Where can I get training to become an Intimacy Professional?

Before we open up the conversation about training, it’s important to understand what it actually takes to be a qualified or certified intimacy professional… according to SAG-AFTRA’s Standards and Protocols for Intimacy Coordinators, Intimacy Professionals should have training in the following areas of knowledge:

• Consent training

• Anti-harassment/anti-sexual harassment training

• Movement coaching and masking techniques

• Proper use of modesty garments and barriers

• Mediation or conflict resolution training

• Gender identity & sexual orientation training

• Anti-racist/EDI training

• Bystander intervention

• Mental health first aid, trauma stewardship, or related training

We get asked a lot of questions to do open community workshops very frequently. At this time, Consent Creatives of Arizona serves as a consulting body which houses the Arizona Intimacy Professionals Directory as well as additional resources for those wanting to work with a qualified intimacy professional. At this time, it is beyond our capacity to do workshops unless we are specifically hired for an institution, organization, or small group. We are happy to teach workshops, but we cannot be the hosts at this time. To learn more about the difference between qualification and certification as an Intimacy Professional, we encourage you to read: The Certification Question by Chelsea Pace. However, we want to provide an ongoing list of workshops that are available for those learning the profession can access before seeking additional mentorship with us.

DISCLAIMER

Before you see the trainings — as an intimacy professional, you do have to complete the majority or a good amount of these trainings to be considered an intimacy professional. You are not an Intimacy Professional with 1-2 classes or a workshop weekend. It requires a lot of learning. There are also specializations that can further your learning, such as Shibari, Tantra, Kink/BDSM, and more.

Training Organizations that have ongoing trainings:

• CINTIMA (USA)

• Intimacy Coordinators Canada (Canada)

• Intimacy Professionals Education Collective (USA)

• Intimacy Directors & Coordinators (USA)

• Intimacy Professionals Association (USA)

• Intimacy on Set (UK)

• Key Intimate Scenes (Australia)

• Moving Body Arts (UK)

• Nordic Intimacy Coordinators 
  (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden)

• Principal Intimacy Professionals (Canada)

• Safe Sets Intimacy Coordinator Training and Mentoring (South Africa)

• Theatrical Intimacy Education (USA)

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Textbooks / Journals:

• Staging Sex by Chelsea Pace with contributions from Laura Rikard

• Supporting Staged Intimacy : A Practical Guide for Theatre Creatives, Managers, and Crew by Alexis Black, Tina M. Newhauser

• The Intimacy Coordinator's Guidebook : Specialties for Stage and Screen by Brooke M. Haney

• History of Intimacy Professionals in Entertainment : An Inside Look at a Movement by Brooke M. Haney

• Care-full Creativity in Theatre and Dance Education: Consent-Forward, Trauma-Informed, Psychologically Safe Movement Pedagogy by Nicole Perry

• Journal of Consent Based Performance

• Consent training

  • Consent & Power - IPEC: Intimacy Professionals Education Collective

  • Consent & Self-Care - IPEC: Intimacy Professionals Education Collective

  • Consent Foundations for the Classroom - IPEC: Intimacy Professionals Education Collective

  • Self-Paced Syllabus - Consent Wizardry

  • Foundations of Consent - Consent Academy

• Anti-harassment/anti-sexual harassment training

  • Trauma, Scope of Practice & Bystander Intervention - IPEC: Intimacy Professionals Education Collective

  • HABIT: Harassment, Abuse, and Bullying Intervention Training - Theatre Advocacy Project

  • Sexual Violence and Harassment: How to Support Yourself and Your Peers - Active Consent

  • Upcoming FREE Trainings from Right to Be

• Movement coaching and masking techniques

  • Choreography for the Camera - IPEC: Intimacy Professionals Education Collective

  • Kissing: Strategies for Rehearsal & Performance - IPEC: Intimacy Professionals Education Collective

  • Thinking like a choreographer - IPEC: Intimacy Professionals Education Collective

  • Choreographing Kink - IPEC: Intimacy Professionals Education Collective

  • Movement Qualifiers - IPEC: Intimacy Professionals Education Collective

  • Kissing Considerations for the Classroom - IPEC: Intimacy Professionals Education Collective

  • Staging Sex: Kissing - Open Intimacy Creatives

  • Staging Sex: Intercourse - Open Intimacy Creatives

  • Staging Sex: Musical Theatre - Open Intimacy Creatives

  • Staging Sex: Non-Consensual Intimacy - Open Intimacy Creatives

  • Staging Sex: Nudity - Open Intimacy Creatives

  • Staging Sex: Outercourse - Open Intimacy Creatives

  • Staging Sex: Power Play - Open Intimacy Creatives

  • Somatic Regulation & Facilitation - Heartland Intimacy Design

• Proper use of modesty garments and barriers

  • Modesty Garments, Masking, and Barriers - Open Intimacy Creatives

  • Quick Guide for Scenes Involving Nudity and Simulated Sex - SAG-AFTRA

• Mediation or conflict resolution training

  • Accountability, Apology, & Healing - IPEC: Intimacy Professionals Education Collective

  • Embodied Communication and Conflict Resolution - IPEC: Intimacy Professionals Education Collective

  • Community Agreements - Open Intimacy Creatives

  • Cultivating Accountability - Consent Academy

  • Cultivating Community Bundle - Institute for the Development of Human Arts

• Gender identity & sexual orientation training

  • Intersectionality, Race, Gender, and Sexuality Bundle - IPEC: Intimacy Professionals Education Collective

  • Introduction to Gender and Sexuality - Intimacy Professionals Association

  • Gender and Sexuality in the Workplace - Univ. of Pittsburgh

• Anti-racist/EDI training

  • Intersectionality, Race, Gender, and Sexuality Bundle - IPEC: Intimacy Professionals Education Collective

  • EDIT: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Theatre - Theatre Advocacy Project

  • Navigating Microaggressions in Theatre - Theatre Advocacy Project

  • Psychologies of Liberation Bundle - Institute for the Development of Human Arts

• Bystander intervention

  • Trauma, Scope of Practice & Bystander Intervention - IPEC: Intimacy Professionals Education Collective

  • Trauma Informed Care Bundle - IPEC: Intimacy Professionals Education Collective

  • Upcoming FREE Trainings from Right to Be

• Mental health first aid, trauma stewardship, or related training

  • Trauma Informed Care Bundle - IPEC: Intimacy Professionals Education Collective

  • Professional Development: Trauma Informed Practices - Open Intimacy Creatives

  • Any upcoming classes from First Aid Arts

  • Radical Mental Health First Aid - Oumou Sylla

  • Mental Health First Aid Certification - National Council of Mental Wellbeing

  • Trauma-Informed Care Trainings - Trauma Informed Care

  • Rethinking Mental Health - Institute for the Development of Human Arts

Additional Cool Courses:

• Art of Gathering by Priya Parker

• Body Neutrality with Jameela Jamil - Future Learn

• The Body Positive Courses