When Therapy Gets Spicy Part 2: Clinical Deep Dive

Sex, sexuality, gender and relationship structure are frequent themes in cultural discourse, but how often do they move from subtext to explicit conversation in therapy? Chances are, both you and your clients are thinking about these topics more than you're talking about them. This training explores the complex, often unspoken dynamics that shape the therapeutic space, especially when it comes to identity, desire, and relational diversity.

In this second session navigating sex and sexuality in the therapy room, we’ll focus on clinical applications. Therapists—especially those practicing in urban and culturally diverse communities—often encounter sexualities and relationships that differ significantly from what we were taught in graduate school, and often from our own lived experience. This workshop is grounded in the belief that therapy becomes more effective when we understand what we bring into the room.

Grounded in Howard Bacal’s Specificity Theory and Sari van Anders’ Sexual Configurations Theory, and held within the broader frame of contemporary psychoanalysis, this workshop explores how therapists can more fully and flexibly show up for their clients. Through clinical material from both the presenter and attendees, we’ll move beyond theory into real-world application.

A limited number of attendees will be given the opportunity to present a case for discussion. If you are interested in this, please email the workshop organizer prior to the event.

This workshop is open to clinicians at all stages of career, and the first session is NOT a prerequisite. Even if you missed the first one -- come!

Learning Objectives

By the end of this training, participant will be able to:

1. Describe how their personal experiences related to sex, sexuality, gender, and relationships may influence the therapeutic process.
2. Demonstrate increased skill in recognizing and navigating the intersection of therapist and client subjectivities in clinical work.
3. Identify the most common DSM-5 diagnoses related to sexual dysfunctions and gender dysphoria, and compare them with alternative, affirming frameworks for understanding human sexuality and gender diversity.
4. Describe common alternative relationship structures and alternative sexual practices/identities, and apply strategies for working with clients from these communities with greater cultural responsiveness and clinical nuance.
   

Optional Reading

Provided upon registration
Bacal, H. A. (2011). Specificity Theory: The Evolution of a Process Theory of Psychoanalytic Treatment. American Imago, 68(2), 267–285.

van Anders S. M. (2015). Beyond Sexual Orientation: Integrating Gender/Sex and Diverse Sexualities via Sexual Configurations Theory. Archives of sexual behavior, 44(5), 1177–1213.

Iantaffi, A., Barker, M.-J., Scheele, J. (ill.), & van Anders, S. M. (2018). Mapping your sexuality: From sexual orientation to sexual configurations theory [Zine; PDF]. Queen’s University, van Anders Lab.

Instructor Credentials

Greg Kilpatrick, LMFT, CST is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Certified Sex Therapist (AASECT) in private practice in Pasadena, California. He specializes in working with clients navigating sexuality, gender, religious trauma, and alternative relationship structures, with a particular focus on queer individuals, people recovering from purity culture or religious fundamentalism, and those exploring kink or non-monogamy.

Greg’s clinical approach is relational, affirming, and grounded in a deep respect for complexity, particularly the messy intersections of identity, desire, and belief. He has advanced training in sex therapy, alt-sex and alt-relationship frameworks, and religious trauma, and these areas form the core of both his clinical and research work.

In addition to his practice, Greg teaches and facilitates trainings for mental health professionals on working with sexuality and relational diversity. He is a member of the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists and is committed to expanding cultural responsiveness and clinical nuance around topics that are often under-discussed, especially in the therapy room.