LGBTQA+/gender, sexual and romantic diversity training

Example courses:

Why choose Sam Hope as an LGBTQA+ trainer?

  • Many years’ experience as an LGBT+ community organiser
  • Extensive experience working with all sections of the community
  • Up to date with research, terminology and issues
  • Understanding of the impact of other differences alongside being LGBTQA+ – e.g. age, race, disability, neurodivergence
  • Cross-cultural understanding of gender and sexuality and the context of colonialism
  • Trainer is BTQ&A – the letters that are generally less known about
  • Flexible to the unique requirements of individual organisations, with broad experience delivering training to therapists, third sector, NHS, private companies and in education (schools and HE/FE)
  • Session length and group size flexible to your needs
  • Interactive, with the opportunity to ask questions and engage in discussion


Asexuality inclusion and best practice


Asexuality and the asexual or ace spectrum is a much misunderstood and overlooked aspect of human sexuality. Understanding this spectrum gives us insight into the enormous diversity of human experience and gives insight into the overall diversity of human sexual and romantic diversity. The training, delivered by an ace spectrum trainer, looks at how we can ensure we don’t marginalise asexual people in our conversations and structures, why they need to be included under the LGBTQA+ umbrella, and the challenges asexual people we work with or alongside might face.

Depending on length, the training can cover:

  • Awareness of the issues affecting asexual people
  • Unlearning unhelpful myths and stereotypes
  • Understanding the diversity of asexual experiences
  • How we can support and accommodate asexual people
  • The stigma and underpinnings of acephobia
  • Ace spectrum mental health and the context of harm, minority stress and neurodivergence
  • Understanding the difference between asexuals and aromantics, and the overlap

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Bisexuality/Bi+ inclusion and best practice

Bisexuals and bi+ people (e.g. biromantics, pansexuals and many queer identified people) are often the least talked about part of the LGBTQA+ community, even though they may be the largest group. Why do we erase them and what can we teach us about the complexity of human attraction? This training, from a bi trainer, develops delegates awareness of the needs and identities of bi people in all their diversity. It looks at bi history and cross-cultural contexts, and why bi people have been excluded even from movements started by bi people. The training explores how we can ensure we don’t marginalise bi people in our conversations and structures, including general LGBTQA+ organising, and looks at the challenges bi people we work with or alongside might face.

Depending on length, the training can cover:

  • The specific issues facing Bi+ people and how these impact mental health
  • Culturally competent language around Bi+ identity
  • Bi, pan or queer – what’s the difference?
  • Bi+ history and cross-cultural understandings
  • Unlearning unhelpful myths and stereotypes
  • Bi+ specific biases, biphobia, and the reasons bis have been erased
  • Bi+ mental health and the context of harm, minority stress and neurodivergence

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Exploring the intersections of gender and sexuality (for therapists)


Gender and sexuality are two separate things, we now understand, and yet the history of what we call LGB and trans people is intertwined across cultures and throughout history. By thinking about the different ways our own and other cultures express gender, sexual and romantic diversity (GSRD), this session helps to open our minds to the complexity of gendered and relational experiences, including our own.

This interactive, exploratory session looks at the stories we tell as a society about what we, at this current time, call LGBTQA+ people. Which stories are promoted, and which are marginalised? What is the impact on LGBTQA+ people? How can we raise our game to reflect a more honest portrait of GSRD?

Depending on length, the training can cover:

  • How we talk about gender and sexuality, and how this has changed across time and culture
  • Relationships in all diverse aspects: why do we focus on sex?
  • An exploration of our models and frameworks for thinking about GSRD
  • The pathologisation of difference and how far-reaching this is
  • Marginalised voices from within the community and what they can tell us
  • How we can work towards more diverse and inclusive thinking that benefits everyone
  • An exploration of assumptions and unconscious biases – what are the stories we tell?

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Working with LGBTQA+ abuse survivors training


The NSPCC cites LGBTQA+ people as one of the at-risk groups for childhood abuse. Meanwhile, LGBTQA+ adults are also vulnerable to familial abuse, domestic violence, and sexual violence.

This session gives delegates an understanding of the mechanisms of abuse and the factors that put a person more at risk, looking at research and best practice.

Delegates will also be offered ways of integrating this learning with existing gender-based models of abuse, using the tools of intersectionality and an enhanced understanding of power and vulnerability.

The training covers:

  • Who is at risk of abuse and why?
  • Intersectional aspects of abuse, including neurodivergence
  • Specific abuse risks/mental health impacts in LGBTQA+ people
  • Updating existing models of abuse
  • Best practice tips on integrating the learning

Interactive, with the opportunity to ask questions and engage in discussion

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LGBTQA+ inclusion and best practice

Depending on length, the training can cover:

  • Gaining an understanding of issues that affect the LGBTQA+ community
  • Gaining an understanding of legal rights and current issues
  • Working more knowledgeably and sensitively with LGBTQA+ people
  • Etiquette and best practice in terms of use of language and facilitating access
  • Debunking society’s myths and assumptions
  • Thinking intersectionally – overlapping identities and colonial contexts
  • Understanding the full diversity of relationships and genders – moving away from inaccurate stereotypes
  • Exploring the specific issues and needs of clients and workers in your organisation
  • LGBTQA+ mental health and the context of harm, minority stress and neurodivergence

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