Like a Pro:
The Wheel of Consent for Professionals
In-person or online
Like a Pro brings the transformative model of the Wheel of Consent to professionals working with topics of consent, boundaries, relational intimacy, body sovereignty, trauma recovery, sexuality, communication, and touch. Originally developed for touch practitioners, we also welcome non-touch professionals. This course is for massage therapists, psychotherapists, physicians, tantra practitioners, sexuality guides, escorts, counselors, bodyworkers of all stripes, teachers, educators, coaches, and just about anybody working with people.
Partial scholarships available for those who are part of or are working with marginalized communities.
Learn:
- The single most important skill a practitioner can have and how to develop it.
- What Giving and Receiving really are and why knowing the difference is crucial for getting profound results for you clients and students.
- Assessment - finding out what your client is ready for and - more importantly - what they are not. This must be done with guided somatic experience, not just with conversation.
- Containment - how to create a strong container for your clients that has enough safety for them to get into the real work they are coming to you for.
- Quadrants - how the Quadrants of the Wheel of Consent fit into your sessions and how they don't.
Teach your clients and students:
- To notice, value, trust and communicate their needs and desires
- To notice and be responsible for their boundaries
- A simple touch practice/game to take home
- To identify the tendency to go along with what is being done and how to reverse it
- To gain confidence and clarity in their ability to touch
- To notice they have a choice about how they are being touched and how to choose how they want to be touched.
Support our Scholarship Fund!
We offer some scholarships to students who need it, mostly people who are members of or work with marginalized communities.
Like a Pro in-person
The in-person format is the original Like a Pro. It's 5 full days, 10 am - 6 pm each day. Includes practice, theory, and discussion.
The first three days, we take you through a series of somatic experiences in which you experience each of the four quadrants of the Wheel of Consent. The focus is on you.
Then over the next two days we build on that experience and show you how to apply the principles to your client sessions, including how to offer it as a practice for your clients to take home. (Also expect it to affect your personal life).
Like a Pro Online
Like a Pro online is - surprisingly effective! After teaching the in-person course for 15 years, like many others, we developed an on-line version over the last couple of years. We have been pleasantly surprised at how much our students can learn about touch and consent while working online.
The course includes thorough video and written resources, theory, discussion, and home-study practices. Then we add live Zoom calls for somatic experiences and lively discussion.
Twelve live Zoom calls of 3 hours each (36 hours), plus home study. Closed captioning included. All calls recorded for your review.
COVID update
YAY!! We're just about through this thing! All COVID restrictions are now lifted, beginning with the fall courses. (The May and June courses still follow this protocol because that's what we agreed on when you applied.)
If we end up with another wave in the fall, we'll deal with it at that time.
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We recognize that the pandemic situation varies by locale and rapidly changes. We will be tracking and following recommended health guidelines for each location. Proof of vaccination is not required. We will rely on testing to minimize our exposure risk. Our intention is to not require masks during the workshop, based on everyone having a negative test. Participants are always welcome to wear masks based on their comfort level.
Why are we doing this? We have participants who are immuno-compromised or who live with people who are immuno-compromised and we are doing our best to create the greatest safety for the largest number of people.
We require:
1) A rapid test taken on-site the first day of class. (Bring it with you!)
2) If you are in crowded public spaces, please wear a mask. We recommend that you do not eat in restaurants during the workshop, but rather get takeout and eat outside or back in our workshop space.
3) Agreement to be in contact with your instructors if you develop COVID symptoms during or shortly after the class. This information will be shared with other participants so they can make appropriate decisions for themselves.
4) Should a participant come down with COVID (or anything else) during the course, we will ask them to step out of the class and join by Zoom, and we will do our best to help them feel included and get the full content of the class.
Participants who develop COVID symptoms or test positive for COVID before the start of the class will be offered a full refund (minus the standard $200 registration fee).
Also remember that if you are crossing international borders to attend, you may have some requirements to tend to for that.
Faculty
For the in-person courses, it's Betty Martin, creator of the Wheel of Consent, or Robyn Dalzen, who has trained directly with Betty and has been teaching the Wheel since 2017, and their co-facilitators, assisted by Certified Wheel of Consent Facilitators and other local experienced practitioners.
2023 Schedule
North America
June 2-7: Easton Mountain, near Saratoga Springs, New York, with Betty Martin and Jojo Bear (applications now open) ** This event is held at a retreat center. The cost to attend is $2600 which includes tuition, lodging and meals. (You may notice that their website says vaccinations are required, but that does not apply to us. We will be using our regular protocol which is testing upon arrival.)
Sept 27 - Oct 1: Seattle, with Betty Martin and Katie Spataro (applications open July 1)
October 4-8: San Francisco, California, For men who work with men, with Michael Dresser and JoJo Bear (applications open July 1) (Sorry, in the recent newsletter we said June 1, but that was a mistake.)
October 18-22: Seattle - Last year we had so many people apply that we added a second cohort. If that happens this year, this will be the dates.
Europe
May 4-8: Glastonbury, UK, with Robyn Dalzen and Michael Dresser This course is FULL. You may apply to be on the waitlist.
May 17-21: Netherlands, Queer-centric, with Robyn Dalzen and Puma Hoflich. This course is FULL. You may apply to be on the waitlist.
November 16-20: Germany, with Robyn Dalzen and Puma Hoflich (applications open Aug 1)
Online
We expect to add an online course in the fall or winter. If you subscribe to the newsletter, you'll get the news!
Cost
- $1800 USD
- Returning students (already taken Like a Pro): $900.
- Work-study (Helping with set up and clean up. You won't miss any class time.) $1600
- Partial scholarships available for those who are part of or are working with marginalized communities. Make a note on your application.
- Purchase of Betty's book, The Art of Receiving and Giving: The Wheel of Consent, is required for the online course (and highly recommended for the in-person course). $24 US to be purchased on your own.
- Life happens! Cancellation policy here.
Apply
New students:
1) Read the group guidelines for the workshop space.
2) Fill out the application linked below.
3) Pay the $200 deposit.
4) Have a conversation with us to make sure we are a good fit.
5) If we are a good fit, you're in, and we'll give you the link to make the rest of your payment. (If we are not a good fit, we'll refund your deposit right away.)
6) If we are full, you'll be added to a wait list.
Returning students:
We have room for 3 half-cost returning students in each class.
However some courses are full for this discount. Please ask! [email protected]
Introducing Robyn
(2019)
