The credential
Canadian Certified
Sex Therapist.
A national designation for clinicians who have completed post-graduate training in sexual health and demonstrated clinical competency in the assessment and treatment of sexual concerns.
What it means
A designation earned through evaluation, not attendance.
Most continuing education in sexual health awards a certificate for showing up. The CCST™ works differently. It is conferred only after a clinician has completed the full certification curriculum, participated in cohort consultation, and passed a competency evaluation covering diagnosis, assessment, and intervention.
For clinicians, it provides a way to document specialized training that is otherwise difficult to evidence. For clients and referring colleagues, it indicates that a practitioner has been formally assessed against a published standard rather than self-identifying as a sex therapist.
The designation is not required in order to practise, and it is not required in order to take continuing education through the Institute. It exists for clinicians who want their sexual health training formally credentialed. The curriculum behind it is set out in full on the certification program page.
The pathway
How the credential is earned.
Four stages, completed in sequence. The designation is conferred at the end of the fourth, and not before.
Your graduate credential and current professional registration are confirmed at the point of application, so you know before you enrol that you are on a pathway that leads to the designation.
Section 1 builds the ethical, cultural, and attitudinal foundation, including the Sexual Attitude Reassessment process. Section 2 builds diagnostic fluency, assessment skill, and evidence-based intervention. Self-paced and fully online, with a knowledge check at the end of each module.
Facilitated group sessions in which you bring cases from your own practice and work through conceptualization, differential diagnosis, treatment planning, and ethical questions with your cohort. This is consultation and peer review rather than clinical supervision, and it does not replace supervision required by your regulatory body.
Applied case studies and a final evaluation across the core domains of the program, assessing clinical knowledge, diagnostic reasoning, and applied judgment. Clinicians who pass are authorized to use the CCST™ designation. Clinicians who do not pass may be re-evaluated.
Eligibility
Who can earn it.
The designation is open to regulated mental health professionals. You are eligible if all of the following apply to you.
- You hold a minimum of a master's degree in a field that qualifies you for registration as a regulated mental health professional, or a doctoral degree in such a field
- You are registered, provisionally registered, or actively working toward registration with your provincial or territorial regulatory body
- You complete the certification curriculum, the cohort consultation, and the competency evaluation
- You remain in good standing with your regulatory body and meet the continuing education requirements attached to the credential
The Canadian College of Sex Therapy
Where the designation is headed.
Canada has no national credentialing body for sex therapists. The Canadian College of Sex Therapy is in development as an independent, non-profit professional organization intended to fill that role, and the CCST™ standard has been written to its proposed competency requirements.
Transcend Training Institute Inc. issues the designation in the interim and will transfer the mark to the College once the College is formally established. If you earn the CCST™ before then, this is what that means for you.
You will be eligible to apply for grandfathered recognition by the College. Your training will be accepted as meeting its competency standard and you will not be asked to repeat any part of the certification process.
Grandfathered members pay the College's annual membership fee and maintain the continuing education requirements the College sets. The CE short course library is designed to meet those requirements, so there is a direct route to keeping the credential current.
Clinicians who choose not to join the College, or who do not maintain membership, will no longer be authorized to use the CCST™ designation once the College takes over the mark. Your training and the education you received remain yours. The designation itself does not continue without membership. All terms will be confirmed in writing before any transition takes effect.
Questions about the designation?
The certification program that leads to the CCST™ is described in full on the program page. For anything not covered here, reach us directly.
Get in touchCCST™ is a certification mark applied for by Transcend Training Institute Inc. and pending registration with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office. Transcend Training Institute is a private training provider and not a regulatory college. The designation does not confer registration, licensure, or a protected professional title, and it does not expand your scope of practice. Those remain governed by your own regulatory body.