The Empowered Talk Series: #2 The Art of Disclosure

Welcome to the second installment of our Empowered Talk series! - A series of online workshops on empowering safer-s/ex conversations. This workshop is a follow on from our first workshop: Destigmatising Herpes. We are now broadening the topic to include any sexual health issue. Despite how common sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are, people still struggle to talk about them.

This time we are focusing on the Art of Disclosure. 

There are many ways you can disclose your sexual health status to others, but we appreciate that this is not always easy to do. We recognise the courage it takes for someone with an STI with no known cure to communicate this to another. We want to support everybody to understand the process a person undertakes to get to the point of speaking their truth, so this can be honoured as sacred and precious, because it is!

We also believe that safer-s/ex conversations are co-creations, where we learn to embrace one another in a way that is reciprocal, respectful and honourable of both parties, whilst also recognising that the responsibility is shared. 

Emerald and Kell have personal experience of these issues and are using their knowledge, experience and expertise to empower one another to have the most healthy safer s/ex conversations. 

You will have the opportunity to explore the art of communicating more deeply around sharing information that might bring about feelings such as anxiety, shame, discomfort and embarrassment. 

This workshop is suitable for everybody and is run from a trauma informed perspective, for people who have an STI, for people who have ever had one and for people who may get one in the future. 

During this workshop there is an opportunity to learn how to communicate from a more regulated perspective whilst your body is experiencing higher sensations and potentially overwhelm. We will support you to speak from a more grounded place where you can feel empowered to speak your truth. 

This is a group and individual process, with the opportunity to practice in break out rooms of three.

Emerald and Kell are passionate about creating permission to talk about sexually transmitted infections, so we can begin to normalise it and empower one another to have the best safer-s/ex conversations, to break the stigma and to be s/ex positive!

This event is for you if:
- You have ever had, have or might ever have an STI.
- You want to build your confidence in having a safer s/ex conversation.
- You want to learn more about how to disclose to potential partners.
- You want to learn how to manage big feelings when talking about personal, challenging topics
- You want a space to practice these conversations with other open-hearted individuals.
- You want to learn how to be more inclusive in your sex positive communities.

What is an STI?
“Sexually Transmitted Infections include more than 30 different bacteria, viruses and parasites are known to be transmitted through sexual contact. Eight of these pathogens are linked to the greatest incidence of sexually transmitted disease. Of these 8 infections, 4 are currently curable: syphilis, gonorrhoea, chlamydia and trichomoniasis. The other 4 are viral infections which are incurable: hepatitis B, herpes simplex virus (HSV or herpes), HIV, and human papillomavirus (HPV)”
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/sexually-transmitted-infections-(stis) 

Our workshops include embodiment practices for grounding and small group work activities. These are not requirements, but invitations.

Your hosts:
We are one of those happy stories to have come from 2020!
Kell and Emerald haven't actually met in the flesh (yet!) but co-facilitated a series of workshops together as part of the teaching team for Seani Love's Level Up online course during lockdown in the UK. They both work for The School of Erotic Mysteries and are excited about bringing their collaborations to the world.

Kell Mara is an intimacy coach and educator. She facilitates powerful transformations with her clients who wish to create new blueprints for deeper intimacy in their lives. Kell is acutely aware that core wounds and trauma can be triggered when working with intimacy, thus her work is trauma-informed, supporting her clients towards integration and empowerment.

Kell is also a HSV+ sex-positive activist and her work includes dismantling STI stigma and supporting people to have the sex and relationships they want, through empowering safer-sex conversations and personal healing.

Emerald’s calling is to support all beings to embody radical self-acceptance and self-expression. She believes if we live from a place of listening to our body’s wisdom and truth, knowing our own boundaries plus having the courage to speak them, we can open the doors to living a more meaningful life, remembering who we really are.

Using deep personal enquiry through sexuality as a conduit to this transformational work, she works as an HSV+ sacred sexuality educator and conscious kink practitioner and is currently training as a sexological bodyworker. Emerald is also co-founder of Vermilion, a wellbeing community that celebrates and cultivates Eros as life force energy.
 

Zoom link will be provided on ticket purchase.

We have one more workshop as part of the series:
Monday 26th October - The Art of Holding Space 

Please contact us if you have any questions ♥

REFUNDS POLICY: Please note, we do not arrange refunds or exchanges. When possible we encourage reselling on Ticketswap.

ACCESS:  We do our best to include everyone in our events, regardless of health circumstances. If you have access requirements please email the event organiser directly to discuss. Many facilitators are able to offer reduced ticket prices for those truly unable to afford the ticket price. If this applies to you, do please get in touch with the event organiser.

For PSYCHEDELIC KNOWLEDGE AND RESOURCES please check out the Psychedelic Society website. 

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