Friendly is a minimal level of general knowledge about the chosen field and openness to working with clients without automatically pathologizing behaviors or interests
Aware is a level where clinicians have specific knowledge of concepts and practices that are important to the subculture, and experience working with more than one or two identified clients
Knowledgeable is a more advanced level of knowledge and affirmative care.
Kink Knowledgeable Resource NCSF, 2019; Shahbaz & Chirinos, 2017 p33