"Looking through the Diamond": Clinical Dimensions

And now for part two! Today's dimension - clinical.

Clinical Dimensions of Aftercare

This dimension is one that I personally find very important. Some organizations that I have encountered conflate the social dimension (covered on Thursday) with the clinical one. Often this is due to lack of funds, and certainly not the fault of the organizations in many cases. However, it is important to understand that social and clinical needs for survivors of sexual exploitation are extremely different. While the social aspect is probably what will result in the most long-term recovery, none of this can happen at all if there are pressing medical or psychological issues going on.

"Looking through the Diamond": Economic Dimensions

I have been looking forward to this week for a very long time now. For the next five days I will be posting about the four dimensions of aftercare that I have encountered on my trip. For the remaining fifth day, I will post about the need for partnership between all of the teams focusing on one of these four dimensions

The title of this series and shape of my diagram comes from a conversation I had with an organization's director in India, while discussing the need for different organizations to target the problem from different angles. He described the different views organizations take as "looking through a diamond." I'll explore this metaphhor further in my final post in the series.

In each blog post, I will feature an organization that I encountered in Thailand that addresses the dimension of focus. I want to compare how teams can work on one of these dimensions within a particular cultural context – in this case, Thailand’s. This will help to clarify the key differences between each dimension since other contributing factors will be (mostly) consistent from organization to organization.

Today’s dimension: economic. I’m to share about how important this side of aftercare is, cover an example of an organization that is fervently tackling this dimension in the country of Thailand, and connect you with other organizations doing similar and effective work in this dimension.

What No One Tells You about Legalized Prostitution

I have avoided writing my definitive opinion on the legalized prostitution until now. After my time in South America, I felt it important to explain my concerns and thoughts. This post may be very scattered, as I have not reached clear conclusions on the topic as a whole. However, based on my experiences, I see glaring problems with the legalization of prostitution outright. I look forward to hearing other thoughts and opinions on this topic.

Prostitution in South America

Even though I'm only able to visit one country in South America for this fellowship, I believe that many of my findings here in Colombia are a good indication for most of the continent. I want to be careful not to generalize too far, but there are some interesting trends that are common in most of South America regarding the topic of sexual exploitation.