Surviving shame.

Abstract

Adolescents involved with sex work are largely hidden from formal systems, and typically view counselling, social work, and health services with distrust. This article reports the findings of a study involving semi-structured interviews with a sample of eight young people who started sex work between the ages of 12 and 16. The study found that participants' experiences with formal services were overwhelmingly negative and emotionally harmful. The combination of the participants' outcome expectations, interactions with individual practitioners, and feelings of shame was found to preclude sustained engagement, irrespective of the participants' level of need. Helpful elements of the client-practitioner alliance are identified, and components of service design that promote emotional safety and the positive development of self are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of New Zealand Journal of Counselling is the property of New Zealand Association of Counsellors and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)