By Essie Shachar-Hill, LCSW
Theoretically, the therapy room is a space where clients can discuss anything with their psychotherapist — including intimate issues related to sexuality. In practice, however, many clinicians do not have the training or tools to navigate conversations about sex and erotic practices with sensitivity and competence. This gap in knowledge is not necessarily intentional but does point to a lack of training provided by graduate programs. Beyond the lack of training on general human sexuality is, of course, a huge gap in training on marginalized sexual experiences. Research shows that most clinicians received no training in sexual diversity, asexuality, transgender experiences, kink/BDSM, polyamory, and other sexual behaviors or relationships viewed as “non-normative” (Miller & Byers, 2010; Sarrel, Sarrel, & Faraclas, 1982).
A Need for Training for MH Professionals
The impact of this lack of training in the mental health field is palpable. At LifeWorks Psychotherapy Center in Chicago, Illinois, therapists often see clients who have previously experienced discrimination or biased attitudes from therapists due to their sexuality or kink/BDSM identity or activities, polyamorous relationship constellations. Clinicians who lack expansive training on sexuality can hold biases and judgements that they explicitly or implicitly communicate to clients. Many clients who are kinky, polyamorous, sex workers, or LGBTQ are then put in the position of educating the therapist on their identities.
“I had been searching for a way to hone my therapeutic skills without having to pay a school a small fortune or quit my full-time job. The Green House was able to meet that criteria and allow me to be a part of a team of dynamic therapists in a progressive practice. I am getting one-on-one weekly supervision, small group weekly training, and the chance to have a caseload of clients; I don’t know of any other program that provides that.”
Filling the Gap
LifeWorks specializes in providing therapy directly to LGBTQ, kinky, polyamorous, and sex worker clients. While we were providing affirmative and culturally sensitive psychotherapy ourselves, over eight years ago our founders realized there was still a need for more affirming & knowledgeable clinicians in Chicagoland as a whole. To meet this need, and ultimately out of a sense of love for and accountability to the marginalized communities we serve, LifeWorks developed a yearlong fellowship training program for post-graduate clinicians. In 2016, the Green House fellowship [https://www.lifeworkspsychotherapy.com/greenhouse-clinical-fellowship/ ] was born, and it is still going strong eight years later.
Fellows in the Green House program receive a year of tuition-free training and weekly supervision, plus they are compensated for clinical hours. Curriculum topics include clinical work with polyamory and consensual nonmonogamy, kink and BDSM, transgender identities and experiences, and more. Fellows learn to navigate their own personal and professional identities in small communities, as well as investigating personal biases and how they show up in the therapy room. For example, fellows learn about clinical issues facing kinky clients such as the impacts of pathologizing kink, the intersections of kink and trauma, internalized oppression and shame, communicating consent, intersecting social identities, and more.
Affirming & Inclusive Setting
The Green House faculty are clinicians with personal and professional experience with kink, sex work, polyamory, gender and more. The fellowship’s experiential approach to learning has fellows providing therapy for clients within the community (under supervision with experienced and knowledgeable licensed supervisors). The fellows also participate in site visits to local kink institutions, like the Chicago Leather Archives and Museum. This experiential modality, paired with didactic seminars and immersion in an explicitly kink and polyamory affirming training space, supports the clinical fellows in their journey to becoming compassionate, knowledgeable, and affirming clinicians for kinky and polyamorous clients.
“The Green House fellowship was incredibly transformative in many ways. I learned so much more about gender and sexuality, polyamory, kink, and sex work, and how to explore these identities from a depth perspective. I found community in my cohort and grew in my therapist identity. The support I was given through supervision, my cohort, and the staff helped me feel more confident as a therapist and more connected to the work.”
The next Green House cohort begins in January 2024. Applications are opening in August 2023. If you are a clinician looking for a truly unique and supportive training experience focused on serving sexual minorities, please join the Green House Programs Manager, Essie Shachar-Hill, LCSW at a virtual informational session about the fellowship on July 22, 2023. You can register here [https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUofuGgqDItE9V33Ao56XU6bFsLEjhYEvlg] , or email Essie directly at essie@lifeworkspsychotherapy.com.