Boston Human Exploitation Advocacy Team (HEAT): Describing a Clinical-Peer Team Response to Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Substance Use

• In Event: Innovations in Human Trafficking Research—Part 3: Community Partnerships addressing CSE and Substance Use

Abstract

This paper will overview the substantive, everyday work of HEAT through the lens of lived experience and peer advocacy. There is agreement about the importance of lived experience informing services but no consensus on how this should look in practice. We describe HEAT’s unique peer-clinical leadership model conceived to overcome historical siloes between exclusively peer or clinician-led programs. HEAT meets women where they are at on the street, in court, at hospitals, with law enforcement, and in carceral contexts to identify and support their needs. We also outline the institutional partnerships that HEAT has built to support this work, including health care, law enforcement and criminal justice, and how lived experience can enhance these collaborations. Finally, we discuss the challenges of collaboration in the anti-trafficking and sex work fields, with suggestions for future research, practice, and training.

Authors

• Sandra Andrade, Boston Human Exploitation Advocacy Team (HEAT)

• Abigail M. Judge, Boston Human Exploitation Advocacy Team (HEAT), Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School

• Jada Y. Vaughan, Northeastern University