Angel Sumka MA, RCC
Angel Sumka (they/she) is a person-centered counsellor. They excel at supporting neurodivergent youth and adults, supporting persons with unresolved childhood trauma, and supporting connections in relationships. Angel is also a human rights activist, professional speaker, and sex-positive educator with a passion for fostering a culture of consent and respect. As a white, able-bodied, fat, neurodiverse, queer/femme, pan-romantic demi-sexual, non-monogamist alternative lifestyler, Angel brings a unique awareness of the intersection between privilege and marginalization to their counselling, workshops, presentations, and activism.
Angel is a sex-positive individual who views diversity in relationships and sexuality as a healthy, natural part of humanity. As a queer person, they are gender literate (transwomen are women, transmen are men, nonbinary folks do not owe us androgyny, intersex folks do not owe us binary gender performance). As a white person, they are unlearning colonial teachings and continuously working on building cultural competency.
Angel was one of the founders of ASPECC, an Edmonton-based nonprofit organization that promotes sex-positive values as part of their mission to decrease gender and sexual-based violence. Angel served as the president of this organization for four years and continues to serve as their program administrator and sex educator.
Angel provides ongoing sex-positive learning opportunities through ASPECC, ANSWER Society, ASPSH, MacEwan University, and several Gay-Straight Alliance clubs (LGBTQIA2S++ youth) regularly, and was honoured to develop content for the University of Alberta and ASPSH post-graduate certification in Sexual Health.
Angel is a highly sought-after presenter, with engagements through NAIT, MacEwan University, ASPSH Bi-Annual Western Sexual Health Conference, Edmonton Men’s Health Collective, Calgary QAS, as well as for dozens of local organizations and corporations for employee learning development including Alberta Wildfire Ministry. They also developed several dozen workshops to address gaps in sexual education in their community, including Sex Literacy for Adults, Seniors Sex Ed, Gender for Parents, Social Skills for Sex and Intimacy, Kink Aware Professionals, Sex Positive Professionals, Negotiating for Consensual Sex and/or Kink, and an entire series of workshops for youth on the autism spectrum/ attention deficit spectrum. Presentation evaluations note that Angel’s talks are engaging and filled with a mix of personal insight and knowledge regarding current research on related topics. Critiques are that Angel consistently incorporates social justice perspectives throughout workshops they offer, which at times can alienate persons with little to no experience with oppression.
| Empowered-Hearts | ND Empower | ASPECC |
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Sex Positive Counsellor |
Neurodivergent Social Skills & Self-Advocacy Group Lead |
Sex Educator & Program Administrator |
Training and Certifications:
- Masters of Counselling Psychology (Yorkville University) May 2020-September 2023
- Certification of First Responder to Sexual Assault (Alberta Association of Sexual Assault Services, 2019)
- Sex Coach Certification (Loveology University, 2018)
- Bachelors of Psychology (Thompson Rivers University) 2013-2018
- Certificate of Social Sciences
- Certificate of Criminology
- Smart Recovery
- DBT Essentials
- ACT Therapy
Autism Social Skills Mentoring Training:
Angel holds over 30 certificates of learning and achievement from various autism-based learning opportunities, including PEERS social skills training. Angel developed their own social skills program that focuses on empowerment and self-advocacy rather than masking. This approach is reflective of evidence-based research that causally correlates masking (acting neuroticpyal to fit in and feel safe) with negative mental health outcomes such as depression, anxiety, self-harm, and isolation.
Professional Memberships
As of 2024 Angel holds the following memberships:
- Registered Clinical Counsellor (RCC) with BCACC
- Certified Sex Educator (American College of Sexologists)
- Professional Membership (National Coalition of Sexual Freedom)
- Membership (Canadian Psychological Association)