Kim Fuentes
(she/her/ella)
Kim Fuentes, ACSW CA 123564 (she/her/ella) is a proud queer femme first-generation Oaxaqueña residing in Los Angeles. She is a sex worker rights organizer, reluctant PhD student, and an abolitionist social worker. She earned her Masters of Social Welfare in Social and Economic Justice with a certificate in Global Health and Social Services in 2021. She earned a B.A. in Environmental Studies and Geography from UC Santa Barbara.
She is the Director of Research and Services at the Sex Worker Outreach Project Los Angeles (SWOPLA), a nonprofit run by and for sex workers. She has coordinated support groups by and for sex workers for over 3 years. There is a special place in her heart for providing affirming, informed services to sex workers of any kind! She enjoys integrating emotional processing and movement, writing prompts, and visualizations in her practice.
Kim utilizes participatory action research and art-based methods to study the impacts of criminalization on sex-working communities, the ways they resist criminalization, and the role that social work can play in uplifting this resistance. In doing so, she hopes to counter how the social work profession currently furthers the criminalization of marginalized populations and shifts towards harm reduction practices that invest in collective care. In her free time, she enjoys being a Virgo, birdwatching, attending kink events, and dancing to Spanish rock.
Specialty Areas:
- Sex work (managing relationships, managing work/life boundaries, self-image)
- Anxiety/ stress (social anxiety, new transitions)
- Education Related Issues (transitions, navigating PWI, challenges in higher education)
- Sexual trauma (reclaiming agency and pleasure in sex and relationships)
- Motivation, confidence, and self-esteem building
- General relationship difficulties (including non-monogamy, romantic friendships, power exchange, BDSM/kink)
- Recovering from people-pleasing
- Organizers/activists (managing expectations, preventing/working through burnout)
Theoretical Approach/ Modalities:
My greatest issue with traditional therapy is approaches that merely train people to cope with harmful systems with little acknowledgment of the crushing weight of racial capitalism. As an abolitionist, it feels unethical to ask people to put a band-aid on what are often completely rational responses to systems of dispossession.
Building systems of safety is necessary for defeating carceral systems. Therefore, my approach to therapy is based on harm reduction, relying on community networks, and allowing care to start from within. I look forward to working with you! Here are some modalities and theories I specialize in:
- Cognitive Behavioral Theory
- Strengths-Based Approach
- Narrative Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing
- Intersectionality Frameworks
- Mindfulness Practices
