BISEXUALITY AND SEXUAL FLUIDITY: EXPLORING THE SEXUAL SPECTRUM

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This training may be taken on its own or as part of a 5-day series leading to a: Certificate in Diversity within Contemporary Relationships, more info can be found here: Certificate in Diversity within Contemporary Relationships

Dates : Saturday 20th February 2027

Times: 9.30am – 4.30pm (GMT – UK time) with a 45 minute break for lunch and 2 other short breaks. Please log on for 9.15am for prompt 9.30am start.

Trainer : Saquib Ahmad , scroll down to see more about the trainer

Location : Online

Cost : £110 if booked by 20th December 2026,
£125 if booked by 20th January 2027,
£140 full price

We now offer protection against cancellation. This must be purchased within 48 hours of booking the workshop. Click here for more info

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If your booking is accepted that means there was space for you. If it is full, email sambaker.pa@gmail.com to join the ‘reserve list’. Then, if anyone drops out we will notify you, if there is a ‘last minute’ place for you. We will also let you know when we plan a new date.

Please note, that the general rules of engagement of the profession (confidentiality etc) apply when attending this workshop.

This seminar may be taken on its own or as part of a 5-day series leading to a: Certificate in Diversity within Contemporary Relationships

BISEXUALITY AND SEXUAL FLUIDITY: EXPLORING THE SEXUAL SPECTRUM

Bisexuality remains one of the most misunderstood and frequently overlooked sexual identities – including within LGBTQ+ spaces and within psychotherapy.

Despite growing recognition that sexuality does not always fit neatly into heterosexual or homosexual categories, bisexual people can still find themselves navigating a world that expects sexuality to be fixed, binary and easily defined. Bisexuality may be dismissed as a phase, interpreted as confusion, or assumed to change according to the gender of a person’s current partner.

This workshop moves beyond these binary understandings to explore bisexuality, pansexuality and sexual fluidity as part of a broader spectrum of human sexuality.

Drawing on queer-affirming, intersectional and anti-oppressive approaches, we will consider the distinctions between sexual identity, attraction, behaviour and relationships, recognising that these do not always align and may change across a person’s lifetime.

Particular attention will be given to bisexual erasure and invisibility, including the experience of being perceived as heterosexual or gay depending upon the relationship someone is currently in. We will explore how biphobia can operate both within heterosexual society and LGBTQ+ communities, and the psychological consequences of repeatedly having one’s identity questioned, minimised or rendered invisible.

The workshop will also consider sexuality through an intersectional lens. Culture, faith, gender, race, family and community can profoundly shape how sexuality is understood and expressed. For some clients, bisexuality or sexual fluidity may create particular identity conflicts when different aspects of the self are experienced as incompatible. Rather than assuming that therapy requires choosing between identities, we will consider how therapists can support clients towards integration, self-acceptance and a more coherent sense of self.

Throughout the day we will use clinical discussion and case material to explore how these issues may present within individual, relationship and psychosexual therapy.

By the end of the workshop you will have:

Explored bisexuality, pansexuality and sexual fluidity within the wider spectrum of sexuality.
Considered the differences between identity, attraction, sexual behaviour and relationship configuration, and how these may or may not align.
Explored bisexual erasure, biphobia and minority stress, including experiences occurring within LGBTQ+ communities.
Considered how sexuality can evolve and change across different stages of a person’s life without automatically invalidating previous identities or experiences.
Explored the intersection of bisexuality with gender, culture, faith, race and other aspects of identity.
Considered identity conflict and how therapists can support clients who experience different aspects of themselves as incompatible.
Examined assumptions and biases therapists may hold about bisexuality, monogamy, relationships and sexual identity.
Considered bisexuality and sexual fluidity within individual, couple and multi-partner relationship work.
Applied queer-affirming, intersectional and anti-oppressive principles to clinical case studies.
Developed greater confidence in working therapeutically with bisexual, pansexual and sexually fluid clients without pathologising, minimising or imposing fixed identity labels.

This workshop is intended to provide a space in which we can move beyond simply adding another letter to the LGBTQ+ acronym and instead consider what bisexuality and sexual fluidity ask us to reconsider about sexuality itself.

Please note that the usual professional rules of engagement, including confidentiality and respectful discussion of clinical material, apply throughout the workshop.

Trainer : Saquib Ahmad

Saquib is a Consultant Psychotherapist and founder of Fighting Fear, where his work centres on complex trauma, LGBTQIA+ mental health and inclusive, culturally informed therapy. He is also Deputy Clinical Lead at Total Wellbeing Luton and a published author, contributing chapters on therapeutic work with people from religious backgrounds navigating identity conflicts relating to their queer identities. His wider work spans clinical practice, supervision, education and LGBTQIA+ advocacy.

Saquib is pronounced sack-kib.

BSc Biomedical Sciences, PGCert in Psychological interventions PGDip in CBT, EMDR accredited

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Who should attend : This course is open to all counsellors, psychotherapists, psychosexual therapists, coaches and health workers who wish to deepen their thinking and understanding of kink.

Maximum Number : 30

APPROVED FOR CPD : This course has been accredited by NCIP- National Council Of Integrative Psychotherapists. A Certificate of Attendance form for Continuous Professional Development for 5 hours will be sent by email once you have filled in the feedback form.

OUR EXPECTATION : Is that you will attend this workshop for the full length of the course, have your video on, your mobile off, and fully participate.

There are some online talks on zoom that allow you to come and go, or to choose not to participate in the exercise and breakout rooms. This culture has started to creep into our workshops. We have even had people say they want to leave to go and pick up children from school or walk their dog! People dropping in and out is very disruptive – especially when there may be group exercises that are planned for the same group to participate in a number of times.

Because of this, we want to be clear about our expectations. This workshop has been planned with the assumption that you, and everyone else, will attend for the full time. If you book on this workshop we expect you to: be there for the whole workshop, participate in the breakout rooms, and have your video switched on. Please also put your mobile to one side and on silent, only checking your phone during breaks.

SOMETHING WE ALL NEED TO BEAR IN MIND
When powerful feelings are revealed and processed, it is not unusual that our own psychological issues are triggered and flow into the mix. Wilfred Bion is a respected name in the world of group working. He wrote extensively and cogently on issues that invariably occur in groups. We would like to agree basic guidelines with you – based on his findings – to ensure the success of our work together. Bion’s central focus was the disruption (he called it ‘resistance’) that may arise within a group that shifts it away from its agreed task. Our focus, our agreed task for this workshop is NOT therapy for the members or to criticise others.

Our agreed task is to offer teaching and learning related to diversity within contemporary relationships.

To this end, our Certificate in Diversity within Contemporary Relationships welcomes and needs people to be courageous, and examine prejudice with tolerance and a minimum of defensiveness. We need our workshops to be safe spaces, where participants can be vulnerable and supported if they make mistakes, as we all do. We would like to remind you that we work within UK law and ethics (Gender Recognition, Equalities Act, MOU and Race) and will not tolerate non-compliance in any way. We wholeheartedly support people courageously stepping forward, and anyone who is critical of this will not be welcome on this training and may be asked to leave.

CANCELLATIONS : Any request to change (e.g. defer to alternative dates) or cancel your place at a workshop, that is made at less than 21 days before the course start date will be charged in full. Any cancellation / amendments / requests to defer before 21 days, will be subject to a 12.5% handling charge.

Organised through Sleeping Mountain Ltd