Diploma in Gender, Sex & Relationship Diversity Therapy

Most therapists working with GSRD clients have had little or no specialist training. This diploma changes that. Over one year, taught live online, you will develop the clinical knowledge, personal awareness and practical skills to work affirmatively with gender, sex and relationship-diverse clients, including those who are neurodivergent or carrying the effects of identity-based trauma. The programme launches in January 2027 and is open to qualified counsellors, psychotherapists and counselling psychologists.

Applications are strictly limited to 24 places per cohort. Given the high volume of interest and specialist focus, we expect places to fill rapidly. Secure your space and apply today to avoid missing the June 30 deadline.

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Why this GSRD diploma?

Developed by Pink Therapy Training, the organisation that shaped the recognition of GSRD, now embedded in BACP standards, this is a year-long programme for qualified counsellors, psychotherapists and counselling psychologists who want to work affirmatively with gender, sex and relationship-diverse clients.

GSRD clients are disproportionately represented in mental health services, yet most therapists receive little or no meaningful training to meet their needs. Neurodivergence is significantly more prevalent within GSRD communities, too, and mainstream training rarely addresses either, let alone both together.

 

  • The most comprehensive integration of neurodiversity-affirmative, trauma-informed and GSRD theory and practice available in the UK.
  • Taught live and online, with a real-time cohort, not pre-recorded modules.
  • Grounded in trauma-informed principles throughout: choice, pacing, explicit permission to pass or step away.
  • Faculty working at the forefront of GSRD practice across counselling, psychotherapy, clinical sexology, clinical psychology and traumatology.
  • Graduates consistently report becoming better therapists with all clients, not only GSRD ones.
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In this section

  • GSRD Diploma at a Glance
  • Three-Day Experiential Introduction
  • Modules
  • Coursework
  • Faculty
  • How to Apply

GSRD Diploma at a Glance

  • Fee: £3,800 | Instalments available
  • Duration: One year
  • Start date: January 2027
  • Format: Online + three-day experiential introduction
  • Teaching days: Eight monthly Fridays, 10:00–17:00
  • Clinical thread: Monthly two-hour case study and supervision group with a Clinical Tutor
  • Application deadline: 30 June 2026
  • Bursaries: Available to marginalised therapists facing significant financial and structural disadvantages. Read more.

 

Diploma FAQs

Will this count towards my CPD requirements?
Absolutely, this specialist training will be invaluable CPD.
Is it suitable if I'm not GSRD-identified myself?
You don’t need to identify as GSRD to apply. What matters is that you’re working with, or genuinely committed to working with, GSRD clients. The experiential elements of the programme will invite you to explore your own identities and social location, and some of that work can be challenging. Therapists who are not GSRD-identified often find it among the most significant professional development they’ve undertaken.
What do graduates do differently?
Graduates consistently tell us they work differently with all clients, not only GSRD ones. Concretely, they assess for neurodivergence where they wouldn’t have before. They hold gender, sexuality and relationship diversity as clinical variables, not background noise. They recognise identity-based harm and minority stress in presentations that previously looked like something else. And they’re more honest about their own social location in the room.
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Five Thematic Threads Across the Year

Each module approaches these themes from a distinct angle. They run throughout all eight teaching days and the three-day course opening.

TRAUMA

IDENTITY

POWER

COMMUNITY

SELF-DISCLOSURE

Three-Day Experiential Introduction

Led by Dr Agata Loewe-Kurilla and Dominic Davies | 15 – 17 January 2027

This module opens the diploma year. It sets up the group safely and gives participants space to explore their own gender, sex and relational identities through formative and personal work. Ground rules are trauma-informed throughout: choice, pacing, explicit permission to pass or step away.

1

Day 1 - Arrival, Safety and Identity Mapping

Establish safety and trust, begin identity and power work, and normalise that everyone brings their history into the room.

2

Day 2 - Histories, Trauma and Community Experience

Gently deepen into personal histories and trauma-touching material, with strong emphasis on choice, boundaries and resourcing.

3

Day 3 - Cohort Culture, Disclosure and Shared Commitments

Bring individual work into a relational frame. How we want to be with each other, manage differences and use self-disclosure across the year.

Eight Teaching Modules

Each module is a full teaching day (10:00–17:00), supported by monthly case study and supervision groups with a Clinical Tutor.

 

Module 1: Foundations: GSRD, Trauma and Neurodiversity | 19 February 2027

Core focus: What GSRD Therapy is, how it differs from mainstream approaches, and the conceptual frameworks underpinning the diploma: minority stress, the 4 Rs of trauma-informed practice, and neurodiversity as an intersecting axis.

 

Module 2: Identity, Power, Shame and Our Place in Community | 19 March 2027

Core focus: The therapist’s own GSRD and neurodivergent identities, social location and internalised oppression. Introduces overlapping roles and self-disclosure that are applied in later modules.

 

Module 3: Assessment and Formulation | 16 April 2027

Core focus: Putting Modules 1 and 2 into practice at the point of assessment. How to build GSRD, trauma and neurodiversity lenses into routine clinical thinking using the 5 Ps framework.

 

Module 4: Gender Diversity, Services and Living Visibly | 14 May 2027

Core focus: Trans, non-binary and gender-expansive lives. Navigating gender clinics, primary care and mental health systems. Medical and institutional trauma specific to trans and non-binary people.

 

Module 5: Sexual Diversity, Kink, Pleasure and Community Life | 11 June 2027

Core focus: Contemporary sexology applied to GSRD communities: kink and BDSM, fetish, chemsex, sex work and hook-up cultures. Distinguishing consensual sexual diversity from harm, and working with shame and trauma in sexual scripts.

 

Module 6: Relationship Diversity, Activism and Collective Trauma | 9 July 2027

Core focus: Consensual Non-Monogamy (CNM), polyamory, relationship anarchy, chosen family and queer kinship systems. Collective and systemic dimensions: community trauma, activist burnout and overlapping networks.

 

Module 7: Interventions: Trauma-Aware, GSRD-Affirmative and ND-Sensitive | 13 August 2027

Core focus: The practical skills day. Applies frameworks from Modules 1–6 to technique: what you actually do differently in the room with GSRD and neurodivergent clients.

 

Module 8: Ethics, Power, Disclosure and Sustainable Practice | 10 September 2027

Core focus: The integration module. Brings together ethical, sustainability and self-disclosure threads from across the year. What it means to be of the community, not just working with it.

Coursework

Three pieces of assessed work are completed across the diploma year.

1

Reflective Journal

An ongoing record of your personal and professional development across the year, tracking how your thinking and practice shift in relation to GSRD work.
2

GSRD Case Study

A written case study demonstrating psychological formulation with a GSRD client, integrating the conceptual frameworks taught across the programme.
3

Essay or Oral Presentation

A substantial piece of work, written or presented, exploring an aspect of GSRD Therapy of your choosing, demonstrating critical engagement with theory and practice.

Faculty

All of our faculty are clinicians working at the forefront of GSRD practice, across counselling, psychotherapy, clinical sexology, clinical psychology and traumatology. They bring international experience and genuine specialist depth; many have published in this area. We will have a team of around fifteen staff working on this programme under the guidance of our leadership team:

Dr Brendan Dunlop

Executive Director of Learning and Development

Dominic Davies

Course Director

Dr Agata Loewe-Kurilla

Course Leader

How to Apply

With only 24 places available for this intake, demand is exceptionally high. The closing date for this cohort is 30 June 2026. Please click the button below to submit your application form and secure your space.

Course fee: £3,800. Instalments available.

Bursaries

Limited bursary places are subject to passing the selection interview.

The GSRD Diploma Bursary supports applicants who face barriers to accessing the training. It recognises four distinct forms of disadvantage and contribution: financial hardship, lived experience of GSRD communities, structural inequality and professional vision. Applications are assessed transparently against these four criteria, with a maximum of 7 points available. The four highest-scoring applicants receive a bursary place. If you need a bursary, we will ask you to complete a form if you are offered a place, AFTER your interview.

If you have any questions about the course, please email: training@pinktherapy.org

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