What ACTUALLY helps women leave the sex industry, from a prostitution survivor
Financial assistance- grocery gift cards, preloaded transit cards, rent and utility assistance, etc
Community connection- support services, women’s spaces, recovery groups (SLAA, ACOA, Codependence Anonymous, One More Day, NAMI, + others)
Individual assistance- help with resumes and job applications, offer childcare so she can attend work/school/support groups, assistance with filling out government forms, offering transportation to medical appointments, offer to be a reference or sponsor, connect her with your connections
Personal connection- buy her a coffee on a cold day or water on a hot day, keep some single bills in your bag, treat her like a real person, offer to help with small tasks, recommend nearby resources
Take time to know her. Build rapport. Don’t assume you can “save” her. Don’t expect an instant connection. She likely has her guard up, and may be opposed to any random help offered.
Outreach to homeless women. Ever wonder why you mostly see homeless males outside? Because we’re usually working. Or with a “manager”.
Finally, and this a hard one, get comfortable working with religious organizations. Right now, most exit orgs are religiously affiliated. Many government run programs expect her to either work with police, narc, or go into detox.
So until we have feminist exit organizations, you’ll have to get used to working with religious groups. The exit org that helped me was Christian-affiliated. They saved my fucking life and never made me go to church.
These are all things that have helped ME and many women I’ve worked with (both while I was actively involved in the industry and now on the outside). YMMV.
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