By Ruby B Johnson LCSW Talia scheduled an appointment to determine “what is needed to help her decide if she can be in an open relationship?” I asked Talia several inquisitive questions about the “when, what, and how” of her journey prior to sitting in my office. She informed me …
by Elisabeth Sheff, PhD, CASA, CSE CEO, Sheff Consulting Why? A few reasons people choose to come out are: · Increased intimacy – Hiding important relationships means closing off parts of your life, and being honest about significant things allows greater authenticity and emotional connection. · Explanation for person in …
by Ruby B Johnson LCSW “Inviting others in is the practice of accepting the discomfort of fear.” -Ruby Johnson The Myth What does “good at poly” mean? I hear this statement often. The scenario that typically precedes this self-judging statement is the person criticizing their own feelings of “jealousy, envy, …
by Keely Kolmes, Psy.D. In the fall of 2009, I started Bay Area Open Minds a clinician networking group for psychotherapists and psychotherapy students who affirm that sexual and gender diversity are natural expressions of the human experience. Our psychotherapy practices welcome and serve clients who engage in consensual sexual …
A look at Lawrence v. Texas and Doe v. George Mason U By Richard O. Cunningham, Esq. NCSF Legal Counsel In Doe v. George Mason University, the District Court judge’s discussion of BDSM and of Lawrence v. Texas—which is an opinion, not a ruling—is yet another example of how …
Make Sex Easy by Charlie Glickman I was at a discussion group recently and someone shared a term that I hadn’t heard before: consent accidents. This is a really valuable nuance in the ongoing conversations about consent and nurturance culture because it recognizes that there’s a difference between a consent …
By Liz Harrison Running a BDSM group is a time-consuming endeavor that requires two levels of communication and diplomacy – one within the kink community, and one with the municipal authorities where the group actually meets. That is assuming that the group in question does engage in quasi-public kink …
By Russell J. Stambaugh, PhD, DST, CSSP Pink Therapy is a British kink education and therapy group. They have been known to attend the Community-Academic Consortium for Research on Alternative Sexualities annual conference, which will next meet immediately prior to the 2016 Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco, September 24. …
The Elephant in the Hot Tub By Russell Stambaugh For Kink Aware Professionals. Like everything on this blog, context matters. So if you find yourself acutely uncomfortable with a client’s material, what you do depends on when, where, and how it comes up. Some of these suggestions will not be …
The Journal of Positive Sexuality by D J Williams, PhD One of my favorite things about the field of social work has been its strong interconnections with other fields of study, including a full range of social and behavioral sciences. Social work formally utilizes a generalist approach, thus workers are trained …
