Academic Offerings

In this presentation, we will explore the language, frameworks, and lived realities connected to sex, gender identity, and transgender experience. Thoughtful care for transgender and gender-diverse people begins with the words we choose and expands to recognizing the obstacles - outing, safety concerns, financial limitations, legal documents, medical records, and provider assumptions - that can shape or limit access to care. Most trans individuals are not seeking treatment for their transition every time they see a provider; they are seeking care for the same complex reasons anyone else does. Even small shifts in how we approach transgender and gender-nonconforming clients can create meaningful improvements in care for all. This session also offers space to ask questions of a trans person in a respectful, educational setting - honoring your learning without placing that emotional labor on your patients.

Rituals show up in every D/s relationship - whether we name them or simply live them - shaping everything from a hello kiss at the door to a formal pose, a worn collar, or a carefully crafted contract. But what is a ritual, and how do different layers of ritualistic interaction influence the way we meet, play, and relate with one another? In this class, we’ll explore the rituals woven into daily life, erotic connection, shifts within a dynamic, and even the tender, often-taboo terrain of endings and loss. Along the way, we’ll look at terminology, ethics, and practical frameworks that help us understand what we’re already practicing. Together we’ll identify what rituals truly serve us - and imagine the ones we might want to build with intention.

When a child is born, we lift them up and declare “it’s a boy” or “it’s a girl,” but the world of gender is more complex than this. Together, we will examine the terminology around gender identity and transgender experience while looking at the differences and crossovers between sex, gender, and orientation. From medical care to chromosomes beyond xx/xy, legal issues to society's beliefs of what gender roles are “supposed” to look like, let’s look at gender through a broader lens.

This class offers a grounded, compassionate framework for understanding the many layers of gender as they show up in personal, cultural, and professional contexts. Participants will explore the distinctions between assigned, legal, perceived, and self-identified gender, while examining how culture, subculture, race, and privilege shape both individual experience and social response. We will thoughtfully unpack when and how sexual orientation or sexual behavior may intersect with gender, and when it does not, across clinical, educational, and everyday settings. Rooted in curiosity rather than assumption, this course invites attendees to deepen nuance, challenge unconscious bias, and build more skillful, ethical engagement with gender-diverse lives.

Across cultures and communities, body modification has long been a way to express our identities, our affiliations, our milestones, our politics, and our spiritual connections. From the haircuts we choose to blend in or stand out to the makeup we wear with intention, we all modify ourselves in order to move through the world. In this class, we’ll explore a wide spectrum of body modification practices - from henna and ritual jewelry to tattoos, genital reconstruction, hook suspension, stage wardrobe, body piercing, and beyond. We’ll also dive into the energies these practices carry, the social meanings they evoke, and the important conversations around cultural appropriation. Together, we’ll look at why every alteration to our flesh can be sacred or profane depending on context, intention, and the stories we breathe into our transformations.

Power threads through every interaction we have - whether we’re chatting with a cashier or diving into erotic play - and it shows up both consciously and unconsciously. In many kink and alternative sexuality spaces, these dynamics get eroticized, sometimes without acknowledging the cultural and personal roots they spring from. In this class, we’ll explore where unconscious power arises in our lives, the many forms conscious power exchange can take, and why someone might choose to engage these dynamics for a night, a relationship, or a lifetime. We’ll also look at the roles we slip into, the influence of personal and cultural trauma, the bonds we build, and the destructive patterns that can emerge when power goes unexamined. Power is power - but inequality is not inequity - so let’s step into this conversation with honesty, curiosity, and our eyes wide open.

There are many ways to design classes - what are yours? Let us take apart what our goals are as educators (and as students), what we know about (or need to research), what our presentation styles are, and how this affects what we will even include in constructing excellent education. There are a wide variety of course building approaches from goals deconstructed backwards to stacking tools up until you figure out what will fit in a time slot… and many more! Let’s share tools, brainstorm ideas, and even peek into how we are modifying our design process (and what we need to keep in mind) based on teaching online. This course is about education by adults, for adults, and does not address teaching for youth, as examples from the presenter and attendees may include age 18+ topics.

Exploring the world beyond the media’s story of “normal” sexuality can seem daunting at first, but it doesn’t have to be! Let’s look at the wide array of love styles and relationship shapes, romantic activities, orientations, and sexual play out there, as well as the expansive world of kink in this fun and informative class. Kinky activities can range from mild to wild, and learning about common terms and identities, fetishes, and communication styles in the bedroom (and beyond), can help you build consent, safety, and connection alike. Let’s help you figure out or more deeply discuss your interests, curiosities, passions, and what you have energy for (especially in today’s day and age). Let this course demystify, delight, and disarm you by taking the terror out of these topics and bringing them out to play!

Contemporary Western culture often frames the “ideal” relationship as one between equals, yet many individuals are meaningfully drawn to dynamics of power exchange, dominance, submission, service, surrender, or control, whether as erotic play or as a core organizing principle of daily life. In this course, we will establish a shared vocabulary for dominant/submissive and leader/follower relationship systems, while examining the desires, concerns, and ambivalences that may surface for clients engaged in, or curious about, these chosen dynamics. Using the Contextualized Power model, we will analyze the wide range of relationships described as authority transfer or power exchange, alongside the broader cultural power imbalances that shape all relational experiences. Particular attention will be given to distinguishing consensual authority transfer from abuse, while critically unpacking common myths and misconceptions about D/s practices and communities. Grounded in the understanding that each client’s motivations and experiences are unique, this course equips helping professionals with the insight and tools needed to support individuals who choose these relationship styles with care, nuance, and ethical clarity.

What sort of presenting appeals to you, and why? Do you want to lead group discussions, lecture in front of an auditorium, provide one-on-one mentorship, or give skill demonstrations? What sorts of topics are you called to present on? Physical skills, emotional experiences, psychology of interpersonal interaction, history, and academics, or perhaps something totally different? Many of us start out presenting because we are well known for something we do and others want to learn  or because no one else would step up on a topic. But what do you actually want to teach? This is your chance to build awareness to be able to authentically shine!

When discussing transgender experience, there is often a focus on gender dysphoria, the distress someone experiences due to a mismatch between their gender identity and their sex assigned at birth. But what about gender euphoria and the powerful joys that can come during the varieties of transgender and gender expansive experiences? In this class, we will look at the diverse types of gender and systemic dysphoria patients experience in the healthcare system. We will then dive into how you can make the lives of gender diverse people better (or might accidentally be making them worse). Let’s explore how you can provide a positive experience through basic changes in paperwork, language, treatment options, and more. You can improve the lives of not just transgender patients, but all patients, through these often simple adjustments to care. This class is encouraged not just for those who provide trans-specific care, but for everyone who sees transgender, gender non-conforming, non-binary, and gender expansive patients - even if they are just there to see you because they twisted their ankle.

Some people crave blindfolds and whipped cream, while others hunger for the edges of sensation that test their body’s limits - and all of these desires deserve informed, grounded support. In this four-hour exploration, we’ll look at the vast landscape of kink - from bondage, discipline, dominance, submission, sadism, masochism, and fetish play to voyeurism, exhibitionism, and beyond - and consider how to meet clients where they truly are. Together we’ll unpack the difference between what someone fantasizes about and what they actually practice, as well as the biases we as providers may bring into the room. Along the way, we’ll explore why these desires call to people, how to hold space for excitement, discomfort, and fear, and how to honor each person’s unique erotic map. Bring your humor, your curiosity, and your willingness to learn as we wander through the wild, diverse terrain of human passion.

Many of us hunger for erotic exploration, dominance, submission, or beautifully twisted play - and disability can shape those journeys in ways that deserve to be honored. In this session, we’ll look at how physical, neurological, mental, and aging-related realities influence the ways we approach BDSM and other kinks, whether those experiences are visible or invisible. Together we’ll explore adaptations, creative strategies, and the delight that can emerge when we build play around the bodies and minds we actually have. We’ll share challenges, swap ideas, and uplift one another’s ingenuity and lived wisdom. Whether you’re navigating these experiences yourself or supporting a partner, come ready to learn, imagine, and celebrate the many ways desire can thrive.

When someone seeks professional support at the crossroads of kink and spirit, the first questions to consider are why now and why you - and you don’t need to be a kink expert to meet them with skill and compassion. In this presentation, we’ll explore what “kink” encompasses, how it differs from (and sometimes overlaps with) faith, sacred experience, and spiritual paths, and what clients are often asking for beneath the surface. We’ll look at the many ways kink can mirror spiritual practice, how spiritual frameworks can echo kinky dynamics, and how consciously weaving the two can offer grounding, healing, or clarity. Along the way, we’ll address concerns ranging from unexpected sacred experiences during taboo exploration to fears of losing community when stepping into desire more openly. Together, we’ll build nuance, language, and confidence so you can better support the wide spectrum of experiences your clients may bring.

Supporting transgender and gender-diverse people goes far beyond using the right name and pronouns - it’s about cultivating true, everyday allyship. In this session, we’ll explore practical ways to reduce harm and increase ease for the trans folks in our lives, from responding well when someone comes out to understanding the many forms transition can take. We’ll look at how to create gender-inclusive spaces, support families walking these paths, and recognize when corporate or community activism helps - or unintentionally hinders. Together, we’ll unpack cultural myths (yes, including the “bathroom issue”) and learn how to shift our environments toward greater compassion and equity. This is an invitation to expand your skill set, deepen your awareness, and help build a world where everyone gets to move through life with dignity and support.

Magic has always held a beautifully queer shimmer, even when the traditions around it haven’t centered LGBTQ+ experiences. In this class, we’ll explore queer deities across cultures and the ancestors - of spirit, story, and community - who stand with us beyond bloodline. Together we’ll honor the power of living outside expectations, weaving between identities, and embodying layered truths. We’ll look at how existing rituals can be queered to reflect our lived experience, as well as how to craft or embrace practices created by and for those who walk these expansive paths.

The worlds of BDSM and fetishism draw from a long lineage of human magic, emotion, spirit, and raw energetic experience. Together, we’ll explore eight pathways to altered states of consciousness and how erotic explorers tap into them through ritual, rhythm, flesh, breath, and more. From “Leather” traditions that pass wisdom through gifted garments to the trance of a well-timed flogging, we’ll look at how ancient practices echo through modern kink. We’ll journey through histories as varied as monastic devotion, hook suspension, ecstatic dance, and channeling, and see how these practices have been reclaimed, repurposed, or uniquely “perverted” for authentic spiritual and erotic awakening. By becoming conscious of these routes, you’ll be better equipped to navigate and integrate them in future academic and personal investigations.

Someone has asked you to mentor them… now what? You’ve reached out for mentorship yourself… Now what? In this class, we’ll explore the many shapes mentorship can take and the wide range of needs, expectations, and boundaries that both mentees and mentors may bring to the table. Guided by an experienced mentor-mentee pair, we’ll look at how to find mentors, assess the time and energy you can truly offer, and understand the risks and rewards on both sides of the equation. Together, we’ll examine power imbalances, clarify our motivations, and craft mentorships that are built to serve the people actually in them - not someone else’s model.

In this course, we will explore the complexities of age-based roleplaying, also known as age play, a practice in which consenting adults embody personas that differ from their chronological age. We will look at how cultural assumptions and professional misunderstandings can lead to mischaracterizations, stigma, or misplaced concern. With an academic lens informed by personal experience, compassion, and clarity, we will consider how these dynamics shape both client experiences and practitioner responses. Participants will gain approaches for engaging with clients in ways that foster safety, respect, and professional confidence. Together, we will build a framework that honors lived experience while upholding ethical, grounded practice.

Each of us steps into leadership, organizing, and collaboration through a lens shaped by our own lived values - so what is the compass you’re actually steering by? When we take the time to name those values, we gain the power to align our actions, energy, and resources with what we claim matters most. In this class, we’ll explore practical exercises and share real-world moments where our values were tested, stretched, or refined on the path toward excellence. Together, we’ll look at how our principles guide not only our individual choices but also how we work beside others. Participants will leave with tools to clarify their own values and to build collaborations rooted in honesty, integrity, and shared purpose.

Across the globe, kink and sexuality conferences have multiplied - yet many feel interchangeable, leaving us unsure what city or community we’ve stepped into. What, then, makes an event truly distinctive, worth traveling for, worth believing in? As organizers, producers, educators, and community stewards, let’s clarify our values, our purpose, and the stories we want our events to tell. In this session, we’ll also get to look into diverse types of events that have happened worldwide and look at their uniqueness as a way to inspire us. Bring your ideas and bold dreams as we explore how to create events that reflect who we are - and who we aspire to become.

Available as either a 4-hour or 8-hour intensive

Have you always wanted to speak in front of a crowd but are too jittery? Perhaps you are an experienced speaker or educator who wants their lectures and presentations to stand out and be remembered? Come learn how to effectively use your voice and body language to communicate your message in a wide variety of teaching and speaking environments. From claiming space to audience empathy, use of vocal range to hiding your nervousness, we will plunge in together and come out more certain of our ability to deliver our message.

2 day intensive

From the moment a newborn is lifted into the light and declared “a boy” or “a girl,” a whole tapestry of expectations is draped across their shoulders - expectations about who they will love, how they will act, and what shape their life “should” take. However, human experience is far more intricate than those first words suggest. In this class, we’ll peel back the layers between gender, sexuality, and relationship diversity, exploring how these threads weave together in beautifully diverse ways. From cultural stories to embodied truth, from social pressure to personal liberation, let’s widen the lens and look at humanity with curiosity, compassion, and a willingness to be transformed.

Students will have the opportunity to:

• Build a clear foundation for understanding the distinctions and overlaps between gender, sexuality, relationship diversity.

• Explore why biological sex is not a simple binary and how assumptions around it shape lived experience.

• Discern how assigned, legal, and perceived gender interact - and sometimes conflict - with gender identity and gendered expression.

• Examine how culture, subculture, race, and privilege influence the stories we tell (and are told) about gender.

• Critique personal beliefs about sex, gender, and gendered behaviors and how they affect clinical, educational, and everyday situations.

• Identify how sexual orientation, behavior, and partnership choices are shaped by both internal truths and external pressures or oppression.

Buckle up for a wide-open journey into the diversity of the human experience, where we’ll dive even deeper into the nuance, beauty, and complexity of who we truly are. In doing so we can help ourselves and others find personal liberation, so let’s widen the lens and look at humanity with curiosity, compassion, and a willingness to be transformed. We can all work together to better be allies to people across the GSRD spectrum, no matter who we are.