Speaking Engagements

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Sheffa leads non-monogamy trainings for aspiring and licensed therapists and other healing professionals in North Carolina, and is available for interviews worldwide.  Contact Sheffa if you would like her to speak at your venue:

CEU Training: Introduction to Ethical Non-Monogamy for Psychotherapists

Committed partnerships can take many forms beyond the “traditional,” heterosexual, married, monogamous couple. Cohabitation, divorce leading to blended families, and gay marriage have extended our ideas about what constitutes family. An increasing number of people are open about choosing polyamory – honest, emotionally and sexually committed relationships with more than one partner. Polyamorous relationships offer new opportunities and new challenges to practitioners of both individual and partner therapy.

 Attendees at this workshop will

  • Gain an understanding of the basic concept and vocabulary of ethical non-monogamy, and of the differences between polyamory and other non-monogamous practices such as swinging and “friends with benefits.”

  • Become familiar with a range of polyamorous relationship structures and practices, including those with a primary dyad and those without.

  • Consider therapist preconceptions and misconceptions that may lead to automatic pathologizing of poly people, and reduce the likelihood of establishing a productive therapeutic relationship.

  • Learn fundamental strategies for working with poly partnerships in therapy, and understand some of the unique challenges offered by doing this work.

  • Have the opportunity to hear, raise and discuss case examples of poly people in individual and partner therapy, in instances where polyamorous relationships both are and are not the central focus of treatment.


Interviews

Listen to Sheffa’s podcast interview with Kitty Chambliss on Loving Without Boundaries

Read Sheffa's interview about working with kinky clients on the National Coalition of Sexual Freedom site.  
Interview by Inara de Luna: Therapist Sheffa Ariens Offers a "Sanctuary of Sanity" in the South