Flagship program · Launching May 2027
AASECT Certification Curriculum
A 147-hour asynchronous curriculum covering the Human Sexuality Education Core Knowledge and the profession-specific skills training for Sex Therapists, Sexuality Counselors and Sexuality Educators.
How the curriculum is built
Core, Commons, then one pathway
Everyone completes the same foundation, then chooses the pathway that matches their professional scope.
Ethics and evidence; development, culture and identity; bodies, health and pleasure; relationships and safety; contemporary contexts.
Shared professional practice content that every pathway builds on.
- 147CE hours: Core, Commons and one pathway
- 9courses in the program
- 3pathways
- 12 monthsaccess per course
Accreditation. These courses are designed to align with AASECT’s Human Sexuality Education Core Knowledge and profession-specific skills-training requirements. They are not currently AASECT-sponsored or AASECT-approved, and they do not by themselves confer AASECT certification. Learners are responsible for confirming their own eligibility with AASECT.
Step 1
Shared Core
Five 15-hour courses. No formal academic prerequisites.
Shared Core · Core 1 · 15 hours
Core 1: Foundations, Ethics, History & Evidence
Core 1 opens the Shared Core with the ethical, historical, and evidentiary foundations that inform every later sexuality course. Learners build a working model of ethical reasoning and professional boundaries, trace the contested histories of sex research, diagnosis, and sexual-rights movements, develop research literacy for evaluating sexuality claims and measures, and apply adult-learning principles to their own sexuality-related teaching and communication.
- CE hours
- 15 hours
- Modules
- 4
- Format
- Asynchronous, 12-month access
- Prerequisite
- None
See the 4 modules
- Ethics, Sexual Rights, Values & Professional Reflection
- Histories of Sexology, Sexuality Education, Counseling & Therapy
- Reading Sexuality Research: Methods, Measurement & Evidence
- How Adults Learn Sexuality: Learning Theory & Professional Communication
Shared Core · Core 2 · 15 hours
Core 2: Development, Culture & Identity
Core 2 examines sexuality as it develops and is shaped across the life course, situating individual development within family, culture, faith, race, class, migration, and power. The course closes with a non-pathologizing foundation in sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression, preparing learners to work respectfully across a wide range of identities and contexts.
- CE hours
- 15 hours
- Modules
- 3
- Format
- Asynchronous, 12-month access
- Prerequisite
- None
See the 3 modules
- Sexuality Across the Life Course — A Biopsychosocial Developmental Spine
- Culture, Family, Faith, Power & Sexual Scripts
- Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity & Gender Expression
Shared Core · Core 3 · 15 hours
Core 3: Bodies, Health, Function & Pleasure
Core 3 builds inclusive literacy in sexual and reproductive anatomy, physiology, and embodiment, then turns to the medical and health factors that influence sexuality and the professional judgment required to know when education, counseling, clinical care, consultation, or referral is indicated. The course closes by differentiating sexual variation, pleasure, and contextual distress from clinically significant dysfunction, with attention to pleasure-enhancement skills and diagnostic restraint.
- CE hours
- 15 hours
- Modules
- 3
- Format
- Asynchronous, 12-month access
- Prerequisite
- None
See the 3 modules
- Sexual & Reproductive Anatomy, Physiology and Embodiment
- Sexual Health, Medicine, Reproduction & Care Interfaces
- Sexual Functioning, Behavior, Pleasure & Distress
Shared Core · Core 4 · 15 hours
Core 4: Relationships, Diversity & Safety
Core 4 addresses intimacy, communication, and relationship systems across diverse partnership structures, then extends into consensual sexual expression — including kink and consensual non-monogamy — before addressing consent, coercion, exploitation, harassment, and sexual violence. Throughout, the course emphasizes survivor-responsive, trauma-informed practice and clear scope and referral boundaries.
- CE hours
- 15 hours
- Modules
- 3
- Format
- Asynchronous, 12-month access
- Prerequisite
- None
See the 3 modules
- Intimacy, Relationships, Communication & Family Dynamics
- Sexual Expression, Kink, CNM & Sexual Communities
- Consent, Coercion, Exploitation, Harassment & Sexual Violence
Shared Core · Core 5 · 15 hours
Core 5: Contemporary Contexts & Integration
Core 5 closes the Shared Core by situating sexuality within contemporary digital and substance-use contexts — dating apps, pornography, social media, generative AI, and sexualized drug use — and then integrates the preceding sixteen Core Knowledge modules through composite cases that ask what an educator, a counselor, and a therapist would each notice, communicate, and do next.
- CE hours
- 15 hours
- Modules
- 3
- Format
- Asynchronous, 12-month access
- Prerequisite
- None
See the 3 modules
- Sexuality, Technology, Digital Culture & Generative AI
- Substance Use, Sexualized Drug Use & Harm Reduction
- Core Integration Lab — One Sexuality Concern, Three Professional Lenses
Step 2
Sexuality Leadership Practice Commons
Commons · 9 hours
Sexuality Leadership Practice Commons
Shared professional practice content completed by every pathway. Full course details will be posted here.
Step 3
Choose one pathway
Each pathway is 21 hours and pairs with the Commons to complete your profession-specific skills training.
Pathway · 21 hours
Sex Therapist Professional Skills
Sex Therapist Professional Skills is the clinical pathway for learners preparing to provide sex-related psychotherapy. It moves from comparing sex-therapy models and their evidence base, through clinical assessment, formulation, and diagnostic restraint, into relationship-systems intervention and the medical-sexual interfaces that shape evaluation and treatment, closing with an integrated decision lab that draws these strands together in ambiguous clinical cases.
- CE hours
- 21 hours
- Modules
- 5
- Format
- Asynchronous, 12-month access
- Prerequisite
- Graduate-level mental health training
- Level
- Intermediate to advanced
See the 5 modules
- Theories & Methods of Sex-Related Psychotherapy
- Clinical Assessment, Formulation, Diagnosis & Diagnostic Restraint
- Relationship Systems in Sex Therapy
- Medical-Sexual Interfaces in Evaluation & Treatment
- Integrated Sex Therapy Decision Lab
Pathway · 21 hours
Sexuality Counselor Professional Skills
Sexuality Counselor Professional Skills prepares learners to provide brief, problem-focused sexuality counseling — concern clarification, normalization, psychoeducation, and communication and decision support — while recognizing the boundary between counseling and psychotherapy. The course addresses population-responsive adaptation, relationship-system communication, and sexuality-related medical decision support, closing with an integrated decision lab in ambiguous counseling cases.
- CE hours
- 21 hours
- Modules
- 5
- Format
- Asynchronous, 12-month access
- Prerequisite
- Sexuality knowledge and basic counselling skills recommended
See the 5 modules
- Theory & Methods of Individual Sexuality Counseling
- Sexuality Counseling with Specific Populations
- Relationship Systems, Communication & Brief Intervention
- Medical Decision Support, Consultation & Referral
- Integrated Sexuality Counseling Decision Lab
Pathway · 21 hours
Sexuality Educator Professional Skills
Sexuality Educator Professional Skills prepares learners to design, facilitate, and evaluate sexuality education across individual, group, large-group, and asynchronous online contexts. The course covers general education theory and curriculum alignment, sexuality-specific pedagogy, population-responsive adaptation, and delivery-method selection, closing with an integrated curriculum design and evaluation lab.
- CE hours
- 21 hours
- Modules
- 5
- Format
- Asynchronous, 12-month access
- Prerequisite
- Sexuality knowledge recommended
See the 5 modules
- General Education Theory, Curriculum & Alignment
- Sexuality Education Theory & Methods
- Population-Responsive Sexuality Education
- Delivery Methods — Individual, Group, Large Group & Online
- Integrated Curriculum Design & Evaluation Lab
Optional advanced specialization
Sex Therapy Practice with GBTQ Men
A separate 100-hour certificate for clinicians who want depth in sex therapy practice with gay, bisexual, trans and queer men.
Advanced professional specialization · 100 hours
Certificate in Sex Therapy Practice with GBTQ Men: Anti-Oppressive and Psychodynamic Approaches
This certificate develops sex therapy practice with gay, bisexual, trans and queer men, working from anti-oppressive and psychodynamic foundations rather than from technique.
Modules move from histories of stigma and structural harm, through assessment and contracting, sexual medicine foundations and psychosexual presentations, into kink-affirming practice, digital sexual geographies, HIV-inclusive care and aging, relationship therapy, race and migration, faith, trauma-forward practice and ethics.
Content is taught at the level of clinical concept and formulation. The certificate does not teach sexual technique, and it does not confer a sex therapy credential.
- CE hours
- 100 hours
- Modules
- 20
- Format
- Asynchronous, 12-month access
- Prerequisite
- Current or recent clinical practice
- Level
- Advanced
See the 20 modules
- Histories, Stigma and Structural Harm
- Intersectionality and Minority Stress
- Psychodynamic and Systemic Lenses
- Assessment and Contracting
- Working with Shame and Trauma
- Sexual Medicine Foundations
- Psychosexual Dysfunctions
- Anal Health and Pleasure
- Bodies, Pleasure and Self-Image
- Sexual Compulsivity, Pornography, Chemsex
- Kink-Affirming Practice
- Digital Sexual Geographies
- HIV-Inclusive Sexual Health and Aging
- Relationship Therapy
- Cross-Population Sexual Health
- Race, Migration and Erotic Politics
- Faith, Meaning-Making and Sexual Ethics
- Trauma-Forward Practice
- Ethics, Consent, Law and Public Health
- Capstone Integration
Enrolment
The curriculum opens in May 2027. Get in touch to be notified when enrolment opens, or to ask whether the program fits your certification plans.