‘Out of the Shadows’ Launch

Yesterday, CoLab Women launched our new 'Out of the Shadows' toolkit aimed at improving responses to supporting women at risk of sexual exploitation. Over 30 cross-sector colleagues joined us for a thought-provoking and engaging outcome-based discussion.

  “The excellent presentation left me with things to think about and avenues to explore – I think we could have spent a whole day looking at the subject. It was so interesting and engaging.”

-          Launch Attendee

Collated and prepared by Programme Manager Jeanie Lynch, and designed by Lara Czornyj, this valuable and innovative new resource has been developed as part of an ongoing workstream that focuses on whole system support for women experiencing multiple disadvantage and barriers to engagement.

Our goal is to improve outcomes and access to health for women involved in the sex industry and/or experiencing sexual exploitation. This is a strengths-based toolkit, using existing best practice from Devon and other areas. It offers opportunities for improved responses and support, bringing together specialist knowledge and research, but most importantly centring on the voices of those who have been brave enough to share their experiences with us.

“It was a great launch and you have put together a really comprehensive toolkit which will really support front line workers.”

-          Paula McGinnis, Devon County Council

We would like to thank the funders of this resource, Exeter, Mid & East Devon Community Safety Partnerships, and to Devon Community Foundation and the Tampon Tax for providing funding for our original ‘Out of the Shadows – Issues for Women Involved in the Sex Industry in the Exeter Area’ project that scoped the needs of women in the sex industry in 2019. From this, the local picture demonstrated a need for more awareness and support for this hidden group of women.

We hope that the toolkit can play a role in breaking down the stigma experienced by women involved in the sex industry or those who have experienced sexual exploitation. Our ambition is that this is part of a wider shift across the system which will lead to improved responses benefiting not only women at risk of sexual exploitation, but a variety of marginalized communities.

A digital copy of this resource is now available to download, read and utilise. Please see the CoLab Women project page.