Positive Sexuality Day 2025

Karren Barcita is a sexual wellness advocate, community storyteller, creative practitioner, and experience designer, who is rooted in reproductive justice, peer support, and collective healing.

Activity: “How Are You, Really? A Vibe Check for the Body, Mind, and Soul”
A gentle and playful session to pause with your breath, notice how your body feels, and explore what you need. Through simple grounding and reflective writing, we’ll make space for curiosity, care, and deeper connection with your work.

Andrew Pari proudly joined the CPS Board in 2018. The Founder and Director of Sexual Awakening Awareness, LLC, he is a psychotherapist and national speaker with over 20 years’ experience treating sexual trauma, including specialized populations in the sex trade and victims of trafficking. He is the nation’s leading authority on the victim experience of arousal in sexualized violence and related “taboo” topics. He is one of the NASW’s “1000 Experts,” responding to media inquiries/interviews on trauma, sexualized violence, and disaster response, and served on the 2017 NASW National Policy Task Force for Sex Work and Commercialized Sex Trade. In 2018, Andrew spearheaded the campaign to have the Antelope Valley declared the largest “Start By Believing” region in California, a national program dedicated to believing sexual assault survivors.

Dr. Elisabeth “Eli” Sheff is a researcher, expert witness, coach, speaker, and educational consultant. Sheff is the foremost academic expert on polyamorous families with children, and her 25+ year Polyamorous Family Study is the only longitudinal study of poly families with children to date.

Presentation: “Being Part of the AltSex Community You Research”
Researchers who are members of the populations they study face specific hurdles when those communities are centered on sex, gender, or relationship minorities. Dr. Elisabeth Sheff explains these challenges and a few strategies to manage them.

Eros is an Erotic Educator, an advocate for sexual exploration and a promoter of how ethical sex can bring wellness to our lives. Focused on creating a holistic erotic approach, Eros is also an passionate explorer of Sensual Shibari as a tool to teach people how to develop communication skills and discover their desires, needs, and boundaries for fulfilling sexual experiences.

Activity:Erotic Meditation
Do you dare to embody your erotic fantasies?
We often believe that for a fantasy to be complete, we have to bring it into reality... but that's not always the case. When a fantasy becomes concrete, it often loses that tension, that electricity, that mystery that made it so alive. Something spills over, gets lost. But when you inhabit it from the body, when you recreate it with detail, with presence, with breath, the fantasy isn't lost; it expands, becomes more intense, more sensitive... more... yours. It's not about making it real, it's about feeling it real in your body. That's where the alchemy happens.

Dr. Jeremy Thomas is a Professor of Sociology at Idaho State University. His research focuses on sexuality, deviance, and the body.

Dr. D J Williams is a board member, Journal of Positive Sexuality co-founder, and a social and behavioral scientist at Idaho State University.

Presentation: “A Sex-Positive Approach to Forensic Interviewing”
This presentation addresses how a sex-positive approach can benefit forensic interviewing practices in cases of potential adoloscent sexual abuse.

Jordan is a senior at UCLA double majoring in Gender Studies and Sociology. They are hoping to pursue a masters in Social Work to become a LCSW and possibly become a certified sex therapist.

Activity: “Are You Positive… About That Answer?”
Trivia about CPS with some fun sex facts and prizes!