Client-Centered Resources

The SAGE Project is committed to providing advocacy and direct services on client terms. The experiences, resources, health, cultural backgrounds, needs, and beliefs of our clients vary tremendously. We provide non-judgmental support, healthcare, advocacy and education to individuals who continue to be in the sex industries. We also provide non-judgmental, trauma-sensitized care and assistance to survivors of sexual exploitation and trafficking, and anyone seeking to exit the sex industries.

The trauma and addiction services at SAGE were particularly designed to address the needs of abused and addicted survivors of sexual abuse and exploitation—to provide people with a broad range of physical and emotional treatment options, vocational support, education, and individual case management and counseling. However, our clients include individuals who are not substance abusing, don’t identify as survivors of exploitation, and are not seeking trauma recovery resources. We support survival, health, and well-being of individuals who are or have been in the sex industries, which may mean very different things to each individual. We respect and welcome participation from clients who may only want certain healthcare services, access to support groups, legal advocacy, or referrals.

When we offer client-centered resources, we recognize that traditional recovery program approaches to treating addiction can be very traumatic for survivors of violence. We avoid using the “confrontation” approach to recovery, which many survivors experience as intimidating, humiliating, or victim-blaming. Instead we focus on empowerment and access to new resources. We recognize that survivors of sexual exploitation have repeatedly experienced being used to meet someone else’s needs, having to do things entirely on someone else’s terms, or being made to feel worthless or without any rights or independence. We believe it’s particularly important not to add to that pain or shame in the name of “treatment”.

If you are receiving or seeking services at SAGE, we want you to know that we are making certain commitments to our clients:

• We will do our best to provide resources in the languages that feel comfortable for you, or that you understand. If we don’t have the interpreter you need on staff, we’ll do our best to work with community organizations that can help us.
  


• We support you in having information about your rights as a client, how to file a grievance or ask for help if you are ever unhappy with the services you’re receiving, or how to get more active in your treatment decisions and planning.
  


• We will not direct negative judgment or shame at you for any of your experiences or decisions related to the sex industries, substance abuse, relationships, crime, risk-taking, or sexuality. We continually work to make SAGE a safe space to be real about who you are and what you’ve been through.
  


• We will communicate with you about policies and boundaries at SAGE which are in place to protect the safety of both staff and clients.
  


• We will continually encourage our staff and everyone who comes to SAGE to be aware of our non-discrimination policy. We want you to feel safe and supported in being who you are.