Learn more about Supportive Employment at WISH through WISH Up Close!
WISH’s Supportive Employment Program—also known as SEP—has grown into an integral part of the organization.
The program is in high demand, and it needs your support.
I want to invest in opportunity!
SEP embodies WISH’s vision of ensuring every woman has access to opportunities to make free, healthy, and positive choices.
Everyone who walks through the doors at WISH has been impacted by the criminalized nature of Canada’s laws surrounding sex work. This stigmatization of sex workers can cause severe discrimination, which interferes with WISH participants being able to access the services they need, and it also impacts their perceived employability.
Joining SEP provides the opportunity to develop an additional source of income. This directly impacts the safety, autonomy and self-determination of participants.
There are four levels of supportive employment, ranging from the low barrier and honorarium paid Peer Volunteer Program to the SEP Shift Leads, whose wages are in line with WISH’s unionized staff.
Having staff with lived experience makes WISH a more effective organization; one that centers sex workers, values their unique skill set, and is better able to deliver essential services by being able to meet street-based sex workers where they are at.
As SEP staff gain skills as frontline workers, they practice creative and trauma-informed methods to navigate challenges and de-escalate conflict. On the job training is supported by Street Degree courses, created and provided by Vancouver Coastal Health and PHS Community Services Society.
“WISH has helped me turn my life around for the better. And it can do a lot for other people as well.”
– SEP Staff
Your gift to WISH Up Close will directly impact future employment opportunities for WISH participants.
Invest in supportive employment today.