After a person is removed from a harmful situation or experience what happens next? What does long term recovery look like? Who can they turn to for help so as not to fall back into old patterns? These are the questions that the Empowering Souls organization hopes to answer for survivors of human trafficking. The organization doesn’t just want to provide survivors with a place to live, it also wants to make sure that they are able to make a full recovery and lead full lives. When trauma begets trauma the system is broken, it’s time to break the cycle.
The founder of the organization, a fearless woman who has experienced these hardships herself, knows what awaits many of these survivors following their short stints at safe houses and shelters. She has seen many survivors go from shelter to shelter with little sign of breaking out on their own, or worse yet, returning to their trafficker because they know no other way to live. Note the use of the term survivor over victim. The goal here is to break these cycles of victimhood with programs that empower socially, economically, and emotionally. ESL programs, housing workshops, acculturation, sewing workshops, book clubs, painting classes, these kinds of programs offered by the organization aim to give survivors practical skills, heal their souls, and create a strong and supportive community that they can turn to at any time. The current system is failing many survivors of human trafficking, Empowering Souls hopes to change that by empowering survivors to live beyond the system.
