Good point about the role of supervision and training is making intakes as beneficial as possible.

On the plus side of intakes, it can be a concrete way to say to youth we care if you’ve experienced this, we’re willing to name it and take it seriously.

What I hope staff consider is that it’s a gift if youth tell us things, instead of taking it for granted or being irritated when youth keep things from us.

I’ve found that many youth workers can’t use words like penis and vagina without wilting, so I think we need to screen and train when we hire youth workers to check out their attitudes about sexual language.

Approaching the issue of sex work and/or trafficking has to be delicate and at the same time have an air of casualty, so as not to give the youth a message that a worker is going to be freaked out.

This is a job of management, supervision and training to start with, but that often doesn”t occur or management /administration itself has too many hang ups about the issues.

Agency E.D.’s Supervisor, Managers and Youthworkers should be required to get training on the issue and it could be tied to qualifying for funding streams.

Plus it can be a bit illusory to talk in terms of shared experiences when even within the sex trade there are so many experiences. I think some youth have had negative experiences with adults who have gotten their knowledge from a book (if they even have knowledge) and that feels frustrating.

I absolutely agree with you on this. The same is true for just about anything you need to really reach out to adolescents for, including I might add, standard sex education.

I’ve often reflected on this subject myself. As an individual I enjoy talking to adolescents/young adults as they often are less guarded in what they may choose to share than an adult may be. I have also found the average young adult is more likely to be open about their feelings good or bad when in the conversation.

I believe it is empowering for youth to have peers trained as a resource in areas where they may be seeking support or information. I too have found many of the youth with whom I work identify what is most important to them is talking to someone who is “nonjudgmental, supportive, with helpful resources”.

In my experience we can not always have shared life experiences, and sometimes this may even offer a fresh perspective. Empathy and respect for the others’ experience can allow us to discuss dilemmas and possible solutions or alternatives in a nonjudgmental way.

I don’t think the youth workers in homeless and runaway youth programs thought the youth were wrong for taking pictures or video of themselves taking off clothes. Just like it’s not wrong for youth to survive through stripping/exotic dancing.

More that it’s kinda weird to have a company support youth who have to rely on trading sexual stuff like stripping for survival by encouraging youth to do a version of stripping themselves.