OUR STORY

"In 2018, during a sex therapy conference in Puerto Rico, a colleague expressed the belief that therapists should help sex workers escape their profession to heal childhood trauma. Disagreeing with this perspective, I highlighted the harm it causes and the absence of sex workers' voices in the field. Reflecting on my journey as a sex worker starting in 2010 to pay for grad school, I faced the challenges of surviving in a classist capitalist system. Choosing sex work over a mental health career felt less exploitative. Despite hiding my sex work due to fear of retaliation, I continued it alongside my roles as a social worker, therapist, supervisor, and facilitator. In 2019, I came out as a sex worker, bridging both careers and facilitating support groups. In 2020, I initiated the Equitable Care Certification, and by 2023, a Black femme-led team launched the first cohort, aligning with values of racial justice and equity. I stepped down in 2022, allowing for recalibration and a more inclusive leadership under Raquel Savage. I'm grateful for the team, Raquel, and the sex workers shaping a better world."

-Angie Gunn LCSW, CST, CSTS, Co-Founder

OUR VALUES

Abolition: We work from an abolitionist lens, challenging carceral mental health practices such as mandated reporting and involuntary hospitalization. We view abolition as both a long-term organizing tool and direct action. For ECC, abolition means transitioning from punishment to aligned consequences, facilitated by impacted communities. Abolition is also a vision — we imagine a world where police and prisons do not exist and people have their basic needs met, living lives of dignity and connection.

Decriminalization: Decriminalization and total liberation guide all our efforts and we are committed to dismantling societal stigmas surrounding sex work. Decriminalization, not legalization, means removing all criminal penalties and government involvement in the work, ensuring full autonomy for sex workers. At ECC, we recognize that criminalization disproportionately affects the most marginalized, including street-based sex workers, Black and trans sex workers, migrant sex workers and disabled sex workers.

Decolonization: We do not engage in liberal acts of disruption as “decolonization.” For ECC, decolonization means centering Indigenous people and people of the African diaspora. We support and believe in the resistance of marginalized people, including acts of armed resistance and liberatory violence. Decolonizing, and thus supporting the sovereignty of Indigenous peoples and people in the African diaspora, is a necessary, disruptive and sometimes violent process — not a  performative metaphor to “give people a seat at the table.”

Anti-Oppression: The entire purpose of ECC is to educate mental health professionals on systems of oppression, as these are often overlooked in professional trainings and graduate programs. This means directly calling out power & privilege with little concern around causing “discomfort.” We believe that competent, affirming care can only be provided by professionals who acknowledge systems of oppression in both their personal and professional lives, recognizing these systems as the driving force for clients seeking care.

Resistance: Resistance is not a metaphor and we do not engage in “____ as resistance” (e.g., “wellness as resistance”). Resistance is resistance. At ECC, we believe in direct action and fighting for the abolition of systems of oppression, even at the expense of personal power and status. Resistance means rejecting the idea that you “must”  comply with or “respect” authority. At ECC, resistance means turning towards community to find new ways to exist.