Quintimacy Bristol 2023

Bristol

Quintimacy is coming to Bristol! This has been very much in demand for folk in the South west of England. 

We will gather Saturday morning, and dive into group bonding and consent education and practice, enjoy 2 days of exploring different forms of queer intimacy and erotic embodiment, enjoy the company and community of a lovely bunch of queer folk, and say goodbye Sunday at 5pm!

What is Quintimacy?

Quintimacy® is a unique opportunity to explore intimacy, consent and erotic desire from a trans centred and queer point of view. Quintimacy is an exclusively Queer space, held by experienced and qualified professional practitioners in Somatic Sex Education, Sexological Bodywork, Yoga Therapy and Somatic Coaching. Consent and respect are at the core of the work.

Everyone is encouraged and supported to take care of their own needs and boundaries. You don't have to touch or be touched at all to be fully welcome and a part of the workshop. Whether you're an established part of the Quintimacy community, a workshop regular or brand new, you are warmly invited to share this weekend with us.

Offerings will include embodied consent exercises, touch, deep and authentic connection, deep listening and empathy, and cuddles/holds, as well as intimate and erotic embodiment and sensual touch and massage. There is a focus on gender-freeing and gender-affirming approaches to the body, including the genitals.

Levels

Quintimacy has a level 1 and a level 2 curriculum. To attend a level 2, participants must have attended a level 1. Quintimacy Bristol is a LEVEL 1 event, suitable for beginners or experienced explorers alike. A Level 2 event is happening in Manchester in October, so this is your chance to do a level 1 and will give you access to that. 

In an intimate group of around 20 participants, we will spend 2 days together...

Day 1 is all about building a sense of safety and establishing shared values and skills around communication, enthusiastic consent and learning to hold one another gently in vulnerability.

Day 2 offers the opportunity to deepen this work to include intimate or erotic touch, practices such as the Genital Interview and watching intimate and erotic bodywork demos.

Everything will be an invitation and there will always be a spectrum of possibilities for engaging with the programme, and spaces to have sanctuary such as a dens, sensory tent, and places to rest, journal, do colouring and witness the room.

Day One

On Day One we'll work carefully and with intention, supporting one another to feel into our bodies' sense of yes and no, and to communicate our boundaries and desires. The focus of this gentle trauma-informed day will be on soothing, safety and nurturing.

Day One includes time to experience:

• sharing stories

• deep listening and being heard

• conscious non-sexual touch

• embodied consent

• massage

• cuddles

This first day is a complete experience, where clothing is optional but 'pants stay on' at all times, and is suitable for those new to this work.

Day Two

Day Two offers the chance to build on these strong foundations of safety. Deepening our journey into Queer Intimacy, allowing our relationships within the group to become closer, clothing will again be optional but 'pants off’ is now an option. On Day 2 we open up the possibility to witness and share erotic touch and pleasure.

Day Two includes time to experience:

• sensual or erotic touch

• full body massage

• intimate mapping

• gender free body appreciation

• gender affirming genital exploration

• self touch

• shared touch

• watching new bodywork demos

• long, luxurious, immersive episodes of receiving an intimate and/or erotic experience with a partner/s.

• more time immersed in a brave, queer and sex positive space with your friends and peers.

Safety and Safeguarding

Beck and Skylar work to the code of conduct for Certified Sexological Bodyworkers (CSBs) and the Quintimacy weekend is held on the basis of these ways of working, which are deeply consent-based and trauma-informed.

We ask all attendees to use barriers (nitrile gloves) for body fluids, following the same hygiene protocol that CSB's use in our work. This applies even if you are attending and working with a fluid bonded partner, and this is keep the space clean.

We take a number of steps to ensure that people attending the event are able and willing to create a consent culture together and this might mean turning people away on occasion if we don't feel there is a good fit at this time. The team are all operating under some agreement about ethical boundaries between us and attendees. There are anonymous ways to report any consent violations or accidents that you believe occur at a Quintimacy event. If you have any concerns, please approach Beck or Skylar to discuss at the nearest opportunity.

There are Group Agreements that detail how we behave at Quintimacy events to create the most conducive environment for doing this important work. These are sent out to participants in the weeks before the event.

Attending solo or as a pair

You can attend Quintimacy alone, and not know anyone (yet), or with a friend or a partner. You can choose to work with your partner exclusively, or not. Each person attending will need to purchase a ticket.

Venue

The venue is on the outskirts of Bristol and accessible on public transport. There are amble accessible, gender neutral toilets for our use. The venue is wheelchair accessible.

The venue is the Bristol Arts Mansion, Ashton Court Estate, Long Ashton, Bristol BS41 9JN

Cost

Tickets are offered on a sliding scale, depending on your income and financial situation. Most people should pay the STANDARD ticket, so please look at this first and consider if you can afford to pay this. If you are on a low income/marginalised in various ways and unable to afford the Standard ticket, you are welcome to purchase a SUBSIDISED ticket. The only way we can afford to offer subsidised tickets is if people support by paying extra when they can, and this is where generous supporters come in! If you can afford to buy a SUPPORTERS ticket, we would be very grateful. Also, on any ticket tier you have the option of adding an extra amount to support.

Sponsored places

If you really are unable to afford the lowest price, subsidised ticket and feel called to be at this event, we are offering a maximum of 2 SPONSORED places where we negotiate how much you can afford to pay for 2 days. Priority will be given to QTBIPOC/disabled people/people with multiple intersecting marginalised identities. If you want to express an interest in one of these places, please email Beck on info@quintimacy.com.

Getting to know you!

Feel free to book your ticket. If you do not know Skylar or Beck and have not attended a Quintimacy event before, I will invite you to organise a brief zoom chat with one of us. If you or I decide the event is not a good fit for you after this call, you will be offered a full refund of any ticket you have purchased.

Cancellations

Cancellations 28 days before event - a full refund (minus all booking fees) will be offered.

Cancellations 14 days or more before event - 50% refund (minus all booking fees) or option to transfer whole amount to a future event.

Cancellations less than 14 days before event - I regret no refunds can be given.

Unfortunately, no refunds can be offered once the event has started, if you decide to leave for any reason or in the case we ask someone to leave for any reason.

Refunds are done via BACS (bank transfer) and we would require your bank details to complete this.

Instalments

In some circumstances we can offer for you to pay your chosen sliding scale ticket in instalments to make it easier to manage the costs of the event. The full balance must be paid 14 days before the start of the event. The cancellation policy applies to all payments made by instalments.

If you wish to pay by instalments, please contact us as soon as possible on info@quintimacy.com and tell us whether you are paying standard, subsidised or supporter ticket fee. Please also tell us when you will make your payments and of how much (ensuring full payment has been received 14 days before the event starts). We will create an access code to purchase a free ticket so you are registered in our ticket system.

COVID

As with previous Quintimacy events, we prioritise the safety and wellbeing of the group. We take sensible precautions such as asking participants NOT to attend if you have cold/flu symptoms, to consider doing an LFT test the morning of the event, and use hand sanitisers etc.

Unfortunately, we cannot offer refunds to people who cannot attend due to illness or COVID, but may be able to offer you a subsidised place on a future event.

Food

Hot/cold drinks and snacks will be provided, including vegan snacks and fruit. We are inviting you to ‘bring and share’ vegan or vegetarian food for lunch on each day (there are kitchen facilities including a fridge, and microwave to heat food). If you prefer you can bring your own lunch. There are no local grocery or food shops due to the location.

On a previous Quintimacy, in the evenings, people arranged to go out to eat in local restaurants together, or maybe you will prefer a quiet meal at your accommodation.

Accommodation

We are unable to arrange accommodation locally but will set up a Facebook group for participants to arrange sharing accommodation, travel, and maybe a meal on Saturday night.

There will be a private Facebook page for the event where you can make arrangements with others. (As with everything we offer, engaging with this is optional.)

Facilitators

Beck Thom (of Quintimacy/Somatic Sex Educator) and Skylar Haven (of Queer Somatics) will be holding the space for us on these two days.

Beck Thom is a Somatic Sex Educator and Certified Sexological Bodyworker. They are experienced in delivering online and in-person workshops for queer and trans people around embodiment, sex and pleasure. They work in a trauma-informed, consent-based way and aim to create spaces where together we develop enough safety and trust for intimate and transformative work to happen. Beck is a registered member of Association of Certified Sexological Bodyworkers and is fully insured.

Skylar Haven (they/them), is based in The Netherlands and aims to create spaces with healing potential for folks - especially queer and trans folks - to gently explore loving, trusting and enjoying their body. They identify as queer and trans non-binary and are a certified yoga therapist, somatic coach and Certified Sexological Bodyworker and support folks with topics related to sex, health and wellness. They are the founder of Queer Somatics and some of the key themes in their work include: embodiment, rest, pleasure, and self-compassion.