The Cost of Recovery: Shifts in Income and Expenses During a Three-Phased Transition from Sex Work and Addiction to Drug Treatment and Independent Living

This paper describes the economic changes experienced by former Detroit sex workers as they progressed through a court-supervised treatment and recovery program. 

Semistructured interviews were conducted with women during three phases of the program: pretreatment (n = 31), treatment (n = 24), and transitional housing/independence (n = 31). Interviews were also conducted with women who had terminated from the program (n = 8). Sources and levels of income and expenses in each phase were recorded in detail. We found that women earned and spent substantially more money when they actively engaged in street sex work. Legal income remained low after the treatment phase, with only 39 percent of women in the final phase reporting regular work. 

We conclude that decreased drug expenditures are not enough to offset the decrease in income that accompanies termination of sex work. Policies supporting income, employment, and education for people in transition are recommended.

Full PDF article at: https://goo.gl/pMFnBh  Abstract:  http://goo.gl/3BdnSb

By:  Juliette Roddy1, Paul Draus1, Kanzoni Asabigi2

¹University of Michigan–Dearborn, USA

²Detroit Bureaus of Substance Abuse, Treatment and Prevention, MI, USA

Juliette Roddy, Department of Health and Human Services, University of Michigan–Dearborn, 19000 Hubbard Drive, 262 Fairlane Center South, Dearborn, MI 48126, USA. Email: jroddy@umich.edu

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