Subject Matter Experts
(in alphabetical order by first name; subject to change)
As we envisioned the SPC Surrogate Partner Professional Training, we imagined building a vibrant community, featuring and celebrating diverse voices and experiences. To that end, we have assembled an extraordinary group of people who will be sharing their expertise. Initially this material was developed for the trainees, but we’ve realized making this continuing education opportunity available to existing surrogate partners would be a major contribution to the profession, especially as much of this critically relevant material has never before been presented as part of a formal surrogate partner training. In any profession, we believe continuing education is essential to evolving, growing, and maturing both individually and collectively. We are grateful and proud to contribute to that effort.
 Akilah Riley-RichardsonLove has a color: Working with couples who experience racism |  Andrew Heartman |  Aubri LancasterAubri Lancaster (she/her) is an AASECT and ANTE UP! Certified Sexuality Educator. As a Greyromantic Asexual, Aubri has lived experience and a connection to the Asexual and Aromantic communities that provides a unique perspective on the issues facing the changing landscape of sexuality and orientation. Aubri's services can be found at MyPassionAngel.com including workshops, consulting, and training. She also offers free content on IG & TikTok at @AceSexEducation. When not working, Aubri spends he |
|---|---|---|
 Brian Gibney |  Eileen Chao |  Erika Miley |
 Jeannie Miller |  Jules PurnellJules Purnell (they/them) is an AASECT-certified Sexuality Educator and restorative justice practitioner who specializes in LGBTQIA+ cultural awareness, kink/BDSM, sexual violence prevention and response, and ethical non-monogamies. They received training in Sensate Focus from Integrative Mind-Body Therapies in 2019, and have engaged in various forms of erotic labor for over 20 years. Their education work spans many realms, including K-12, higher ed, non-profit, community-centered, and at sexual |  Katherine Yeagel |
 Leonore Tjia |  Lou Hanson |  Surrogate Partner Collective |
 Linda Thai |  Michelle Renee |  Rachel Yukimura |
 Shauna Farabaugh | Surrogate Partner Collective |
Akilah Riley-Richardson is a published researcher, couples therapist and Certified Clinical Trauma Professional. She has been in clinical practice for sixteen years and works with couples and persons practicing ethical non monogamy. Akilah specialises in work with sexual minorities and racial minorities. As an educator and facilitator, she has provided consultancy services to organizations such as NASTAD (National Alliance for State and Territorial AIDS directors), andI-TECH (International Training and Education Center for Health). She has presented in spaces such as the Psychotherapy Networker Symposium and the Black Mental health Symposium. You can learn a bit more about her at https://akilahrileyrichardson.com/
Akilah Riley-Richardson
Aubri Lancaster (she/her) is an AASECT and ANTE UP! Certified Sexuality Educator. As a Greyromantic Asexual, Aubri has lived experience and a connection to the Asexual and Aromantic communities that provides a unique perspective on the issues facing the changing landscape of sexuality and orientation. Aubri's services can be found at MyPassionAngel.com including workshops, consulting, and training. She also offers free content on IG & TikTok at @AceSexEducation. When not working, Aubri spends her time with her spouse, her friends, her 6 year old, and her two adorable Chihuahuas.
Aubri Lancaster
_edited.jpg)
Brian is a surrogate partner and intimacy coach, using his diverse life experiences to help people overcome obstacles to physical and emotional intimacy. His practice is rooted in patience, authenticity, vulnerability, touch…and sometimes a little bit of humor. In addition to working with clients, Brian is a passionate advocate for surrogate partner therapy and regularly lectures at private practices, universities, workshops, and professional conferences. Brian helped found the Surrogate Partner Collective, EMBRACE Resource Group, East Coast Intimacy Professionals peer discussion group, and is currently serving as co-chair of AASECT’s Somatic Sexuality Professionals special interest group.
Brian Gibney
Dr. Erika Miley (Dr. E) helps professionals around their discomfort with treating patients’ sexual concerns. She provides intimate training through workshops, keynote presentations, and writing. As a subject matter expert in neurodiversity and sexuality, Dr. E presents sexual information in easy to understand ways so healthcare providers can give access to higher quality care their patients need. Her background in research and as a professor for institutions such as Whitworth University and Modern Sex Therapy Institutes make Erika uniquely qualified to train healthcare providers.
Erika Miley
Jeannie Miller (she/her) is a surrogate partner, intimacy and embodiment coach, and platonic touch practitioner. She wrote her undergraduate thesis on transgender people's experiences of sexual embodiment, and has worked as a campus peer sex educator, LGBTQI+ advocate, non-profit consultant, medical patient-instructor, and figure drawing model. After receiving a Masters in social work, she chose support clients not as a talk therapist but through experiential learning. Jeannie co-founded Embrace Resource Group to help educate therapists about this clinical option and strengthen the field of SPT. Based in Washington, DC, Jeannie has trained with IPSA, Cuddlist, and School of Consent.
Jeannie Miller
Jules Purnell (they/them) is an AASECT-certified Sexuality Educator and restorative justice practitioner who specializes in LGBTQIA+ cultural awareness, kink/BDSM, sexual violence prevention and response, and ethical non-monogamies. They received training in Sensate Focus from Integrative Mind-Body Therapies in 2019, and have engaged in various forms of erotic labor for over 20 years. Their education work spans many realms, including K-12, higher ed, non-profit, community-centered, and at sexuality-focused and sex positive events. They hold a M.Ed. in Human Sexuality Studies from Widener University's CHSS. They live in Western Mass, where they host sex+ events and dream of queer communal living.
Jules Purnell
Katherine Yeagel (all pronouns) is a surrogate partner, somatic sex educator, and queer sex & relationship coach. I live in Western Massachusetts on Nonotuck and Pocomtuc land. When I’m not thinking, talking, and learning about sexual healing, I spend a lot of time in the woods with my dog, practicing fiddle, and making challah.
Katherine Yeagel
Leonore Tjia offers sex-positive, kink- and polyamory-affirming therapy to recovering perfectionists, people pleasers, and Highly Sensitive People. Her writing, workshops and online offerings help people transform patterns, heal trauma, and access the inner wildness that helps us feel erotically alive.
Leonore Tjia
Linda Thai (she/her), LMSW, is a trauma therapist, educator and consultant who specializes in brain- and body-based modalities while incorporating issues pertaining to the impact of oppressive systems upon identity, mental health and wellbeing, and the invisibilized wounds of racial and attachment trauma. Born in Vietnam, raised in Australia, and now living in Alaska, Linda is a former child refugee who is redefining what it means to be wounded, whole, and a healer. She is passionate about breaking the cycle of historical and intergenerational trauma, and deeply believes in the healing power of coming together in community to share stories, sing, and grieve.
Linda Thai
Lou Hanson (she/her) has been an active surrogate partner since her training in 2015 and is also a licensed therapist. Lou is excited to have transitioned to private practice where she now also supervises SPT for her esteemed surrogate colleagues. Based out of Hyattsville, MD, Lou serves the greater DMV area. She is also co-founder of the Embrace Resource Group, supporting SPs and Supervising Therapists, as well as fundraising to diversify the field of SPs and increase access to services for low-income clients. A self-proclaimed sex nerd, Lou is always seeking knowledge through books, trainings, and interpersonal connections.
Lou Hanson
Michelle Renee (she/her), based in San Diego, started her professional touch career with Cuddlist in 2015 and as a Cuddle Party facilitator in 2016. She added Surrogate Partner Therapy in 2018. She considers herself an experiential intimacy guide for hands-on learners.
Michelle loves building community. She is the co-chair of AASECT's Somatic Sexuality Professionals SIG, a co-founder of Embrace - an SPT resource group, and a co-founder of both West and East Coast Intimacy Professionals - peer to peer virtual support groups.
In 2022 she launched SoftCockWeek.com and in 2023 she was named Director of Training for Cuddlist.com.
Michelle Renee
Rachel Yukimura has been a full-service escort since 2014 and a Surrogate Partner Therapy practitioner since 2018. She is currently studying to become a Somatic Sex Educator. Some identities that are important to her include queer, polyamorous (the “kitchen table” variety), kinkster, Leftist, Pagan, polytheist, animist, and mixed-race (Japanese and Polish-Jewish). She is a teacher and organizer in the Reclaiming tradition/ community and a co-founder of Pleasures of Beltane. Rachel was born and raised in the Cascadian forest (Coast Salish territory) and currently lives in Oakland, California (Lisjan Ohlone territory) with her nesting partner, two dogs, and a boa constrictor.
Rachel Yukimura
Shauna Farabaugh is a certified Somatic Sex Educator and Tension and Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE®) provider in San Francisco, CA who fiercely believes in the right to sexual expression for every body and is committed to making sex education more “sexcessible.” She has been a professional sex educator since 2007 and is certified by the American Board of Sexology. She serves as adjunct faculty at the Institute for the Study of Somatic Sex Education and is an Advisory Board member for Ignite Collective, Inc, an agency providing individualized services for PWD in California.