Clients of Joanna Many of Joanna’s client women are amongst the most vulnerable in our communities; they often come from a background of poverty, dysfunctional families, perhaps having suffered neglect, child abuse, not been able to complete their education or undertake vocational training, and battling with a range of personal problems such as drug dependency, homelessness, inter-personal / domestic violence. Almost all of our service users are within the age bracket 20-40 Most of them started out in their teens Roughly 75% are survivors of physical or sexual childhood abuse and / or have spent time in care Over 95% of them are on Class A drugs (heroin and/or crack) A high percentage have developed alcohol dependency since going onto the methadone programme Between 70%-80% have experienced periods of homelessness Around 65% are supporting their partners or boyfriends The majority of them suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) either as a result of prostitution or childhood abuses.  Almost all of them wish to exit. Prostitution however, is not just the result of social exclusion or poverty. The commercialisation of sex, criminality, discrimination against women, disintegration of family and moral values, the lack of political will to prosecute those who groom, pimp and purchase sex can also play an important role.