Additional Information

• • Target audience

    • This course is intended for psychologists, counselors, social workers, marriage and family therapists, and other mental health and related professionals. 

  • Instruction level - Intermediate

    • It is expected that participants will have basic knowledge of the topic. Less than 25% of the presentation will review knowledge provided in an introductory workshop in this topic area. The remaining time will focus on advanced topics such as new research, specialty topics not typically covered in graduate education, or specific clinical applications. 

  • Recommended Prior Course 

    • Consent as Foundation - Understanding Sexual, Gender & Relationship Diversity

      • This course serves as a foundation for all the courses in this series on GSRD. 

    • If you have taken a course with Dr. Kieran from at any time, you may have most of the basics already.    

  • Full description

This 3-hour continuing education workshop examines sexual desire variability through a non-pathologizing, evidence-informed, and culturally responsive clinical lens. The workshop challenges the assumption that there is a “normal” or ideal level of libido and instead conceptualizes sexual desire as a naturally diverse, contextual, and dynamic human experience. Particular attention is given to individuals and relational systems whose patterns of desire fall outside dominant cultural expectations but are not inherently disordered or distressing.

Participants will explore how sexual norms, diagnostic frameworks, and cultural narratives can unintentionally pathologize desire outliers, including persistently low desire, highly contextual or cyclical desire, high desire without compulsivity, neurodiverse desire patterns, and desire shifts related to identity, disability, chronic illness, or life stage. The workshop emphasizes the importance of distinguishing between difference and dysfunction, and between clinician discomfort and client-identified distress.

The training reviews current conceptual models of sexual desire, including critiques of spontaneous-desire dominance, and introduces relational and systemic frameworks for understanding desire discrepancy without locating pathology in a single individual. Participants will learn assessment strategies that prioritize client values, consent, and subjective distress rather than normative benchmarks or assumed etiologies such as trauma, hormonal imbalance, or relational failure.

Clinical application is supported through case vignettes illustrating common presentations in which desire differences are misinterpreted as dysfunction. Participants will be guided in identifying potential points of over-pathologization, ethical risks related to power and obligation within relationships, and opportunities for more affirming, consent-centered interventions. The workshop also includes structured opportunities for therapist self-reflection, recognizing how clinician assumptions, biases, and internalized sexual norms can influence assessment and treatment planning.

This workshop is appropriate for licensed mental health professionals and trainees who provide therapy to individuals, couples, and relational systems. The content is educational in nature and does not provide medical, legal, or prescriptive treatment protocols. Emphasis is placed on ethical, culturally humble, and client-centered clinical practice consistent with professional standards.

• • Presenter 

    • Dr. Rachel Anne Kieran (Psy.D.) is a psychologist, writer, and educator, and the founder of StorieBrook Therapy & Consulting, LLC, an affirming therapy practice rooted in justice, community, and cultural humility. Her clinical work focuses on sexual, gender, and relational diversity (including kink and consensual non-monogamy), neurodiversity, fat and disability justice, and clients from non-majority spiritual and pagan paths.

Dr. Kieran’s practice model emphasizes accessible, bespoke collaboration with clients, including sliding-scale options and a community space designed to be welcoming, trauma-aware, and identity-affirming. Through StorieTree Professional Education, she creates continuing education programs for mental health and allied professionals that center ethics, intersectionality, and dismantling systemic barriers to care.

Her current writing projects include a book on finding and crafting mental healthcare for diverse spiritualities, and related work on “rainbow sheep” identities—those who never fully fit either mainstream or countercultural norms. Across her roles as therapist, educator, and author, Dr. Kieran is committed to the belief that affirming care is a right, not a privilege.

• • Learning objectives

    • After completing this workshop, participants will be able to:

      • Differentiate sexual desire, behavior, and identity in clinical conceptualization.

      • Assess client distress related to desire without relying on normative or moral benchmarks.

      • Normalize desire variability across lifespan, health status, and relational context.

      • Challenge the concept of a “normal libido” as a clinical standard.

      • Consider how relational dynamics, not individual pathology, often drive presentations of desire-related distress.  
        
        

  • Agenda / structure

    • • Arrival, orientation & framing – 5 min

      • There is no “normal” libido – 25 min

      • Desire is contextual, cyclical & identity-linked – 30 min

      • Cultural stories that create sexual distress – 25 min

      • Clinical assessment without pathologizing – 30 min

      • Desire mismatch is not a diagnosis – 25 min

      • Case vignettes – Desire outliers in practice – 20 min

      • Therapist self-reflection & integration – 15 min

      • Closing & takeaways – 5 min
        
        

  • CE information

    • • Full attendance is required to receive a certificate of completion. Certificates of completion will be issued following verified attendance.

      • For a full list of license types that can receive CE credit for our programs, please see our Continuing Education Credits Info page.  
        
        

  • Pricing & accessibility notes

    • Standard Price - $90 just $75!

    • For more information on equity pricing for accessibility, please read the StorieTree Pricing & Equity Policy

    • For more information on StorieTree's ongoing accessibility efforts, please visit our Accessibility page.  

  • Cancellation/refunds - please see the StorieTree Attendance, Participation & Refunds Policy

  • Disclosures - please read the StorieTree Disclosure Policies for more information