THEORETICAL
BACKGROUND

Believing that every person has intrinsic value, maintaining unconditional, positive regard for clients, and committing to tailoring each plan to meet the individual's felt and expressed needs, an integrated approach to therapy, with a Humanistic, Person-Centered, trauma-informed orientation is the foundation of my counseling philosophy (Buhler, 1971; Rogers, 1979; Herman, 1992). Other useful frameworks include Existential Therapy, Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, Reality Therapy, and Feminist Theory, and there is usually a natural flow that occurs among the theories in each session (May et al., 1958; Beck, 1970; Ellis, 1989; Glasser, 1965). 

In 2004, I moved from my home in the Southern United States to Bangkok, Thailand to work with women in prostitution and victims of sex trafficking.

My time in the red light districts of Bangkok profoundly impacted my worldview, and I have continued to work with survivors of sexual exploitation in various capacities ever since. Individuals enter prostitution for many reasons, like poverty and family debts; many are single mothers; and abuse from their pasts makes them vulnerable to further exploitation as adults (Bales, 2007; Farley et al., 2004; Freud, 1896; Polaris, 2021; Protection Project, 2002). The conversation about commercial sexual exploitation becomes problematic due to the paradox between agency and victimization. While exploitation generally occurs due to an absence of choices, the agency of survivors should not be diminished. The phenomenon always exists within context.

Reality Therapy works nicely within this context, incorporating the impact of relationships, choice, blame, and responsibility (Glasser, 1965; Janoff-Bulman, 1992). The discussion of power dynamics associated with Feminist Theory also provides insight.

In Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, the underlying theme — the revelation of truth, can disrupt cycles of irrational thought patterns (Beck, 1970; Ellis, 1989). In Person-Centered Therapy, primary responsibility for change, adjustment, and mental health rests on the client (Rogers, 1979). The client, therefore, must determine therapeutic goals, as well as what constitutes progress. Existential therapy rounds this out nicely by encouraging the individual to live authentically and with purpose (May et al., 1958). My work with victims of sex trafficking from around the world has taught me the importance of recognizing and celebrating diversity and culture in the restoration process. Practical therapeutic interventions may include psychoeducation, long-term and short-term goal setting, narrative/storytelling, timeline therapy, dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) skills, as well as other techniques (Allender, 2009; Linehan, 2014). The Stages of Trauma Recovery provide insight into the counselor's role of establishing safety, or serving as a secure base, while then focusing on remembrance and mourning and integrating changes (Herman, 1992; Bowlby, 1988). An understanding of how trauma effects the brain assists in normalizing the trauma experience (Van der Kolk, 2015; Siegel, 2012; Badenoch, 2008).