ABOUT US
The Equitable Care Certification (ECC) is created by sex workers, sex work-affirming therapists and sex working therapists. It is led entirely by QTPOC and sex working therapists: Raquel Savage, Angie Gunn LCSW, CST, CSTS, and Mel Trujillo.
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
WHY WE TEACH
Because the care fields continue to evolve and change, making space for diverse humans, and yet has made few strides to create equity for those in the industry.
Because the sexualization of younger humans/bodies is a cultural problem, a media problem, and a global problem; the consenting adult performers in sex work are not responsible, and should not be penalized for it.
Because everyone should have access to safe, harassment free, accessible work, mental health, and medical care.
OUR VALUES
Centering the voices and perspectives of sex workers while embracing the diversity within the industry, we take an intersectional approach, recognizing & addressing the disproportionate harm faced by various marginalized groups.
Equity is our top priority, aiming to correct imbalances in therapy & promote accessibility for all professionals working with individuals in the industry. ECC adopts a holistic, non-pathologizing perspective, emphasizing empowerment & autonomy.Comprehensive training opportunities are provided in collaboration with experts and individuals within the industry.
Decriminalization and total liberation guide all efforts, emphasizing a commitment to dismantling societal stigmas surrounding sex work. Our work anti-colonial by actively dismantling white supremacy, systemic racism, and oppression within healthcare and mental health systems through education. Our approach is sex-affirming & gender-expansive, addressing the impact of homophobia & transphobia.
WHO WE ARE
Raquel Savage
Raquel Savage (she/he) is a Black, queer, therapist, educator, sex worker, and co-founder of the Equitable Care Certification. She’s worked with clients informally, as a life coach since 2016; formally, as a therapist, since 2018. She’s a certified EMDR and TIR practitioner, as well as a Board Certified Sex Therapist Intern. She works primarily with Black & brown, queer & trans, survivors, and sex working clients with anxiety disorders, depression and cPTSD.
Angie Gunn
Soleil (she/ they) is a licensed clinical social worker, AASECT certified sex therapist and supervisor, group facilitator (educational & play spaces), sex worker (domme, full service & digital), and co-founder of the Equitable Care Certification. While their sex therapy and my sex work clientele never overlap, there’s a wealth of psychological, emotional and erotic well-being integrated into every aspect of both.
Mel Trujillo
Mel (she/they) is a co-founder of the Equitable Care Certification and the Chief Operating Officer. Their internal fire fuels their desire to create, and to be of service to liberation in all of their endeavors. Mel’s passion for this work is fueled by their lived experience as a first generation Mexican-American non-Black POC, a bisexual & non-binary person, and a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and sexual assault.
MEET OUR STORYTELLERS
Mulani Jackson
Mulani Jackson (she/her) is a Black woman of trans experience. Originally from Detroit, Michigan she now resides part-time in both Seattle and Chicago. Mulani began her relationship with sex work doing survival sex work at the tender age of 14. Now at 23, she focuses on mentoring Black, Indigenous, POC trans femmes in the industry with the hope that they won’t have to struggle and gamble their bodily safety for survival. Mulani offers them invaluable insight so that they can safely engage in this work.
Preston Carter
Preston (he/him) is a part-time sex worker with a long resume of local community organizing. Preston has worked with queer homeless youth, and people living with HIV in NYC for the last 10 years. He’s a Baltimore City native who has been a New Yorker for the past 14 years. Preston is the founder of BlackTransHealth, a data project that centers providing black trans people with trans affirming care by producing accurate data directly from the community). He has an interest in infectious diseases, and is currently pursuing a masters in public health with a concentration in epidemiology.
Jenna Torres
Jenna Torres (she/her) is a Community Advocate, Published Author, Spoken Word Artist, Entrepreneur, and above all a proud mother to four beautiful children. She believes people have agency to make the best decisions possible in order to survive. She defends them and works with communities to build realistic solutions to real life problems like violence, poverty, and discrimination by using literary art to highlight key issues in her community and Jenna's unique lived experiences.
Sinnamon Love
Sinnamon Love (she/her) is a visual artist, published writer, community organizer, Black Feminist Pornographer, and Executive Director of the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) Collective, an organization providing financial assistance and increased access to mental health and wellness resources to Black and Brown sex workers in the legal and criminalized sex trades. For 30 years, Sinnamon has used her lived experiences to create media that shifts narratives around sex work, BDSM, disability, and motherhood.
Chris Victoria
Chris Victoria (they/them) is a Black Non-Binary activist with a passion for Black liberation. Radicalization through lived experience at the intersection of survival sex work, medical racism, and systemic oppression has fueled their passion for increased access to radical education and decriminalization of working class BIPOC, LGBTQ+ communities. Their experience ranges from work in traditional non-profit spaces to grassroots organizing and large-scale mobilization of impacted populations. They're currently on the Board of Directors for Sex Workers Outreach Project (SWOP) USA.
Lili Walker
Lili Walker (she/her) is a former sex-worker, organizer, artist, and community advocate. Lili was previously incarcerated for eight years and worked with organizations, such as the Support Ho(s)e Collective, Survived & Punished, and Love & Protect, to help folks recover from prison culture and promote healing within the confines of a corrupt system. Now that she is free, Alisha tries to be a source of community for others who are similarly trying to share their knowledge learned from trial and error.
MEET OUR SPONSOR
Ampersand Intimacy is a sex & relationship professional based in the settler colonies of New England with over 10 years of experience in the field dedicated to helping individuals and partnerships navigate challenges, explore possibilities, and improve their relationships. With a background in clinical social work, they bring an intersectional approach that considers people within their social, cultural, and economic context and acknowledges the systemic factors that impact their lives and relationships. They offer coaching and Surrogate Partner Therapy to help clients develop and enhance their emotional, physical, & erotic intimacy through building confidence, improving communication, and deepening their connections with others. As an expert in human sexuality and intimacy, they provide consultation for therapists, counselors, medical professionals, life coaches, and other wellness providers to foster humility, curiosity, and competency in these domains.