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COURSE DESCRIPTION
This 4-hour continuing education course provides mental health professionals with an introductory framework for understanding the kink and BDSM community, aimed at fostering more informed, respectful, and affirming clinical practice. Participants will gain insight into core concepts, terminology, and common relationship dynamics, while exploring motivations for participation, community norms, and practices related to consent, safety, and vetting. The course will also examine diverse subcommunities, cultural contexts, and evolving aspects of kink, including the role of technology and altered states. Attention will be given to the relationship between kink and trauma, as well as the historical pathologization of kink and current DSM-5 distinctions. Emphasis will be placed on clinical guidelines, ethical considerations, and case-based application to support nonjudgmental, culturally competent, and sex-positive care, including the potential for healing, connection, and meaning-making within kink.
This presentation will assist licensees in treating clients in an ethical and clinically sound manner by increasing cultural awareness, reducing bias, and providing clinically relevant guidance for working with clients who engage in kink or BDSM practices. Attendees will develop a stronger understanding of consent frameworks, safety practices, and community norms, and will learn to differentiate consensual kink from abuse or pathology. Through the integration of clinical guidelines, ethical considerations, and case-based application, participants will be better prepared to avoid common missteps, assess client needs with greater accuracy, and practice within their scope of competence. This training supports clinicians in delivering respectful, affirming, and culturally competent care to diverse client populations, including those within the kink community.
Presenter Jennifer Rehor, LMFT, CST, CST-S will be joined by a team of licensed psychotherapists from ATC, including Sandra Koellmann, LCSW, CST (AASECT Certified Sex Therapist); Skyler “Skye” White, LMFT, PATC (Certified Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy Provider); and Kelly Goldsteinholm, LMFT. Together, they bring diverse clinical perspectives and offer an engaging, evidence-informed training grounded in real-world practice, supervision, and applied clinical experience.
EDUCATIONAL GOAL
This course is designed to introduce mental health professionals to the foundational concepts needed to better understand and support clients who engage in or identify with kink and BDSM practices and relationships.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Attendees will be able to:
- Define key concepts, terminology, and common relationship dynamics within kink and BDSM.
- Describe community norms and practices related to consent, safety, vetting, and participation, including the diversity of subcommunities and cultural contexts.
- Apply clinical guidelines and ethical considerations to support affirming, culturally competent care for kink-identified clients, including differentiating kink from pathology and identifying when consultation or referral is clinically appropriate.
OUTLINE/OTHER DETAILS
Title: Understanding the Kink Community: A Culturally Sensitive Overview for Mental Health Professionals
When: Monday, August 17, 2026
Location: Virtual Zoom Meeting (link will be sent in registration confirmation and reminder emails)
Time Breakdown:
11:30am-2:00pm: CE Presentation
2:00pm-2:30pm: Break
2:30pm-4:00pm: CE Presentation
- Introduction to BDSM and Kink: terminology, motivations, and common relationship dynamics
- Community, Culture, and Safety: subcommunities, consent, vetting, and community resources
- Psychological and Historical Context: altered states, trauma, and past DSM classifications
- Clinical Practice and Ethics: current guidelines, scope of practice, consultation/referral, and case discussion
- Modern Developments and Integration: technology, evolving relationship formats, therapeutic potential, and meaning-making
- Q&A and Closing Reflections
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TARGET AUDIENCE
This event is for mental health professionals.
COST
$60 for Chapter Members
$99 for Non-Members
$20 for Pre-Licensed and Students
Guests allowed! If a member or interested in becoming a member, please register independently.
Refund/Cancellation Policy
ACCOMODATIONS & GRIEVANCES
Please email the Education Chair and visit our website for policies.
CERTIFICATES
Course Completion certificates will be awarded electronically in exchange for a completed evaluation form. Please make sure the Program Administrator has your correct email.
Course meets the qualifications for 4 hours of continuing education credit for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and LEPs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. Partial credit will not be awarded.
Participants must be present for the entire length of the workshop to be awarded credit. Participants will not be given CE credit if they are more than 15 minutes late and/or do not stay for the entire length of the workshop.
This course is provided by the San Diego Chapter of the California association of marriage and family therapists (Provider #57330) is approved by the California association of marriage and family therapists to sponsor continuing education for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and LEPs. San Diego chapter of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists maintains responsibility for the program and all its content.
Please email the CE Chair.
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