Why we head into the streets to support women involved in abusive and violent 'sex work'

These women are subject to abuse and exploitation. (Pic by Alex Green and posed by model)

We are about to relaunch an essential aspect of our work - our outreach service for women involved in sex work.

We go to the streets where the women work, offering something as simple as a kind word, along with a cuppa and a sandwich.

These are some of the most vulnerable and socially-excluded women we encounter in the course of our work.

They are caught up in a cycle of violence and exploitation, so it is essential we do all we can win their trust and ensure we we are there for them when they need us.

This form of outreach - which typically runs between 5pm or 6pm until 10.30pm - was central to our purpose when we created the New Futures Project 25 years ago.

In fact, staff and students at Leicester's De Montfort University made a film about it a few years ago. It illustrates perfectly how our outreach service works.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/b505ca_ae262822e94c447cbf6dc63a19605c53/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Late last year, we announced our plan to rejuvenate the service by building a team of volunteers to help us carry it out.

Now, we believe we have that team in place and we are preparing to do the first outreach visits in the next few weeks.

Della Kagure Brown, director of the New Futures Project said: "It is so exciting to be doing outreach again.

"It makes such a difference to the women we support who live and/or work on the street who say us being out makes their evening safer and more bearable.

"It's such a rewarding role too, so I would urge anyone who might be interested in joining our outreach team to please get in touch."

The New Futures Project offers a comprehensive welfare and counselling service for women and young people dealing with sexual abuse or exploitation, domestic violence, trafficking, poverty and debt, substance use or mental ill-health.

Call us on 0116 251 0803 or send us a message at: info@new-futures.org.uk

You can find us at 71 London Road, Leicester, LE2 0PE.