside dominant social norms.

Participants are introducd to shared working definitions of sex, gender, and relationships that move beyond heteronormative, mononormative, and binary assumptions. The workshop examines how societal norms, socialization processes, and power structures shape both client experiences and clinician assumptions, with particular attention to the ways psychology and healthcare systems have historically contributed to pathologization and exclusion. An intersectional lens is used throughout to highlight how sexual, gender, and relational identities interact with other social locations such as race, disability, neurodivergence, spirituality, and class.

The program provides a high-level review of contemporary scientific findings related to diversity in sexual desire, sexual behavior, and relationship structures, emphasizing the distinction between non-normative identities or behaviors and clinically significant distress or impairment. Participants are guided to critically evaluate diagnostic frameworks, research bias, and common misconceptions that may influence assessment, case conceptualization, and treatment planning.

Through guided reflection, case examples, and structured discussion, clinicians are supported in assessing their own comfort, assumptions, and areas of growth when working with marginalized populations. The workshop concludes with applied discussion of ethical responsibilities, consent-centered practice, cultural humility, and best practices for creating affirming therapeutic environments. By strengthening foundational knowledge and ethical clarity, this program enhances clinician competence, reduces risk of harm, and promotes equitable access to effective psychological care.

• • Presenter 

    • Dr. Rachel Anne Kieran (Psy.D.) is a psychologist, writer, and educator, and the founder of StorieBrook Therapy & Consulting, LLC, an affirming therapy practice rooted in justice, community, and cultural humility. Her clinical work focuses on sexual, gender, and relational diversity (including kink and consensual non-monogamy), neurodiversity, fat and disability justice, and clients from non-majority spiritual and pagan paths.

Dr. Kieran’s practice model emphasizes accessible, bespoke collaboration with clients, including sliding-scale options and a community space designed to be welcoming, trauma-aware, and identity-affirming. Through StorieTree Professional Education, she creates continuing education programs for mental health and allied professionals that center ethics, intersectionality, and dismantling systemic barriers to care.

Her current writing projects include a book on finding and crafting mental healthcare for diverse spiritualities, and related work on “rainbow sheep” identities—those who never fully fit either mainstream or countercultural norms. Across her roles as therapist, educator, and author, Dr. Kieran is committed to the belief that affirming care is a right, not a privilege.

• • Learning objectives

    • After completing this workshop, participants will be able to:

      • Identify at least three ways sexual, gender, and relational diversity differ from pathologizing or norm-based assumptions commonly used in clinical practice.

      • Use inclusive, non-assumptive language when discussing sex, gender, and relationships with clients.

      • Describe how consent functions as a foundational principle across sexual, relational, and therapeutic contexts.

      • Examine how cultural norms shape their own assumptions about “normal” sex and relationships. 

      • Recognize diversity as population-level variation rather than clinical exception or risk. 

  • Instruction level - Introductory 

    • (includes new research in an area generally covered in doctoral education, topics not always covered in doctoral programs and more in-depth exploration than is given in most doctoral programs).

  • Agenda / structure

    • •  Setting the stage ~ 30 minutes

        • Consent & agreement

        • Dealing w/ discomfort

        • Assessing our norms

      • Definitions & Norms  ~ 45 Minutes

        • “Normal”

        • Consent

        • Common terms

      • Identity & Socialization  ~ 45 minutes

        • Norms, power & privilege

        • Intersectionality

        • Context

      •  Science Overview  ~ 30 minutes

        • Desire

        • Behavior

          • Sexual

          • Relation

        • Consent in context

      • Ethics & Practice ~ 30 minutes

        • Biases

        • Ethics

        • Informed consent

        • Questions
          
          

  • CE information

    • • This is a live program. Full attendance is required to receive a certificate of completion. Certificates of completion will be issued following verified attendance.

      • This program has been approved for CE by the Georgia Psychological Association.  

        • Acceptance of continuing education credit is determined by individual licensing boards. 

          • The Georgia State Board of Examiners of Psychologists accepts GPA-approved CEs for license renewal under Area III for renewal of their licensees. For information on the board requirements in other states, please consult your state licensing rules.

          • The Georgia Board of Professional Counselors, Social Workers, and Marriage & Family Therapists accepts GPA-approved CEs for license renewal as related hours for renewal of their licensees (Rule 135-9-.01(2)(f)(1)).  For information on the board requirements in other states, please consult your state licensing rules.  

      • StorieTree Professional Education has submitted an application for APA Sponsor Approval and is currently in the review process. All StorieTree programs are developed in alignment with the APA Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct and the APA Standards for Continuing Education Sponsors.
        
        

  • Pricing & accessibility notes

    • Standard Price - $75

    • For more information on equity pricing for accessibility, please read the StorieTree Pricing & Equity Policy

    • For more information on StorieTree's ongoing accessibility efforts, please visit our Accessibility page.  

  • Cancellation/refunds - please see the StorieTree Attendance, Participation & Refunds Policy

  • Disclosures - please read the StorieTree Disclosure Policies for more information