Consent-Based Teaching Artist Program
for Artists, Consultants, Freelancers, and Aspiring Educators
find your unique approach to your field, build your own curriculum for classes and coaching, and build your business to support your creative work
DATES TBD. Sign up for the newsletter for updates.
Classes will be recorded for you to view after, but no more than two absences from live classes is requested.
15 spots.
“Loving your craft means you should get paid more for it, not less.”
Dear self-employed healers, artists, practitioners, mental health professionals, and freelancers,
Are you caught in the hamster wheel of capitalism and urgency? Are you merely surviving and want to thrive? Let’s bring in a new era of ethical leadership where we, the healers, activists, and artists, set the standard for being resourced and in doing so, give others permission to do the same.
You set out to live your purpose. Do you find yourself thinking, “This is not it?” You can achieve your vision. It starts with your ability to ask for what you want with confidence.
Asking for what you want is part of self-advocacy. When you move through the world with an embodied sense of “I’ve got this, no matter what,” you call in aligned people and aligned work because you are in alignment with your own values.
This shit is fucking with your money and it's time to make a change. You are worth more than what you are charging. If you struggle to know your worth, have a hard time valuing your energy, and want to feel resourced so you can access ease and pleasure, I am here to help.
Come practice with me.
Love,
Mia
Who is it for?
“Are you making enough money to live your values? We are dreaming a new economy of care into being when we’re willing to thrive and support each other in thriving.”
This is a combination of my Consent Educator course with Biz Support and my Unblocked course. Please read more specifically about the Unblocked course for a fuller picture what we’ll be doing. The Unblocked and Consent Educator training sections of this full program will be open to the public, however the business support portion will only be available to those who apply and who complete the Consent Educator training, Unblocked, or both.
My approach is somatic, integrative, anti-carceral, anti-cancellation, anti-binary, and based in helping others find their voice.
The intention of this program is that you will be able to bring consent work into your art, as well as build a teaching practice and business founded in these principles that sustains your artwork. This program will give you practice tools to access your creativity, work through perfectionism, mythbust the idea that making money off your work makes you a baaaaaaad evil Capitalist, and help you find or reconnect with your voice. You’ll embody consent and feel your boundaries in subtler and deeper ways, and you’ll be able to support others in doing the same. You’ll receive business support to tackle people pleasing and perfectionism in business, reckon with your inner critic, build a brand manual, build a social media presence, market yourself while prioritizing your self expression, and prevent burnout.
Without applying, you can sign up for the first portion focused on Consent Education to become a consent educator. This portion is a great fit for mental health practitioners, therapists, coaches, healers, and people who work with kids. You can also sign up for Unblocked without applying for the full program. When you sign up for the Consent Educator portion or the Unblocked course, you do not get business support unless you apply, even if you don’t want to do the full program. If this is confusing (it probably is!!) email me.
This is explained in video form here.
In past programs, we’ve had:
bodyworkers
therapists
an architect / designer
a sex surrogate
a mural painter
a yoga teacher
an occupational therapist + dog trainer
movement coaches
a cuddle therapist
a tarot reader and ritual guide
a pro dom / BDSM practitioner + teacher
a gender consultant
I believe that consent is magic. Through deep attunement to yourself and to others, I believe we can find synchronistic flow and be the people, practitioners, and business owners we want to be in the world. We can foster deeper more trusting relationships with ourselves and others, and truly become the person and business owner we envision ourselves to be as we build the world we want to live in.
A somatic consent practice is one of the key tools for healing childhood Attachment wounds, both with the self and with others. Attachment wounds can disrupt your ability to have a secure relationship with yourself, with your clients, and with your business. In this program, you will build your own consent practice and learn skills to support your clients in cultivating their own.
“Being taught by Mia has been such a joy. Because of their educator training I’ve been able to straighten out where and how I’d like to use consent work, which was so unclear to me before starting this course. This clarity hasn’t only improved my ability to see myself actively participating in teaching consent work, but it has improved how I interact with those I am in relationship with on a regular basis. Whether it be my new found love for grounding in gratitude instead of apologizing (brought to my attention by Mia) or my ability to detect shifts in the way folks around me are feeling based on prosody and nonverbal communication- and don’t even get me started on their Yes-to-No spectrum, which I now use as a warm nudge to remember just how important my gut is. I highly recommend giving any of Mia’s classes a try, and letting the growth speak for itself.”
If you:
struggle with people-pleasing tendencies in your work
feel a codependent relationship with your art (“People need this from me so I will give and give and give”)
feel guilt or shame about making money with your art
struggle to find motivation to create
don’t know where to start or when to stop
want to make more money from your art
want to find a sacred relationship with play
want to find a more easeful relationship with your authenticity and creative self-expression
grapple with your ego as an artist and want to believe what you have is worth sharing with the world without feeling like an arrogant shithead
are interested in increasing your confidence, impact, and income in order to take your career to the next level by keeping it in alignment with your values
this program is a good fit for you.
You’ll learn:
to treat all the content you create as an organic, flowing ecosystem where no one creation is single use
to make a care plan and assist others in making their own
to teach the Yes to No Spectrum, FRIES, nonverbals, and other consent vocabulary and structures
to make a marketing funnel and a marketing cycle for the year
to find creativity within social media output and manage your boundaries around it to avoid burnout
to make a ‘lead generator’ and get people to sign up for your mailing list
to build your own curriculum and create practice exercises
and so much more!
“There’s magic in desire. Asking for what you want is the spell.”
If you feel yourself burnt out because you don’t have the confidence to raise your rates enough for you to work less, if you struggle to say ’no’ or feel your boundaries with your clients, if you want to find your confidence to be able to advocate for yourself in networking or press scenarios and to advocate for why people need your work, or even if you are looking for more creative flow, you’ll find this program really supportive. I’ve found this work grounding and strengthening, I’ve found my creative blocks softened or even removed, and I’ve become less emotionally porous and absorbent. I have a deeper sense of trust within myself and I bring that sense of internal safety with me everywhere I go.
Whether you want to build a business like mine or bring this work to your current business, this training will give you skills to go deeper with your clients, feel more confident in your business, make more money, and build and expand your career.
This is a trauma- and toxic stress-aware, neuro-diversity-informed approach to consent that takes the gut-brain axis into account.
Consent is more than “no means no” or getting permission. Consent is a language and an embodied practice.
Specificity is a creative muscle.
Specificity is a creative muscle.
What will we be doing?
We’ll be going over several consent frameworks to build a vocabulary and a foundation. We’ll move into practicing our skills with these tools, and then into the arena of self-consent and the nervous system. If you’ve taken my 6-Week Course or worked with me privately, you’ll recognize a lot of the curriculum. In this program, you’ll have the space to practice teaching all these things yourself, to each other and to other people in your life.
We’ll also be going into depth around our money consciousness, our self-sabotage, and business practices. You’ll leave this program with a plan for an anti-Capitalist, 6-figure business. When we are thriving, we can help others thrive. We can't help others be resourced from an under-resourced place.
All sessions will be recorded for you and other CW educators for training purposes only.
*Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Applying doesn’t guarantee a spot. I won’t be conducting interviews unless I’d like further clarification about your application. ♡
Applications for the full program are closed.
Structure
There will be several recorded classes to watch, assignments, practice, exercises, and you will be teaching outside of class. I’ll also be meeting one on one with everyone three times to brainstorm offerings and ways to put this work to use in your business or practice. We’ll be unpacking blockages around Capitalism, resistance to sharing and believing that your perspective is of value, and ways that you’re getting in your own way. You’ll be supported in building your own structure and curriculums. We’ll go over codependency, Attachment Theory, Polyvagal Theory, the mind-gut connection, trauma-awareness, neurodivergence, and why this shit is absolute magic. This course will include materials that will help you be trauma-informed in your work. Whether you want to work with people one-on-one, teach groups, work with companies, or incorporate this work into your current job, this program will set you up to find or flesh out your Purpose and your Voice, and show up to your work whole.
The first 4-5 weeks, we will meet once a week and you’ll watch a recorded class before we meet so we can discuss and integrate the concepts together. Then we will meet twice a week.
“All flourishing is mutual.”
About halfway through the program we start to go deep into business. What do boundaries look like with work? How do these consent concepts get integrated into your business as part of the foundation of your brand? How do you develop a healthy relationship to marketing, sales, branding, and making money? We will discuss imposter syndrome, money blockages, scarcity mentality, Capitalism, and how to build a sliding scale business structure.
Some of the classes will be optional in the sense that missing them does not count towards the 2 absences requested limit. Those will be Radical Mental Health First Aid with Oumou, and Social Media and Authenticity with Afomia. Those optional class sessions will mostly be held on Sundays.
Guest Teachers
Guest Teachers
Meenadchi (name/they) will teach a class session on Decolonized and Trauma-Informed Nonviolent Communication.
Facilitator and author of Decolonizing Non-Violent Communication. Meenadchi also completed the Consent Wizardry Educator training.
Brooke Herr (they/them) will teach our class on Grief.
Brooke is a genderqueer witch and artist, whose work focuses on the power of ritual and ceremony. Their professional framework draws from witchcraft, ancestor work, tarot, somatics and energy healing. The guiding core of this work is to cultivate a practice of intuitive listening and response wherein we locate empowerment, integrity, authentic information, and (re)connection to our impulses and inner knowing. Brooke is also a Consent Wizardry Educator.
Risdon Roberts (she/they) will teach our class on Regret and Repair.
Risdon is an Intimacy Consultant, CW Consent Educator, and Restorative Circle Facilitator. Her work is centered in divesting from binary thinking and disposability politics while supporting individual transformation in the context of community as part of a larger liberatory praxis. They are also a Surrogate Partner Therapist and advocate for Sex Workers’ rights.
Risdon
IG: @Outbeyondintimacy
Website: Outbeyondintimacy.com
Josie Alexandra (they/them) is an award winning experimental multi-dimensional artist, fascinated by the potential of intra-personal relationships as sites for reclamation and transformation in world-making processes. Their work offers critiques and envisionings to plausible futurisms [for trans and neurodiverse communities and beyond] in the current global crisis. Josie’s artistic work spans across film, sound, painting and writing. They’re also an educator, consultant, and assistant with a drive to learn the latest skills that they are fixated on.
Josie will teach our imposter syndrome practice class session on June 18th, called Who Has Time for Imposter Syndrome? It’s a speed-dating style professional pitch practice class.
“We have to feel safe in order to play, and what is creativity if not play?”
Expectations + Coursework
Outside of class, you will be expected to practice teaching the concepts and structures we learn in class. This includes FRIES, the Yes-to-No Spectrum, and the Wheel of Consent®. You will be asked to practice your 1:1 structure if you’re building one. This is likely 2-4 hours a week outside of class time and varies week to week. The largest chunk of teaching practice outside of class will be within the first half of the program, during which we will only be meeting once a week.
The only required outside resources are THE BASICS, my 6-Part Boundaries + Consent course, and my Boundaries + Your Business class on Thinkific which you will have access to for free.
The two 1:1’s with Mia are required.
Expect that the business structure you build in this program will take anywhere from a year to three years to grow into itself. You will leave the program with the knowledge and tools to be able to adjust it and tinker with it over the years to keep it feeling fresh to you and your clients.
All other outside resources including the reading list, videos, and podcasts, as well as assignments are suggested and not required. You will not be quizzed or have to prove that you have done the reading in any way. However, you will get out of this program what you put in!
Some of the suggested assignments include:
Teaching the content we’ve learned
Running the practice exercises we do in class with people in your life
Writing letters to yourself as a child
Writing your business manifesto or mission statement
Making a brand manual
Various journal prompts
Defining terms yourself
What can you expect to get out of this program?
“Mia’s consent educator program needs to be a requirement for businesses starters. It gave me the language, frameworks and somatic tools to state and live my boundaries with confidence and care.”
Your personal consent practice.
Skills, tools, vocab, structures, and frameworks and the confidence to teach them.
A scaleable business structure that will allow you to make more money as more people find you and your work, without you having to work more. The structures that we build in the group and through our 1:1’s can grow your income to six figures without you having to add more to your calendar.
Community! One of the most beautiful things about hosting this program has been the way I’ve witnessed people find and build community and friendships that have continued to grow and foster support and income.
A whole lot of confidence.
You will move through your imposter syndrome.
You will find your authentic creative voice in business and even in social media.
You’ll likely feel expansion in your relationship with your creativity.
See more below from former Educators on what they got out of the program…
Some of the classes include:
What is consent? + The Consent Iceberg
FRIES
The Yes-to-No Spectrum
Decolonized Nonviolent Communication with Meenadchi, author of the Decolonizing NVC Workbook
Grief with Brooke
Nonverbals
5 Patterns in Early Consent Learning
Apologies, Gratitude, Regret, and Moving Forward, for you and for students/clients
Wanting vs. Needing
Building your toolkit
Perfectionism and People Pleasing in Your Business + Creativity
Biz + Marketing as Creative Self Expression
Mia's "Consent for Educators" class was truly a high-quality and transformative experience. Mia's curriculum design fit so much information into a limited amount of time, and in a way that was still approachable and not overwhelming. I really enjoyed learning concepts in the videos outside of class at my own pace, and then getting to engage with Mia and all the other students for exercises in the live classes. Getting to practice with other like-minded folks was golden, and really emphasized for me that so much of this learning needs to be experiential - not just theory! Mia's instruction and facilitation style was welcoming, inclusive, and effective.
Overall, this course helped me invest in a beautiful and challenging lifelong practice of consent. I'm still metabolizing what was taught and noticing the many ways it shows up throughout my life. The course planted seeds that will help me continue to grow and learn, both as an educator and a student, in and out of the classroom.
I'm excited to teach what I've learned, especially in classes for dance, movement, and partnered touch. Ultimately, I agree with Mia that consent is magic and it really can transform our world. If you're on the fence about signing up for this program - here's my encouragement to go for it!
—Sam
The details
Applications are only required for the full program.
15 spots available for the full program. Unlimited spots for only the Consent Education portion or Unblocked without Biz Support and without 1:1’s.
April 15 - June 26, 2024
All on Zoom. Live attendance is required. This program cannot be completed via recordings. No more than 2 absences from live classes is requested, with the understanding that unforeseen things come up, we all gotta work, etc.
The first 4 weeks we will meet once a week on Mondays 5-7pm PST and you will be asked to come to class having watched a pre-recorded lesson from my BASICS class (a $333 value). Starting 4 weeks in, we will meet twice a week: Mondays and Wednesdays 5-7pm PST with makeup classes Sundays from noon-2pm PST as needed due to my shooting schedule.
April 15-May 6 we meet only Mondays.
May 13-June 26 we meet Mondays and Wednesdays.
May 15 is the first class from the Unblocked portion of the program.
May 20 is the last day of the Consent Education portion of the program.
Biz support starts May 27
Unblocked ends June 26
There is an optional and open to the public imposter syndrome practice class session hosted by Josie Alexandra on June 18 at 11am PST / 2pm EST.
The following class dates will be outside of the dates listed above. They will be recorded and missing them live will not count towards the attendance request:
Social Media and Authenticity with Afomia, date TBD
Decolonizing Nonviolent Communication with Meenadchi, May 21 5-7pm PST
The guest teachers will each teach 1-2 sessions based on their area of expertise.
Each person will have two 45 min private sessions with Mia to go over how to bring this work into your life and make money from it so that you can be resourced in your personal and professional life. We will brainstorm offerings, curriculum, rates, marketing, taking care of yourself in this work, and anything else you bring to the table.
You will have a spot on the Educators page on this site!
I will refer people to you when I’m approached for jobs that I think you would be a good fit for, or when clients come to me and I think you’d be a better person for them to work with.
Cost
Prices are all inclusive.
For the full program:
$7200 if you have an established business for 1+ years.
$5200 if you are in the planning phase of launching your business or within the first year of your business.
$3600 if you are in the planning phase of launching your business and you:
are currently under- or un-employed
are a sex worker
have debilitating student loans or medical costs (this includes any and all gender-affirming care)
have ever been incarcerated
live somewhere where the exchange rate makes the full price cost-prohibitive
or your ancestors have experienced land theft or slavery
*6-week payment plans are available for the full program. The program must be paid for in full by the end. A deposit of 1/3 must be made with no less than 2 weeks before the program begins.
You can read about why my prices are what they are on my Business + Financial Transparency page.
If you are in a country where the exchange rate makes this program financially inaccessible, you are welcome to make me an offer. I ask that you consider what you can invest that will hold you accountable to the work.
If you would like to get the Biz Support, but are uninterested in either the Consent Educator portion or the Unblocked portion, you may join the business support section with only one of the other sections. i.e. you can do Consent Ed + Biz Support or Unblocked + Biz Support, but Biz Support is not available without one of the other sections. Pricing will be the full cost of the program minus $800. If this is you, please email me to discuss payment options.
I’m offering unlimited spots for the 1st half of the course to those who want to learn to teach consent, but do not want/need the business support.
This option is $800.
It includes:
What is consent? + The Consent Iceberg
FRIES
The Yes-to-No Spectrum
The Wheel of Consent®
Grief with Brooke
Nonverbals
5 Patterns in Early Consent Learning
Apologies, Gratitude, Regret, and Moving Forward, for you and for students/clients
THE BASICS recorded 6-part class ($333 value)
It does not include 1:1’s with Mia.
It does not include the Boundaries + Your Business recorded classes nor business support.
It does not include a spot on the educators page.
You do not need to apply.
You may sign up for Afomia’s class and Meenadchi’s class separately, a la carte.
“Mia’s integrity shines through every corner and moment in this program. They visibly care and act to create a container that is flexible, transparent, aware and honoring of bodily and emotional needs. The intellectual, spiritual and creative stimulation and inspiration is overspilling and generous as fuck. Via a constant sharing of theoretical frameworks, thought process, guest thinkers and great prompts. I haven’t seen many programs that combine theoretical foundation, business and social media guidance in such a way. My cohort was brilliant and I strongly recommend doing this course for folks who want to creatively grow and develop their unique pedagogical offering.”
Unblocked: Working through creative blockages with a strong self-consent practice is available separately with unlimited spots
Unblocked is available separately as a 7-week course, without the Consent Educator training, 1:1’s, or business support.
It does not include 1:1’s with Mia.
It does not include the Boundaries + Your Business recorded classes nor business support.
It does not include a spot on the educators page.
You do not need to apply.
You may sign up for Afomia’s class and Meenadchi’s class separately, a la carte.
Please note:
This program will help you build a foundation and a structure for a scaleable business. Don’t expect to be making six figures right away. You will have a yearlong plan by the end of class that you can repeat and scale up with more students, signups, and sales, but this work takes time. People need to find out who you are and what you do.
**Please don’t go into debt for this program! Whatever amount you pay for this program should not wipe you out financially.
Some things I’d like to prepare you for:
A lot of grief comes up in this work. Relationships fall away as you begin to stand up for yourself and voice your boundaries. You will likely experience grief (or anticipatory grief) for those relationships, as well as grief for your past self and how different things could have been.
Your standards will go up. This will contribute to relationships ending, but it will also help you gravitate towards and pull in more aligned, fulfilling, easeful relationships.
The consent concepts we’ll go over in class are things you cannot unsee. I mean this in the best way. The world around you will become clearer, more specific, and you’ll see communication in granular detail. You’ll be able to not monitor or constrain yourself because you will become fluent with the concepts. It will becomes easy and intuitive. However—and this isn’t intended to scare you, nor is it an exaggeration—your life will change and there’s no going back.
We will spend the first half of the program on consent concepts. The second half will focus on business which will include digging into some stuff around your relationship with money. We will talk about finding your voice in your work, what you want to offer, how to have boundaries with your work, and engaging in marketing and branding and social media in a way that feels sustainable and authentic to you, while avoiding burnout.
This is a business program. It’s to help you start, develop, or restructure your business using concepts of consent and boundaries in a trauma-informed way. My goal is to help you make more money.
Tough shit comes up in here. Old stuff gets the dust kicked off of it. Trauma can come up. I (or the guest teacher) am the only facilitator in the room so we cannot come support on an individual basis. You will have time in Class 1 to develop your care plan.
Some of the Recommended Reading List (not required; you will not be tested lol)
Queer Attachment Zine
Care Work by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
How We Show Up by Mia Birdsong
When the Body Says No by Gabor Mate
Disability Visibility by Alice Wong
Turn This World Upside Down by Nora Samaran
Body of Health by Francesca McCartney
On Connection by Kae Tempest
Decolonizing Nonviolent Communication Workbook by Meenadchi
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
Have questions? Email me!
What past Educators are up to now…
Rebekah Rose has been commissioned for public art opportunities at their full rate, and teaching consent and art different community sites throughout LA.
Sharon Vincuilla is providing private coaching on co-regulation and consent-based collaborative care within the context of human-and-dog relationships. You can watch our conversation about what brought Sharon to the Educator Training and how she’s incorporated the training into her own business.
Bobbie Esposito manifested their dream job and teaches the principles of consent to kids through rock climbing at a gym. They’re working on a burnout program to help climbers care for themselves and work through burnout.
If you want to hear more from past Educator Trainees, check out my conversations with Laila Makled, Rebekah Rose, and Mari de Luna.
All of our guest teachers (above) have completed the Consent Educator Training!
See what people have said about their experience in the educator program below…
What people are saying…
“Mia is a patient and generous educator. The way they conceptualize consent is so rich and nuanced that, once you’ve encountered it, going back to a binary or reductive approach is inconceivable. It’s nothing short of a revelation. In this course, I found myself connecting with others around obstacles to creativity, and in so doing, I experienced increased lightness and ease around being creative. My expectations were met and exceeded as I found discussions on people pleasing, the inner critic, and perfectionism facilitated more comfort and confidence in my own creative aspirations and projects. The exercises, journalling prompts, and discussions enriched my creative practices and sparked self-reflection. For me, there is immense value in engaging with this approach to consent—for creativity and beyond—and I enthusiastically recommend it to anyone.”
“I took the Consent Wizadry Consent Educator Series and was blown away by all of the things that I did not know, and the way that the depths to which the Yes-to-know spectrum goes to help you considering both body and mind. I am an erotic embodiment professional and was looking for more ways to deepen my own consent practice as well as to broaden ways for me to teach my clients and students. Mia truly is a true Wizard. They synthesize multiple modalities of consent, as well as verbal and non-verbal communication skills. I chose Mia’s class because there was queer, trans, non-binary and BIPOC inclusivity. This was represented in the makeup of the class participants as well as the guest facilitators. Representation and inclusivity matters to me as a queer black non-binary femme. I would take this class again and would recommend it to others.”
“The Educator Training with Mia has been absolutely life-changing for me. Before taking the program, I knew I wanted to start an anti-capitalist business around boundaries + consent education, relational intimacy, and somatic pleasure. While I had access to the big picture of the business and education I wanted to offer, I needed help with seeing the smaller, more detailed steps in getting there. Being able to receive Mia’s guidance and coaching throughout the Educator Training, in addition to the encouragement, shared reality, and support of my cohort, changed the game. One of the biggest gifts I received in working with Mia is internalizing the belief that I am worthy of all that I’m calling in—in business and in life. Through applying the boundaries + consent work Mia shares, not only do I experience more peace and abundance daily, I’ve also been able to launch a business offering boundaries + consent education through platonic cuddle training. I’m so grateful to Mia for offering and holding this revolutionary container, as well as being able to learn alongside like-hearted radicals, healers, coaches, and teachers around the world.”
“Mia’s Consent Educator course was everything I hoped for. It gave me the push, confidence, and resources I needed to start my own business and teach consent to others. Mia also held space that allowed for inspirational and supportive relationships with other folks in the cohort to form. I am beyond grateful to Mia for all the work and care they put into building this curriculum and know I will be referencing it for years to come.”
“I loved taking the Consent Educator class with Mia and would recommend it to everyone, educator or not. It is Mia’s particular style and flavor of facilitating that makes learning easy, fun, and surprisingly intuitive. The concepts they introduced were ideas of consent and relationship that my body has always known but had never articulated out loud before. In addition to learning from Mia, I received opportunities throughout the course to learn from the container itself. My cohort was chock full of folks whom I admired in their work and integrity. I loved being able to learn from and alongside my peers in a well-facilitated and nuanced way. This is a class that I would absolutely invest in again, because I know the learnings will become richer each time round.”
“I had the pleasure of being a part of Mia’s consent educator course. I enjoyed every minute of it. I took a workshop with Mia quite a few months ago and from that one workshop I could tell that they were very special kind a teacher, someone I could be very excited to learn from. Not only is Mia super educated and intelligent, they also have a way of living in their own personal experiences into the curriculum. In a way that makes it not only relatable but easier to grasp and understand. If you’re thinking about this course and you’re not quite sure whether or not this program is the right fit for you, I’m telling you that you should do it and give it a try because it may give you a lot of new perspective on your own life, business, and consent in general. ”
“I had no idea what to do with my work. I had been running an extremely small business into which I had never put my full attention, sitting in the car 10 to 15 hours per week, providing services to a very affluent and white demographic who did not truly appreciate what I offered, and drowning in the shame of not actively acknowledging my privilege or addressing the ways that oppressive systems work through me. I needed to change, but I was overwhelmed and anxious and did not know where to start. I began a long journey of self actualization and lifestyle reimagining and found along the way that, as I set firmer boundaries and became more authentically me, I was leaving some relationships behind and others were also choosing to let me go on without them. I became very lonely and a bit discouraged and needed help.
Being part of Mia’s Consent Educator Course was like being welcomed into a magical guild of explorers; nourished with care; and embarking on a comprehensive growth inducing quest. I was taken under Mia’s soft wizard robes and connected with others traveling on similar journeys. I found that I was accepted. For who I am. Without question. I was given a practical guide, resources, and guidance to develop skills. I was told I can do this and wrapped in warm genuine encouragement as I tried on new ways of being my professional self. The glimpses of my future self and work became more clear. I saw and experienced magic in my own life, discovered who I am, and embraced the idea that I am a being who can allow magic to flow through me.
When I look for evidence that I have traveled, I see that I am developing curricula for new service offerings, practicing with a group of people every week, continuing to engage in practices of play and learning, and collaborating with designers to develop an artistic direction for a new entrepreneurial endeavor. I have a new business name and I found more clear and effective ways to title my role and describe what I do. I have new clients who are fully on board with what I offer and who validate the ideas that form the foundation of my work. I have a network of other magical beings with whom I can continue to grow and I have strategies to keep developing skills in asking for help, remaining regulated, and advocating for myself and others. I am so grateful for the opportunity to have been a part of Mia’s Consent Educator Course; it was an extremely significant component of my journey and something that has contributed to a strong foundation for a much healthier life.”
“I chose to take the consent educator course because I felt like most of my coaching clients really needed this work, but because many of them were navigating a lot of trauma, they felt safer getting this education from me than another person. I am so grateful that I made the investment even though it was really scary for me at the time. I have used what I learned in every capacity of my work: as a sex coach, as a surrogate partner, and as a restorative practices facilitator. I especially loved some of the guest speakers and learning about how to market and manage a business. I am still in close touch with my cohort, and we use each other as a resource and that has been invaluable. I’m so grateful I chose to invest in this program and highly recommend it for anybody that feels it’s an alignment with their offerings.”