How does Street Talk work?

TAKING HELP ON TO THE STREETS
Street Talk takes its services out onto the streets. We do this by working in partnership with outreach projects, day centres drop-in surgeries and hostels. Wherever there is a population of women working the streets, Street Talk wants to find a way of reaching those women and providing them professional services.

OVERCOMING BARRIERS TO CARE
There are many barriers which prevent women in street prostitution from exiting prostitution. One of these is access to essential services. When a middle class woman is raped or a child from a protective and loving family is sexually abused, those people would be most likely to be offered counselling by their GP or other agencies involved in their care. It is not at all unusual for women working the streets to be raped and many of them have a history of sexual abuse but their status as prostitutes prevents them from getting help. This is in part because the nature of their life style, not having a fixed address prevents them from engaging with services but also because they encounter prejudice and are refused access to services.

Another issue which prevents women from engaging with psychiatric services is their shame about their status as a prostitute and their fear that most professionals would have no idea about what their life was like. Women are prepared to work with Street Talk because they know that we specialise in working with women like them. They can speak their own language with us and they know that we are used to the kind of experiences which they have.

ADAPTING PRACTICE TO THE REALITIES OF LIFE ON THE STREETS
The counsellors are experienced and trained in working with these women and offer a fully professional service. Street Talk provides counsellors in day centres, hostels and medical practices. We work in partnership with other agencies to take counselling to centres where women will feel safe and have the confidence to make the best use of the service. By taking counselling into a place which women are familiar with and where they feel safe there is likely to be much better uptake than when women are referred to a unfamiliar setting.

The counselling practice is adapted to accommodate the chaotic lifestyles which these women have. This means that they are not penalised when they miss appointments and the length of a session is adapted to their needs. Whilst a fifty minute session is usual, some people with addictions and other problems find it difficult to sit through a session of this length, especially at first. The service usually offers some appointments whilst some time is always set aside for drop in sessions, for those women who have an immediate need but who have not made an appointment. Some women use the counsellors for a series of sessions over a period of time, whilst others have one off sessions.