AASW Recording | Respect Not Rescue - Sex worker-affirming practice

The UN estimates that in Australia there are 20,500 sex workers, however industry experts believe the number is much higher. Sex workers are part of every community, yet they continue to face significant stigma and discrimination. Sex workers may engage with social workers for a variety of reasons, both related and unrelated to their occupation.

This webinar discusses ways to develop a sex worker-affirming practice. It covers issues facing sex workers, the experiences of CALD sex workers, where to go for referral information and anti-oppressive approaches to working with and alongside sex workers.

This webinar was presented by the AASW NSW Branch in June 2021.

Presenters

Michelle Lin is a woman of colour and social worker who is committed to anti-oppressive practice. She works primarily using the lens of attachment, trauma-informed, and systems theory. She is an advocate of Response-Based Practice and narrative therapy for victim-survivors of family and/or intimate partner violence. Michelle splits her time between private practice and working at an NGO as a counsellor who specialises in trauma, LGBTIQA+, relationships, sex workers and cultural diversity.

Chris Knight is a queer and trans drug and alcohol worker and graduating social worker living and working on Gadigal Country. He is passionate about harm reduction and sex worker-affirming practice and draws on his own experiences in the sex industry. Chris has worked in LGBTIQ mental health and AOD. He currently works at Kirketon Road Centre (KRC), a NSW Health service based in Sydney’s Kings Cross which works primarily with injecting drug users, sex workers, LGBTQ communities, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and people experiencing homelessness.