Scenario

In the SE&X course that I teach we often have online forum questions that we ask people to respond to: One such question goes like this.

One of your clients comes to see you, really excited as she now has somewhere to live. She has been without a place for several months. The house is owned by a young man who is living with 2 other young men. One of the conditions for her to move in is that she has sex with each of the men once a week. The young woman says she is fine with this.
What are you thinking?
What are you feeling?
What will you do?

Below is one of the responses from a person that is doing the course: I think this response is great and wanted to share it with you.

"What am I thinking?I would be concerned for her physical and psychological safety. I would be wondering if she has an abuse history. At the same time, being transient for a lengthy time is also risky and 'sex for favours' may not be overtly stated as an 'agreement' but may be the unspoken reality for young people-young women and men. "Survival creates strange bedfellows." I would be surprised if the young woman hadn't either been involved with this or been exposed to this, as she's 'fine with this'. I'd suspect that she's not completely fine with it but that its better than the alternatives. I would go through the various accomm options but realistically they are limited especially for those over 18. Under 18 the options are better but still restricted and there are waiting times. I would not be thinking of referring this young person for counselling for exploration of issues at this time. I would be mainly concerned about her immediate and longer term safety so I would be considering safe sex, (access to contraception & condoms), linking her with a youth health service, linking her with support. I think that I would be trying to work out a safety plan with the young person in the event that the situation becomes 'dangerous' (at least from her perspective) e.g making sure the y/p has emergency no.s for crisis support. I would want to try and remain in a support role for the y/p and would suggest counselling at a later stage. I find suggesting counselling too soon in the picture can result in it being rejected outright. While later its more likely to be considered. I think this is because in the early stage y/p sense they're being judged. "Counselling is for sick people I just need a place to live. I'm only doing this so I have a place. If you realised just how tough it is to survive you'd know why this is an ok option for me, its better than the streets. This isn't about me its about my situation." I would be respecting of the Y/p choices but would point out that the young men are using their power as 'home ful' to extort from the 'homeless'. I would try to link the y/p into services and would discuss mandatory notification requirements if the y/p was under age.What am I feeling?I'd be feeling sad and angry about the lack of accomm options available. Frustrated that I couldn't do more. I would be feeling extremely irate if the y/p was under age as the likelihood of FSA intervening is small due to resource issues and that is so wrong! Aust is signatory to the United Nations Rights Of the Child and yet so often young people are neglected and abandoned by the very services designed to assist them. I would be feeling good that the y/p person felt that she could talk to me as she hasn't got much support. I would be hoping that the young person felt that she could trust me to talk to again. It is always better to feel that only one person cares than to feel no-one does."

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How about you - what would you do???????