No less than 35% to 65% of young girls housed in rehabilitation centers and monitored under the Youth Protection Act report having already engaged in prostitution, according to preliminary data from a study carried out in three regions of Quebec, including Laval. Among residential boys, this percentage is between 13% and 25%.
“There is an urgent need to act,” says Karine Côté, professor of psychology at the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi, who led the study. We are talking about young people around 15 years old. »
Mme Côté and colleagues questioned some 200 young people living in rehabilitation centers — monitored under the Youth Protection Act or the Youth Criminal Justice System Act — as part of a study conducted in 2021-2022 in the regions of Laval, Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean and Abitibi-Témiscamingue.
We are talking about young people around 15 years old
The psychologist expected that adolescents in rehabilitation centers would be more involved in prostitution than those in the general population (less than 3% were). But not to this extent. “When we usually ask stakeholders [en centre jeunesse] “Do you have in your case loadin your care, young people who engage in prostitution?”, it is often a theme that is little or very rarely addressed,” she indicates.
According to the preliminary results of the study, up to 65% of young girls are involved in prostitution.
“We want to look at this in more detail, because we realized – and this is really impressive – that depending on how we ask the question to young people, they tell us or not that they have already been in prostitution , says Karine Côté. This is very important to equip stakeholders to ask the right questions to find out if young people are victims of sexual exploitation. »
To the question “Do you engage in prostitution?” “, “very few” young girls answer in the affirmative, according to Mme Side. “But if we say to them “Have you ever danced naked in a party private where they offered you gifts in return?” or “Have you ever exchanged sex for drugs, a place to sleep or something to eat?” Then the percentages go up, she says. What this shows us is that young girls or boys who engage in prostitution do not identify themselves as practicing prostitution. »
And even less as victims of sexual exploitation. “They consider that to be sexually exploited, there must be a third person involved in prostitution, such as a pimp, a pimp, an escort agency,” she explains. However, sexual exploitation exists when a person takes advantage of another’s body for sexual purposes with a view to obtaining an advantage (financial or otherwise).
Psychotherapy for victims in Laval
Karine Côté believes that the CISSS de Laval has set up a promising model, and potentially exportable to other regions, to help these young victims of sexual exploitation.
Since 2018, the health establishment has offered them cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy, a unique approach in Quebec. Last year, 60 minors and adults benefited from sessions with a psychotherapist specializing in complex trauma. Their therapy is of “indeterminate duration”.
“Just to establish a therapeutic bond, it can sometimes take 10 sessions,” says Mélissa Denis, coordinator at the designated center for victims of sexual assault at the CISSS de Laval. The sexologist and psychotherapist cites the example of a young girl who took a long time before daring to look her in the eyes. “The adult is associated with someone dangerous. »
Young people in rehabilitation centers have often experienced trauma during their childhood (sexual violence, rejection, abandonment, etc.) and experience many others when they are sexually exploited, underlines Shirley-Ann Savard, social worker specializing in clinical activities. and respondent in sexual exploitation at the CISSS de Laval. They are at “great risk of developing post-traumatic stress,” she points out. “What is necessary to avoid the crystallization of symptoms is to have rapid intervention without delay. »
Mélissa Denis assures that her team “does not have a waiting list” for this service. “And when we leave the youth center, we are still there,” she adds. We continue. There is no tracking breakage. »
Thanks to the program, young people have managed to escape prostitution. “We have a brilliant young person, who was a victim of sexual exploitation and a runaway, who ultimately chose to return to school,” she cites as an example. She is 19 years old and is now in CEGEP. »
Measuring the effectiveness of the Laval program
We are talking about young people around 15 years old Karine Côté »