Consent
Sexual Consent workshops have been running in Trinity College Dublin since 2016
The workshops are a student-led initiative, supported by staff of the college, specifically the Student Counselling Service and the Senior Tutor’s Office. Staff and student facilitators are trained each year to facilitate the workshops and a student admin team put in place to resource the workshops. Each workshop is facilitated by a pair – one staff member and one student.
Our consent workshops are an interactive 90-minute session which looks at what consent is, how to make sure you have it, and how to navigate sexual encounters with consent in mind.
We do this by helping students to get to grips with the language we use surrounding sex, the pressures and norms surrounding sexual activity, and we also have a look at some scenarios/case studies to get a practical understanding of what all this means.
The Trinity College model of consent workshops is framed through a sex positive lens. This focuses on inclusivity as we strive to make our workshops accessible to all students who attend – regardless of their gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, disability, or their consumption of drugs and/or alcohol.
The main aim is to get conversation and understanding going about what consent is and to have this as an ongoing topic during students’ time in college and beyond.
In 2020, consent workshops were run online for the first time, and each one was facilitated by a staff and student team. The online pivot was necessary due to Covid-19, and we look forwards to running workshops in person when it is safe to do so.
Altogether, over 3000 students have now attended Consent workshops.
We host consent workshops for first year students living in Trinity Hall during Fresher’s Week, however requests come in from various societies and clubs to run consent workshops and these are facilitated on campus throughout the year. If you would like to attend a workshop, please see our calendar for upcoming events, alternatively you can get in touch with us to organise a workshop for your specific club, society, class, or department.