Led by Margaret Nichols, PhD,
and Suzanne Iasenza, PhD


This is an on-demand webinar. The presentation was broadcast live on Friday, October 15, 2021
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LGBTQ+ has become one of today’s most popular acronyms. The latest Gallup Poll finds that 5.6% of Americans overall — including one in six Gen Z people — identify as LGBT. Furthermore, 4% of adults are in open relationships engaging in consensual non-monogamy. And nearly half of adults are involved in some form of ‘kinky’ sex (BDSM) with many more fantasizing about it. In addition, 1% of the population identifies as ‘asexual’.
The typical graduate school experience may touch upon lesbian and gay people, but other ‘non-normative’ populations are rarely discussed, and may be framed in pathologizing terms.
In this workshop, we assume that sex/gender/relationship diversity is normal. You will learn about all types of LGBTQ+ clients and how their sexuality and relationship styles differ from heteronormative standards. We will discuss how these different populations came to be viewed as part of the LGBTQ+ community and what they have in common.
After this webinar, you will understand how to approach LGBTQ+ clients respectfully, how to help them, how to find resources, and when to refer to someone with more expertise. You will leave with expanded knowledge about populations that grad school didn’t prepare you for!
At the conclusion of the workshop, attendees will be better able to —
- Understand the evolution of the gay community to include many other sex, gender, and relationship-diverse people
- Know how same sex couples differ from mixed sex couples, and how gay male and lesbian sexuality differs from heteronormative sexuality
- Comprehend bisexuality, pansexuality, sexual fluidity, and asexuality
- Understand transgender, nonbinary, and gender fluid people and their sexual concerns
- Define BDSM and distinguish between kinky sex and abuse
- Enumerate several types of consensual non-monogamy, including polyamory, and some issues particular to CNM
Margaret Nichols, PhD, is a psychologist, AASECT certified sex therapy supervisor, and WPATH certified GEI provider. She is also the founder and first Executive Director of the Institute for Personal Growth. This psychotherapy organization in New Jersey specializes in sex therapy and other clinical work with the sex, relationship, and gender-diverse community.
Dr. Nichols is the author of The Modern Clinician’s Guide to Working with LGBTQ+ Clients: The Inclusive Psychotherapist. She is an international speaker on LGBTQ+ issues and the author of many articles and papers on LGBTQ+ sexuality, transgender youth, and kink and consensual non-monogamy.
Margaret is also the co-director of the Modern Sex Therapy Institute’s certification program in transgender affirmative mental health care. She currently works independently through Nichols Counseling and Psychotherapy in Jersey City, NJ.
Suzanne Iasenza, PhD, is faculty member of the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy (ICP) in New York, the Ackerman Institute for the Family, and the Adelphi University Derner Institute’s Postgraduate Program in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. She also teaches at the Westchester Center for the Study of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy and the Family Institute of Westchester. She maintains a private practice in psychotherapy and sex therapy in New York. Her latest book, Transforming Sexual Narratives: A Relational Approach to Sex Therapy was published by Routledge.
Time | Topic Covered |
First 90 minutes |
|
15 minutes |
|
Last 90 Minutes |
|
This training offers 3 hours of direct contact (not counting breaks or lunch). It is the participant’s responsibility to check with their individual state boards/regulatory body to verify CE requirements for their license to practice.
For Live Broadcast Attendees
Webinar attendance by participants is automatically tracked, documented and archived for future reference. Upon confirming you have attended 100% of the webinar and upon completion of a course evaluation, you will be issued a certificate of participation (see below).
For Attendees of On Demand/Recorded Version
If you cannot verify 100% attendance of the Live Broadcast or if you are watching the On Demand/recorded version of this webinar, you will need to complete a Post-Webinar Quiz with a pass of at least 80% in order to verify your attendance.
For US Participants
- Continuing Education Credit is pending approval through Commonwealth Educational Seminars for these following professions.
- Instructions on how obtaining your Certificate of Attendance will be distributed either upon completion of the Live Broadcast or after participants pass the Post-Webinar Quiz following the On Demand recorded version of the webinar.
For more general info about CEs for US Participants, please click here.
For Canadian and International participants
Upon fulfillment of the above requirements, Canadian and international participants will be issued a Certificate of Participation which features:
- Name of Participant
- Title of Training
- Name of Presenter plus their credentials
- Number of hours of training
- Date of training
- Confirmation that you have passed a quiz with at least 80% grade to verify your attendance
Please check carefully with your regulating body/organization that this certificate is sufficient proof for you to claim CEUs.
For general information about Continuing Education for Canadians and International participants, please click here.
This training is aimed at all mental health professionals including:
- social workers
- counsellors
- psychologists
- psychiatrists
- medical professionals supporting mental health patients
- psychotherapists
- mental health counsellors
- marriage and family therapists and counsellors
- occupational therapists
- vocational rehabilitation therapists
- addiction counsellors
- religious counsellors
- therapists
- case managers
- art therapists
- licensed professional counsellors
- all other professionals who would like to develop, update or expand their skills and knowledge in mental health practices
Webinar Rate | CAD$139 / USD$110 |
All pricing is in CAD$. The USD$ equivalent is about 30% less than CAD$, click here to estimate webinar rate before taxes in your local currency.