Very informative & you do not need a PhD to read, so I feel comfortable recommending it to my patients.

Thank you Net Galley & to the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a very informative read. This should be an essential read for anyone in any clinical field.

Thank you Netgalley for letting me read and review this book. Essential Clinical Care for Sex Workers is an important read that I think everyone should pick up. Burnes & Dawson are great authors, and I learned a lot while reading this nonfiction, political book. There is a lot of prejudice, racism, sexism, misogyny, and transphobia in the sex worker's world. This book is informative and show how things need to change.

Description: "Sex-positive therapists Theodore Burnes and Jamila Dawson break down everything that mental health providers need to know to work effectively with sex workers, while dispeling the tired, pervasive myths that continue to impact treatment today. Readers will learn about: Who sex workers are; different types of sex work; and sex workers’ specific therapy needs, how outdated research methodology results in bad data and poor care, the whorearchy--the sex-work hierarchy--and why we need to dismantle it, what words not to use--and what they reveal about the sexism, racism, misogyny, and transphobia embedded in our society (and our practices), and so much more."

In mental health care spaces, sex workers are still a very underserved group, that lacks understanding and it's very prone to be treated with a lot of prejudice. This is why "Essential Clinical Care for Sex Workers" is much needed resource for therapists, counsellors and community advisors.

Plenty of case studies showcase good and bad practices in mental health care, and serve as jumping points for education and clinician's self-reflection. This manual, however, is not very universal, as it's written from a US-centric perspective, so some of issues won't be relevant to other locations. Still, Burnes' and Dawson's work will bring a lot of value to any mental health practitioner who doesn't feel familiar with sex work or is aware that their biases may cloud their judgement and affect treatment.

First up, I must declare my professional qualifications for reading this book, I do not have any.

I decided I wanted to read this book because I have been on the periphery of some aspects of sex work - I spent a lot of time in Soho in the 60s and 70s and so rubbed shoulders with many sex workers. We talked a lot but, as an outsider, the amount of talking we did about their work was minimal.

After so many years I finally discovered this book and hoped for that accurate insight that I had never been able to get back then.

One of the things that has really surprised me about this book is how easy a read it is, it is almost as if it were written for people like myself, rather than the range of qualified professionals (as the title implies) that would usually come in contact with sex workers and, for that, I am grateful but do feel it talks down to any professional audience. Maybe, as this is a largely Americentric book, the intended audience expects this type of approach?

Here is an example of the book's "low level" language...

"One of the key and instrumental phases of mental health work is the assessment phase. Assessment is one of the most critical, but we would assert, also one of the most overlooked aspects of providing quality mental health care. Assessment is defined as the process of collecting and making interpretations of a client’s information."

Surely, assessment in any field >is< the process of collecting and making interpretations of a subject's information: whether the subject is animate or inanimate.

By the end, the book had filled a number of gaps for me and I commend it to any lay-person who sees a stigma in sex work or thinks they "understand" what motivates and challenges sex workers.

This novel is very informative and helpful for those that work in this field that would need to know this information.

I never realised how many rights there are that sex workers’ have.

I really enjoyed the elements of seeing individuals experience within that field. There should be more mental health practitioners aware and more considerate of this field of work, isn’t that their job? To be reassuring and to be full of knowledge which this novel does cover. I think it covers multiple topics, a range of topics for this field of work.

Thank you to the publishers for sending me this in exchange for an honest review.

I have several friends who are and/or have been SWs. They all have complained about how tough it was to find therapists who would not make a big deal about what they do and who could actually take them seriously, and they have told about being treated somehow not in the best way possible just because of what they do and what choices they have made.
If only this book reached all those medical professionals out there! I’m sure that would make the world a better place and would make life easier for any SW seeking any sort of help.
This book definitely is a great and valuable resource.

I have mixed feelings about this book. Mostly due to its first half where the problem of racism and marginalization has been highlighted in a way I don´t entirely agree with. It´s also worth mentioning that these problems are typical to US, not to Europe. Don´t get me wrong racism is prevalent in every part of the globe, but I think only US has blown it out of proportion.
What I really like and appreciate is the second part with practical examples of how to carry out an assessment, and make clients feel comfortable while choosing the right words. The most important and yet often overlooked tip is to see a client as a whole, not only as a sex worker. I'm also grateful for the assessment tool and examples of questions than can be asked, I passed these to my colleagues and after a discussion, we decided to make some changes to our assessment routine.

Just want to start by saying I myself am not a mental health practitioner which is why I can’t give the book five stars as I feel like I’m missing that essential component. Anyway, I think this book is an awesome tool and very much needed as a lot of people are being excluded from mental health care. The fact that this book covers a basic intro to the world of sex work and even provides questions for you to answer and work through makes it comprehensive enough to be an excellent addition to the library of any clinician. I found the book to be useful as I plan on entering a career in health care and interact often with people from vulnerable communities. Thanks so much to the authors and #netgalley.

Very important book for therapists, clinical care workers AND people who care. The essential kind of information that should be available. Well written, professional yet readable. and definitely one that I will recommend to my clinical friends and family. The cover also looks great, it looks approachable for both professionals and non-professionals alike.

Note-worthy, informative, and well-needed. I will keep this one on my shelf in my office. The material is clear and helpful. Thank you to Netgalley for this title, I will be passing it along so several colleagues.

Really interesting and very thorough. Although I'm not a psychologist and was reading it more out of interest, I found it made a really good balance of educating the reader whatever level they are at. I can't say I agreed with everything but I appreciated the attention to detail and the historical and social background provided. I

As a therapist and a professor I’ve work with many individuals who have become sex workers. Most of the ones I’ve worked with have either been addicts or victims of human trafficking. I gained some knowledge from this book that I believe could help w those who become sex workers. Thanks for writing a book on a difficult topic!! Highly recommend!

"too often, sex workers are judged, problematized, traumatized, and infantilized by mental health providers and others"

Don't let the subtitle fool you, whilst the book is intended for mental health practitioners, it is an important read for anyone interested in sex workers' rights. I am not a mental health practitioner, nor do I have any experience in the field so I was slightly hesitant going into this book, but I found the book gave an accessible and interesting view on sex workers' experiences concerning mental health, and also provided a new angle on sex workers' rights, that I haven't seen in other works on the topic.

The book highlights how many mental health practitioners are inadequate when dealing with sex workers due to bias, the taboo of sex, a lack of conclusive research and various other reasons. Vignettes of real life accounts of sex workers' experiences in therapy, that were dropped in throughout the book really helped to highlight the issue. The book also dismantles several myths such as the sole reason sex workers go into that industry is because of previous trauma. The book finally then provides solutions and effective changes practitioners can make to help.

I did find some points became slightly repetitive at times, and the layout sometimes became a bit lost (I felt the introductions and subtitles could have been more developed and reorganised), however it was a overall a very important and interesting read that I would recommend to anyone interested on the topic (regardless of your background)