1. The psychological issues for women without recourse to public funding
Trapped in the shadows
The psychological issues for women without recourse to public funding

2. STREET TALK
Street Talk was founded to take psychotherapy to women in street based prostitution to provide a service which is adapted to make it accessible to this client group who are usually excluded from therapeutic services.
We came across trafficked women on the streets and in some of the day centres and now provide a service for those women
Street Talk is an outreach service providing 75% of the service in hostels and day centres. We are currently a team of five psychotherapists and three art therapists providing services in ten sites across London as well as taking referrals directly to the service from other agencies.
From the outset the service has been client led. As an organisation we have learned and are still learning from the women. Street Talk owes everything to the generosity and patience of the women we have worked with over the last twelve years.
Street Talk is not an advice service and we don’t have expertise on the legal issues which surround the care of people with no recourse to public funding. We take advice from a lawyer but there are others at this conference who know a lot more than we do on that issue.

3. CLINICAL MODEL
The work we do is rooted in object relations theory but the model has been adapted in a number of ways to make it accessible to women with complex needs, to overcome some of the barriers which prevent women from accessing therapy.
For example therapy is delivered in a familiar, unthreatening environment.
Women are allowed to work to an individual attendance pattern, one which they are able to manage which may be intermittent and may involve short sessions.
Importantly for women with no recourse there is no charge to women or to the host organisations for the service.
I will present two brief case histories which illustrate some of the psychological issues for women with no recourse to public funds. The names have been changed.

4. Cathy’s story
Psychological issues: No sense of identity not even knowing her own name. No sense of entitlement to care of any sort. Fearful avoidance of professionals and services. Unable to identify abuse. Distorted sense of self preservation. Vulnerable to extreme exploitation from people who prevent her from accessing services or acquiring an identity therefore keeping her without recourse to public funds because that keeps her dependent on them. Practical problems compounding psychological issues to the point that it becomes difficult to distinguish the two.

5. Causal link between multiple abuses in childhood and street prostitution
Cathy’s case illustrates the fact that some of the people who present as not having recourse to public funds do in fact have recourse to public funds. The issue is their capacity to evidence that.
There is a population of on the streets of people who like Cathy ran away from the state care system when they were still children and who were never recovered some of whom present as not having recourse to public funds.
Research in one London Borough in 2001 where 7 children were lost each year

6. Jerry’s story
No recourse to public funds because she was a victim of traffickers.
She faced the immense challenge which all women who escape from traffickers face of having to evidence the fact that they have been trafficked.
Women who have been trafficked into prostitution sometimes feel such shame at what they have been made to do that they will invent a story rather than reveal to others the truth, with serious implications.
The problem is that women have to make a statement at the time of their escape. when they are traumatised and terrified of being re trafficked. It is common for them to change the version of events which they give, sometimes changing it several times which is used against them in court to discredit their claim of being trafficked.

7. Psychological issues
Trauma: the symptoms of which include flash backs, night terrors, phobias, anxiety, depression, self harming and suicidal thoughts as well as physical symptoms such as chest pain, headaches, insomnia, stomach pain and fatigue to list some.
Extreme isolation
Acute failure of self confidence
Terror that something else catastrophic is going to happen
Compulsive behaviours
Difficulty in attending appointments
Fear of arrest, of punishment or of being repatriated which can have serious consequences and make women even more vulnerable.
Psychological issues compounded by current practical issues which is why Street Talk works in partnership with hostels and day centres where women can have immediate practical support alongside therapy

8. Resources: counselling services with either no cost or very low cost to clients
The Refugee Council
Helen Bamber Foundation
Women and Girls Network
Solace Women’s Aid
The Women’s Therapy Centre
The Maya Centre
The Woman’s Trust
Southall Black Sisters
Community Counselling
The Caravan
May Tree (sanctuary for people struggling with suicidal feelings)