This presentation will address the question of "cultural competence" for therapists and counselors - what should a mental healthcare provider know about BDSM sexuality and the kink community? How do we train the next generation of therapists to give competence care? What does the BDSM/leather/kink community need to know about the profession of therapy and counseling?
Additional areas of interest will be covered, per your interests. Find out what you can do to make your small event into a huge success.
How you will benefit from this presentation:
Attendees will understand the therapeutic issues specific to our needs and standards of cultural competence. Attendees will also walk away with resources of how to network and conduct training of mental health providers in their areas and communities.
How this presentation will arouse you:
We have a right to insist that therapists receive training in our lifestyles. How do we do this? Our lives are at stake!
About the presenters:
Author Dossie Easton is a licensed marriage and family therapist, and an educator about our lifestyles since 1973. She presents at workshops and conferences internationally, and she currently has a private practice in San Francisco. A certified supervisor and accredited CEU provider, she trains therapists to offer culturally competent therapy to BDSM clients. One of her latest published works is a chapter entitled "Shadowplay: S/M Journeys to Our Selves" in Langdridge and Barker's "Safe, Sane and Consensual: Contemporary Perspectives on Sadomasochism" published in December 2007.
David Ortmann is psychotherapist and sex therapist in private practice in San Francisco. His area of clinical focus and study is the sexuality of leather, BDSM, kink and fetish communities. David has presented on this subject locally and nationally, and as an author, he has been published in journals, magazines, and anthologies of fiction and non-fiction. He assisted in the development of the Community-Academic Consortium for Research on Alternative Sexualities (CARAS) at the 9th annual Leather Leadership Conference in 2005 in Phoenix Arizona, and serves currently on the CARAS Board.