Many sex workers report poor therapeutic experiences, with therapists who make assumptions about their work, their attitudes to it, and why they are accessing therapy. It seems the therapeutic profession often fails in the non-pathologising attitude which it claims to have towards all coming to therapy.

As well as advocating for a number of years for improved training, and understanding, of all gender, sexuality and relationship diverse people, I have been working with Pink Therapy to improve the experiences of sex workers in therapy. This led to the recent Pink Therapy Conference, which I consulted on, and led the sex work mythbusting among other sessions.

It is my belief that sex workers carry the projections of others, including therapists, about their work and who this says they are. This can range from assumptions they are sex positive radicals (when it is just a way to pay the bills) through to beliefs that they must be coerced or forced, and everything in between. I believe in meeting people where they are, and when working with sex workers your work is as relevant or irrelevant as you believe it to be.

I am aware that many sex workers are concerned about confidentiality, particularly if they are based in jurisdictions where it is criminalized. As a UK based therapist I have no legal or ethical duty to pass on any information from a session, unless I believe you, or another person is at risk. Or to put it simply, your job is between you and me, and no one else.

If you would like to talk about counselling you can contact me on northumberlandcounselling@gmail.com