The Consent Academy - Who are We? ​

The Consent Academy is an educational collective based out of Seattle, WA. Our mission is to teach consent in all of its complexity, aspects, and potential. With over 60 years of education experience collectively, our approach incorporates disciplines of psychology, sociology, public health, psychotherapy, and personal coaching to create a systemic view of how consent impacts everyone from the bedroom to the boardroom. We believe consent is part of everyday life and its practice builds stronger, safer, and more connected communities.

We know first hand, our culture doesn’t do enough to teach about consent. Since our founding in 2016 we’ve helped thousands of people each year to understand these complex issues and skills. Our educators, therapists, coaches, and students hold a passion for building and growing our knowledge about consent. While our group began with just ten volunteers, it has become a force for change. Working both in person and online, we educate for communities and organizations across the US and the World.

Our team of volunteers works together to both teach consent and innovate on this complex topic we love. For many of us it is a passion project. For some it is part of the day-to-day work we do. For all of us, it is our way to grow Consent Culture, both in our lives and around the world. 

The Consent Academy - What do We Do? ​​

​The Consent Academy exists to help people understand the complexity of Consent and build Consent Culture in their own communities, organizations, schools, and homes. We do this through:

Our Mission

The Consent Academy is a collective of consent educators, experts, and activists.
​We are committed to establishing the foundations for Consent Culture by:
  • Creating relevant, targeted, and original consent content and curriculum.
  • Making consent education accessible and inclusive to all ages, backgrounds, settings, and contexts. 
  • Challenging current assumptions, perceptions, and the status quo.
  • Empowering dialogue around and the application of consent in daily life.
  • Operating authentically, bravely, honestly, and with acceptance and compassion.
  • Embracing these two concepts:
                #ConsentIsEssential    #ConsentForEveryone

Our Role

We are Educators. As experts in the field of consent, our role is to help people better understand consent and the way it fits into their lives. 
  • Our work is not about telling you how to do consent.
  • Our work is helping you to understand what consent is and how it can work in your life and context. 
  • We're not here to tell you what you "should" do. 
  • We're here to help you know options and concepts so you can choose what's best for you.
We are Advocates. We provide compassionate support to help people get through the experience of harm by providing a comforting presence,  an understanding ear, and a knowledgeable center for resources and ways to move forward.
  • We are not here to judge, punish, or blame people. Most people get enough of that already.
  • We're here to provide a non-judgmental and professional space to help anyone involved in a Consent Incident to move forward in as healthy a way possible.
  • We are not here to determine who is right or wrong, to keep track of violators, or to control anyone's behavior.
  • We're here to provide a framework for accountability that individuals and organizations can use to move forward and reduce harm.
We are Complexifiers. We provide insight arounds the ins and outs of consent. Not satisfied with a simple explanation or understanding, we strive to delve into how consent works and how it can be best practiced.
  • Many people want a simple answer when it comes to consent; a way to determine is a given behavior is consensual or not.
  • Our simplest model is a 4-Part Complex Model of Consent which asks you to consider the issues of Capacity, Information, Agreements, Boundaries, Autonomy, and Power. 
  • Many people contend that consent only exists in the context of sex, and therefore doesn't need to be talked about outside of that.
  • Consent is part of daily life and is present any time two people interact. Talking about it is appropriate for everyone from infants to the elderly. While it is important for sexual activity, it's about so much more than that.
We are a Collective. Though we come from many different disciplines, backgrounds, and lived, we work together as a unit to bring our knowledge, experience, and understanding to you.
  • There is no way to work on consent alone. There is too much area to cover and to much need.
  • Our volunteers work together to show up for each other and for you. Whenever we can, we teach and consult in pairs, giving multiple voices to the complexities that exist.
  • There is no way to process consent alone. There is too much complexity and content.
  • By bringing together diverse voices and experiences, we're able to better avoid bias, manage privilege, and provide sufficient emotional support for one another in our work.
We are Innovators. There is no such thing as enough understanding when it comes to consent. There is always more to learn, tease apart, and synthesize. That's what we do.
  • We believe it's not enough to teach about consent from either a strictly academic or personal perspective.
  • Consent is a praxis; bringing together knowledge with lived experience to create something bigger than the sum of its parts.
  • Our concepts and knowledge surrounding consent is and will continue to grow at a pace most people find hard to keep up with.
  • We continue to push the field of consent with new curriculum, ideas, language, and practices. We see it as part of our work to find and talk about all of the places consent exists and work to help others understand them.
We are Experts. The field of consent is growing at a pace that seemed unimaginable in 2016 when we started. While we bring 4 years of hard won consent understanding as an organization, our real strength is in the hundreds of hours our educators, consultants, and volunteers bring to the table. 
  • Our collective is made up of therapists, teachers, social workers, academics, consultants, students, sex educators, victims advocates, and people who have lived and experienced the impact of broken consent. 
  • We don't know everything about Consent. That would be impossible given it's scope and complexity. But we know a lot.
  • We're here to lend our knowledge, understanding, and experience to you.