Code of Ethics

At the Sensual Arts School, our certified facilitators and staff agree to abide by these points to create an environment of safety and clarity.

We aim to uphold these ethical guidelines to the best of our ability and to repair any harm caused if they weren't.

If you have an encounter with one of our team that results in a violation of these points and causes harm, please reach out and let us know- [email protected]

We keep student information private and confidential.

• We don’t share who they are if talking about an issue that arose in our space

• We don’t share contact details without consent.

• We invite a confidential space in our workshops when working with any intimate topics

We don’t share personal history or information of a student with the group that they haven’t consented to.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

We avoid conflict of interest in transformational spaces by privately naming any potential conflict of interest (someone who once dated out partner, a friends ex, a family member etc) and reflecting on how that might affect our ability to hold space for them, and getting peer support and reflection if it is unclear. 

Scope of Practice

• We do not advertise our work as 'trauma healing' even if it can be, unless the facilitator has expert level additional trauma training. We are not certified and accredited to say that we 'heal trauma' and are aware that advertising this is not a trauma-informed approach and can bring in people outside of our scope of practice. We understand what trauma-informed care is and aim to create a safer space for those who experience trauma, and avoid re-traumatisation and overwhelming the nervous systems of our students to the best of our abilities. 

• We do not create public, for-profit events with teachings that we do not feel confident teaching, or have experience in guiding.

• We are mindful when onboarding people to events to make them aware that what we do does not constitute therapy and is not suitable for people with certain mental health conditions.

• We refer out to people more equipt to handle certain things that may arise, like encouraging someone to see a licensed mental health practitioner if a large trauma arises in a workshop or event.

Physical Health

We do not give medical advice. If someone has concerning medical issues, we encourage them to see a professional.

We aim to provide variations and options for people who have varying physical fitness and disabilities to the best of our ability and recognise there is no one-size-fits-all approach. 

Sex and Relating

Do not have sex/sexual contact with our students in our containers. We create agreements around reasonable timeframes for potential sexual contact after the end of a container (times depending on the depth and intensity of the event) and make the timeframe known. If we already have an erotic connection with someone who comes to one of our spaces, we let the group know that the connection was there before.

Freedom of Choice

We always allow students to have the choice to participate or not in any and all offered practices. Coercion, peer pressure or ultimatums are not ok.

• People should always have the ability to opt-out or alter a practice or leave the workshop at any time (requesting they talk to staff before leaving is fair but they do not need to provide an excuse)

• People should not be forced or pressured to work with people they don't want to work with

• We recognise that saying no to a practice and sitting out is a process in and of itself, and has healing benefits for people prone to people pleasing and fawning- so we celebrate the no. 

HONOURING EXPECTATIONS

While some flexibility and flow is great in workshops, we do our best to always deliver what is sold in an event. If things change and something that was promised in an event description is not able to happen, we try to offer something as a replacement and apologise, being open to offering partial refunds if people are unhappy.

HONESTY

We aim to be honest about our credentials and qualifications and encourage ethical marketing practices and transparency.

ACCOUNTABILITY

We are open to accountability processes if someone feels harmed by our work. We take responsibility for harm caused and aim to have a clear channel for complaints and concerns to be raised. If a problem is too big for our team to manage, we get outside support (currently Safe Mediation are our go-to accountability, mediation team)

HONOURING IDENTITY

We endeavour to use people's correct pronouns and chosen names. We allow people to identify in whatever way they desire. If someone says they are a m/f/nb etc we believe them no matter how they look on the outside, while also recognising we are all so much more complex, nuanced and multi-faceted than any identity can encompass. 

We aim to avoid making assumptions and generalisations about people based on gender, race, sexuality etc and repair harm if we do so, and someone disagrees.

RESPONSIBLE SPACE HOLDING

In our paid, for-profit events, we take responsibility for holding space and we don’t get lost in play or occupied in our own drama. We endeavour to be available as the host and do our job. We can offer experiences to our participants with a spirit of giving/offering FOR THEM. When we run by donation or communal spaces this does not apply and we aim to be clear about if we are interacting or space holding.

We are open to this code of ethics changing and evolving with the school and life.