Welcome to the San Diego GSRD Forum! We’re glad that you found us.
The Forum is created for Mental Health and Intimacy Professionals whose work focuses on and affirms Gender, Sexuality, and Relationship Diversity (GSRD). “GSRD moves beyond LGBT to include polyamory, consenting non-monogamous relationships, Kink and BDSM.”
Please note, we are not an official organization; we are a loose-knit group of mental health and intimacy professionals whose purpose is primarily to socialize and be supportive of each other. The forum is co-founded by Jennifer Rehor, and sponsored by Affirming Therapy Center.
By lifting up each other, we lift up the profession.
A little bit about the history of our group (written by Jennifer Rehor):
In 2018, my colleague and friend, Dr. John McConnell, had rented out a booth at the Leather Realm inside San Diego Pride and invited a few colleagues (including me) who were kink-aware to join him. We called it “Therapist Corner”; the idea was to show support to the leather community by local mental health professionals. Our efforts were well received by the community, and a lot of people passing by thanked us just for being there. (While individual therapists have had a presence at Leather Realm in years past, this is the first time that we had gathered as any kind of consortium.)
During those two days in the Leather Realm, many of us got to talking about how nice it was to feel connected and a sense of community among ourselves, and we began discussing the idea of creating some kind of consortium for San Diego Kink Friendly therapists. After many talks over lunch and coffee, John McConnell and I co-founded the San Diego GSRD-Affirming Therapists Forum.
From those days, we pooled our professional networks together and invited all who we thought might have an interest in joining us for our inaugural social gathering.
Our goal is to socialize, provide peer-to-peer support, share resources, build our referral networks, collaborate on special projects, and feel less isolated.
For about a year and a half, we co-hosted social events every 3 to 6 months until 2020 when Covid prevented in-person get-togethers. We put a pause on face-to-face events but members of our group could still connect through the Facebook page. Dr. John McConnell retired in October 2020 and, sadly, he passed away in December of that same year. (Our group came together to grieve this huge loss to the community and to the world, and I’m so grateful for the support of these amazing people!).
And, our shared vision is still with us!
In 2022, our group had started to re-emerge and we had our first in-person meeting for a “dungeon tour” at House of Black (HoB). With a great turnout and genuine interest, we had several small-group private tours of the facility, socialized, and ended with a Question and Answer session with the owner of HoB, Fae Black.
We then came together again that summer at The Leather Realm in San Diego Pride… which brought us full-circle.
Now, we have quarterly events throughout the year, which are proudly hosted and/or sponsored by Affirming Therapy Center as a way of giving back to our community and to bring our colleagues together.
So, thank you for your interest. Hopefully the back-story is helpful for you. We look forward to continuing the growth and camaraderie and are so happy to have you join us!