Talita is a non-profit organization that offers a way out of prostitution, pornography and human trafficking for sexual purposes and into a whole new life.
Our prevention work aims to prevent young girls from ending up in prostitution and pornography. Our outreach work involves seeking out people in the arenas where prostitution takes place and offering support. Our rehabilitative work enables women to leave the sex trade and become fully integrated into society. In Sweden, Talita runs two shelters with rehabilitation in Stockholm (Villa Talita and Lilla Talita) as well as a reception.
Our main focus is on the rehabilitative work and our ambition is always to try to take a holistic approach to the woman's situation. This type of program is often called an "exit program", but we have chosen to call it rehabilitation, because "exit" (i.e. leaving prostitution) is only one part of the process. An equally important part is the entry into a new life, i.e. integration into society.
Our one-year rehabilitation program is based on a method that we have designed based on the knowledge we have gained during the 20 years we have worked with the target group. And the method works. Almost all women who have completed Talita's program leave prostitution for good.
Men and transgender people are also exploited in the sex trade, but unfortunately there is far too little talk about it. At present we have no accommodation for them, but at our clinic in Stockholm we offer various types of support measures.
With the help of an IT expert from the UK, we have developed a unique tool called CRI (Client Rehabilitation Information). Every month, throughout the year the woman lives with us, we evaluate, together with the woman, her well-being and experience of the program using the tool. The data we collect helps us to evaluate and improve the support for the specific woman, but it also allows us to develop and improve the methodology as a whole.
Talita has a very good cooperation with the police and social services. They often refer women to us in connection with raids against pimps and sex buyers.
We have room for six women at a time - four who are part of Talita's long-term program and two who have been referred urgently by the police, social services or regional coordinator for a shorter period of time. Supporting staff are available during the day and, during the first few days, evening and night staff are also on site if necessary. We also have reintegration apartments with space for a total of four women at a time. Talita has an emergency telephone number that residents can call around the clock.
The women in Talita's target group who want long-term help entrust themselves to a one-year rehabilitation program. The program, which has been evaluated by Malmö University with good results, is based on a method (the Talita method) that we designed based on the knowledge we have gained during the 20 years we have worked with the target group. And the method works.
A majority of all women who have completed Talita's program leave prostitution for good. The Talita method includes sheltered housing, trauma or counseling therapy, education, future planning and training, as well as release and integration into society. Thanks to our release apartments, we can, if necessary, extend the support to the woman for another year, which gives us even more time to explore the possibilities for the future.
At our clinic in Stockholm, we offer various types of support for men and transgender people as well.
If the police, social services or regional coordinator want to refer a woman to us, they can reach us on our hotline 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We receive them in our shelter in Stockholm and the woman gets her own room where she can land and feel safe. Often the woman then participates in the preliminary investigation and later possibly in the trial.
We offer full board (accommodation, food, hygiene items and clothing) and support in every way we can through support conversations (possibly with the help of an interpreter). We also accompany them to the authorities and during police questioning. All women who come to us are asked if they want to stay and participate in our one-year program. However, most of the women who come, channelled in the above-mentioned ways, want to return home as soon as possible.
We then help them in the long term in their home country, for example by helping them to apply to be included in the return program of the Swedish Gender Equality Agency and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Izabella, a former Talita program graduate who now works with us, leads our outreach to women in street prostitution. One evening a week she is out with a volunteer talking, motivating and building relationships with women. They also have a hotline where women can contact them during the following week.
The aim is to reach out with information about the long-term help Talita can offer and to identify minors who are in (or at risk of) prostitution and support them in contact with the authorities. Our outreach team also cooperates with hotels who, if they discover that prostitution is taking place in their premises, can contact the team and ask them to talk to the women and offer help.
If our outreach team comes into contact with someone who, for various reasons, cannot or does not need to move in and be part of the entire rehabilitation program, we offer them supportive measures at our reception.
More and more children are being offered payment for sexual acts online. Prostitution is decreasing in age and today sexualized violence in the form of pornography is just a click away for young people. This is a major societal problem.
The overall goal of our prevention work, which consists of education, advocacy and research, is to prevent young girls from ending up in the sex trade.
Talita lectures to professionals in various authorities and organizations. We also conduct opinion and advocacy work with the aim of changing legislation and getting politicians to take responsibility.
Together with Allmänna Arvsfonden, Talita created and ran a project called Reality Check until 2021, to promote young people's sexual health and prevent sexualized exploitation and sexualized violence - an initiative aimed at spreading knowledge about pornography and its harmful effects. Reality Check still exists as an independent platform and offers educational material and concrete methodological tools for schools and other activities where adults meet children and young people. All material is based on the government's gender equality policy goals and national strategy against men's violence against women.
Part of Talita's prevention work consists of research. Through research, we aim to increase knowledge about various issues related to Talita's work and to improve and quality assure Talita's various efforts.
Over the years, Talita as an organization has seen a link between pornography, prostitution and human trafficking for sexual purposes. Several of our clients have ended up in the sex trade first through pornography; others have been filmed in connection with sex purchases for pornographic purposes; still others have been trafficked and exploited in the porn industry. Yet we don't know much about the pornography industry here in Sweden or if it even exists? If so, who are the porn producers and how do they recruit women? These knowledge gaps led us to conduct the first ever survey of the Swedish porn industry.
