In my family, there is an inside joke with the line “patience is my middle name!” Truth is what makes it funny is the lack of patience some of us have in my family. The one thing I am super passionate about is the efforts to advocate for persons who are trafficked. If you are passionate about something like I am with advocacy, you may find that passion doesn’t equate to patience.
Patience, however, is the very thing that advocacy requires. Possibly more so with advocating for a survivor of human trafficking. When a person has been groomed, deceived, manipulated, threatened, and abused it takes time to rebuild themselves. The ability to be empowered, make choices and decisions, and trust yourself and others around you take time. Time to be safe again, time to feel safe again, and time to learn new skills and how to cope. Because we are all individuals, there isn’t a formula to follow that will miraculously speed up the process. Survivor-informed, trauma-informed, victim-centered steps where the individual takes control of their direction will look different for each survivor.
If you would like more advocate resources to learn more about Trauma Informed, Survivor (Victim) Centered, and Survivor informed practices for persons who have been trafficked, I recommend the USCRI Project TRUST. Here is a link to Trauma-Informed recommendations for service providers: Trauma-Informed Practice in the Field:
If you and or your organization are building a flexible foundation to advocate for survivors of human trafficking, find your patience and give it some time. Your efforts will grow into successes.
So I will take a deep breath and remember to have faith in the process. Just maybe, I might learn to have patience…
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