SEX EDUCATOR CERTIFICATION

Accurate, relevant, & up-do-date sexuality information you won’t find anywhere else.

EDSE’s Sex Educator Certification is packed with the expansive sexuality, health, and pleasure information you need level-up your career, elevate your knowledge, and become a true change-maker. We welcome attendees of all experience levels and from any service-centered field, including established sex educators, clinicians, and pleasure professionals seeking to brush up on their skills and knowledge with up-to-date language, information, and perspectives.

There is no minimum education requirement and you do not need a college degree to attend.

This one-of-a-kind comprehensive professional development training provides a foundational understanding of human sexuality using an intersectional lens that is informed by social, disability, gender, and racial justice frameworks. Our coursework centers empathy, justice, intentional language, and expansiveness while offering tools to help identify the ways power, privilege, and socially constructed belief systems influence the way we think and teach about sex. This means you will not only receive knowledge, skills, and information, but also essential perspective on human identity and development that will last a lifetime. Ultimately, much of your learning process with EDSE will also be an unlearning process. And that’s what makes this work so powerful.

SEE WHO’S TEACHING THIS YEAR!

EDSE’s Sex Educator Certification is made for service professionals looking to add essential knowledge, facilitation skills, and a justice-centered perspective on human sexuality. It takes place live online and can be attended from anywhere with an internet connection. Complete your Sex Educator Certification from the comfort of your home, dorm, or office!

Click here for a sample schedule to see what past trainings looked like and the content they covered, and visit our FAQs to learn our class format, accessibility accommodations, and our mandatory attendance policy.

The topics that EDSE’s Sex Educator Certification covers includes:

• Kink, BDSM & sexual expression

• Client communication skills & blocks

• Intersectionality & anti-racism in sex education

• Affirmative consent & sexual communication

• Trauma-informed sex education

• Identity-affirming sex education

• Critical thinking skills

• Teaching exercises, tools, & tips

• Safer sex, harm reduction, & risk awareness

• Heteronormativity, cisnormativity, & binary myths

• Gender expansiveness & sexual identity development

• Expansive pleasure anatomy

• Body image, disability, & ableism

• Gender stereotypes & expectations

• Pregnancy & birth control

• Sex toys & pornography literacy

• Sexual difficulties & disappointments

• & more!

By the end of EDSE’s Sex Educator Certification, you will have:

• An exponentially more expansive understanding of what sexuality is comprised of, beyond sexual orientation and gender identity, and how to explain it to others.

• Valuable new perspective and understanding of sexuality topics that de-centers the medical industrial complex, pathology, and western concepts of “normal.”

• More confidence in their ability to respond to sexuality questions in a bias-aware, non-judgmental manner.

• Essential awareness of the ways power, privilege, and oppression inform our experiences of pleasure, safety, bodily autonomy, connection, community, and our sense of self.

• Manageable solutions to dealing with feelings of imposter syndrome, fear of making mistakes or saying “the wrong thing,” fragility and insecurity, and “not knowing enough.”

• A broader perspective and understanding of the ways white supremacy culture and patriarchy have informed western concepts of human sexuality and sex, including gender, biological sex, purity, beauty, femininity, masculinity, and more.

• A stronger understanding of how and why sex, sexuality, sex education, and more are political topics.

• A head start on building an effective referral list that includes professionals, service workers, and healers of all kinds, and how to determine the qualifications and appropriateness of a referral beyond simply looking at their credentials.

• Valuable critical thinking skills that they can apply to almost everything in their professional and personal lives, including searching for resources, research, and teaching materials.

• Practical tools for responding to questions and providing information effectively.

• Perspective and awareness of their own sexuality, power, privilege, and experiences of oppression and how they impact and inform their work.

• A built-in community of like-minded individuals who feel passionate about sex education, liberation, and contributing to positive incremental change.

• and so much more! Check out what past attendees have to say about their experience. <3

ONLY 11 SEATS LEFT FOR FALL 2025!

sept. 13-14 from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. PT
(includes 2 10-min. breaks & 1 40-min. lunch)

sept. 26-28 from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. PT
(includes 1 10-min. break & 1 40-min. lunch)

oct. 10-12 from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. PT
(includes 1 10-min. break & 1 40-min. lunch)

oct. 24-26 from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. PT
(includes 1 10-min. break & 1 40-min. lunch)

nov. 8-9 FROM 10 A.M.-4 P.M. PT
(includes 2 10-min. breaks & 1 40-min. lunch)

COURSE DETAILS:

Sessions will be held every other week for a total of 13 training days and 60 training hours. This program qualifies for 60 AASECT CEs.

Location: Online via Zoom (no account required). You will need access to a reliable Internet connection and video chat capability.

Cost: The rates listed below do not include the discounted cost of the Sexual Attitude Reassessment (SAR), which is mandatory for certification attendees to complete. Please read #17 in our FAQs to learn more about why this SAR is required.

When you fill out your application or payment form, you will be asked to select which tuition rate you choose:

• Standard Rate: $4,995 or $353.75 USD/month for 12 months (after $750 deposit)*
  This is the cost and value of the certification. Select this if the cost will not prevent you from meeting your housing, food, transportation, childcare, and other basic needs, even though it might mean you have to temporarily cut back on some non-essential spending. If you are an employee of a company that is funding or supporting your tuition, you must pay the Standard Rate.

• Equity Rate: $3,495 or $228.75 USD/month for 12 months (after $750 deposit)*
  Select this if paying the Standard Rate would mean your basic monthly needs, like housing, food, transportation, or childcare, would not be met or that your financial stability would be put at risk. There is 1 seat remaining for Fall 2025. If you choose this option but can genuinely afford the Standard Rate, you are taking this option away from someone who genuinely needs it. This rate is NOT available to employees of companies that are funding or supporting their tuition.

• Accessibility Rate: $2,995 or $187.08 USD/month for 12 months (after $750 deposit)*
  Select this rate if you are unemployed or underemployed, on disability or government assistance, or struggle to make ends meet, and paying the Equity Rate would prevent you from meeting your housing, food, transportation, childcare, and other basic needs month to month. This is available only to people experiencing financial hardship who, without it, would not have the means to attend. There is 1 seat remaining for Fall 2025. If you choose this option but can genuinely afford the Standard or Equity rates, you are taking this option away from someone who genuinely needs it. This rate is NOT available to employees of companies that are funding or supporting their tuition, regardless of student status.

*A $750 USD deposit is required upon signup. Deposits are non-refundable unless you are not accepted into the program. Visit our FAQs to learn about scholarship guidelines, no-interest payment plans, and more about this program.

For more about these tuition rates and whether you qualify, please refer to FAQ #26.

Payment plans: To confirm a 12-month payment plan with us, please submit a Payment Plan Authorization form following signup. Email this form to hello@everyonedeservessexed.com. Your payment plan will not be confirmed until we receive this form filled out entirely.

If you do not want a payment plan but wish to pay your remaining balance at a later date, please submit a Remaining Balance Authorization form following signup. Your remaining balance will be charged on the 1st of the month prior to Day 1 of the training, unless otherwise confirmed with EDSE.

Please note: If you select the Equity or Accessibility rate and do not pay in full when you sign up, you must submit your payment plan authorization form or remaining balance authorization form within 7 days of submitting your application. These discounted tuition rates can not be held or reserved without full payment or submitting one of these forms, and your seat will be made available to the next eligible applicant if we do not receive your forms by the due date.

Scholarships: In each cohort, EDSE offers two $3,745 partial scholarships available only to queer or transgender Black, Indigenous, Brown, Asian American Pacific Islander, and People of Color. This is a need-based scholarship reserved for folks who, without financial aid, would not be able to attend this program.

Applications for 2025 are now closed.

Program Bundles: You now have the option of bundling your certification tuition with other EDSE programs to save time and money as you build your career or take it to the next level!

• Certification + Sexual Attitude Reassessment (SAR)** = Tuition + $475 (You save $50 off regular price!)
  If you set up a payment plan for this bundle, do not sign up for the SAR yourself. You will be asked to select which SAR you want to attend on the General Application. If you select “I don’t know,” you will not be added to any of our scheduled SARs until you email us. Please see #18 in our FAQs for more on this.

**It is required that attendees of EDSE’s Sex Educator Certification attend this SAR to complete their training. Your certificate will be mailed to you once you have attended the entirety of this SAR.

What kinds of people take this course?

EDSE believes that building comfort, familiarity, and confidence in sexuality topics like gender, healthy relationships, anatomy and body autonomy, and identity is valuable and essential for any adult who has influence or impact within their community. Anyone can be a sex educator or incorporate sex education knowledge and communication skills into their life and work, and having access to this information is more important than ever.

As of November 2024 in the U.S., only 36 states and the District of Columbia mandate sex education and/or HIV education in schools, and only 26 of those states require that the curricula be medically accurate. Six states require portraying anything other than heterosexuality as shameful, unacceptable, or even illegal; and 6 states prohibit discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity entirely. This means that in at least 24 states, it is legal to provide false, biased, and fear-based mis-education to kids and teenagers, who carry the misinformation, fear, and shame with them well into adulthood, often passing it on to the next generation. With this certification, EDSE supports and equips adults of all experience levels and professions with the tools, skills, and knowledge necessary to disrupt this cycle.

Decades of research has proven how harmful and detrimental inaccurate sex education is, yet it remains the most commonly funded and approved form of sex ed in the U.S. Accurate and expansive sex education can be hard to find and difficult to introduce into schools, districts, and institutional settings, but EDSE believes that the more adults we can equip and prepare for this work, the more effective we can be at making incremental change from the ground up. Learn more about the core values of EDSE’s founder and lead educator Anne Hodder-Shipp.

The EDSE team has trained and works with professionals from a variety of service-centered fields, including:

• Healthcare providers

• Social services professionals

• Youth mentors

• Non-profit sector professionals

• Mental health practitioners

• Educators & advocates

• Parents and caregivers

• Nannies and childcare workers

• Sex workers

• Case managers

• Writers, researchers & bloggers

• Treatment & recovery professionals

• Adult industry professionals

• Clergy, religious leaders & church members

• Local political figures

• Schoolboard and PTA members

To complete EDSE’s Sex Educator Certification, attendees must:

• Be present for all training days. This is not negotiable. To learn more about this attendance policy, please read #18-23 on our FAQ page.

• Complete a written quiz (provided after the final training day).

• Complete a verbal review (scheduled after the final training day).

• Complete the EDSE x ANTE UP! Sexual Attitude Reassessment (SAR). This program is co-facilitated with Dr. Bianca Laureano of ANTE UP! and is offered three times a year. Learn more about our SAR here.

certificate holders are required to renew their certification every 3 years.

To renew their certification and be included in EDSE’s database of Certified Sex Educators, certificate holders must complete 18 continuing education (CE) hours and follow EDSE guidelines. Click here to learn about the renewal process, what is required of certificate holders, and what happens if you don’t renew.

PLEASE NOTE: This is a foundational course on human sexuality. As with any course of study, there is no way to “complete” an education in human sexuality, and no single training is enough to cover all the intricate, fascinating, and evolving components. Recommendations for continued education will be provided on the final training day.

What does your tuition go toward?

Your tuition helps EDSE operate as an education organization registered in the state of Oregon and afford the costs of purchasing or creating teaching materials, developing and updating curriculum, quality control, completing daily administrative duties, managing our CE provider status, and other “invisible” costs related to running a small business of this kind. EDSE does not utilize unpaid labor from interns or volunteers, and we do not balloon class sizes in order to inflate profit. (Each certification maxes at 15 attendees.)

Our lead educator, Anne Hodder-Shipp, is compensated for running EDSE, handling admissions, creating and maintaining program content and resources, managing each certification, hosting the certification, and teaching every certification day. Our education assistant, Alice Silk, receives a flat fee for providing support during each certification, as well as mailing attendees’ certificates. We contract 10 additional educators for each certification, and they receive a flat fee for each 60- or 90-minute section they teach.

If you bundle your tuition with the Sexual Attitude Reassessment, your additional $475 is split equally between the co-facilitators (Anne Hodder-Shipp and Dr. Bianca Laureano).

This program meets the requirements of the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists (AASECT) and is approved for 60 CE credits. These CE credits may be applied toward AASECT certification and renewal of certification. Completion of this program does not ensure or guarantee AASECT certification. For further information please contact info@aasect.org.

This certification covers the following AASECT Core Knowledge Areas:

A. Ethics and ethical behavior.

B. Developmental sexuality from a bio-psycho-social perspective across the life course.

C. Socio-cultural, familial factors (e.g., ethnicity, culture, religion, spirituality, socioeconomic status, family values) in relation to sexual values and behaviors.

D. Issues related to sexual orientation and/or gender identity: heterosexuality; issues and themes impacting lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, asexual people; gender identity and expression.

E. Intimacy skills (e.g., social, emotional, sexual), intimate relationships, interpersonal relationships and family dynamics.

F. Diversities in sexual expression and lifestyles including, but not limited to, polyamory, swinging, BDSM and tantra.

G. Sexual and reproductive anatomy/physiology.

H. Health/medical factors that may influence sexuality including, but not limited to, illness, disability, drugs, mental health, conception, pregnancy, childbirth, pregnancy termination, contraception, fertility, HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infection, other infections, sexual trauma, injury and safer sex practices.

I. Range of sexual functioning and behavior, from optimal to problematic including, but not limited to, common issues such as: desire discrepancy, lack of desire, difficulty achieving or maintaining arousal, sexual pain, penetration problems and difficulty with orgasm.

M. Pleasure enhancement skills.

N. Learning theory and its application.

O. Professional communication and personal reflection skills.

P. History of the discipline of sex research, theory, education, counseling and therapy.

Q. Principles of sexuality research and research methods.

This certification covers the following applicable Sexuality Education training areas:

A. Theory and methods of general education (including curriculum development, delivery, and evaluation)

B. Theory and methods of sexuality education (including curriculum development, delivery, and evaluation)

C. Ethical issues in sexuality education

D. Theory and method of approaches to sexuality education with specific populations (e.g., youth, older adults, couples, ethnic/cultural/faith-based populations, LGBTQ people, and people with disabilities)

E. Theory and methods of different approaches to sexuality education delivery (e.g., small group work, one-on-one education, large group lectures or interaction, online delivery, or use of other electronic means)

Have questions about the program? Please visit our FAQs page. If your question is not answered there, please email us at hello@everyonedeservessexed.com.

What past attendees say about our Sex Educator Certification: