Implicit Use of Trauma Informed Approaches by Anti-Human Trafficking Stakeholders and Service Providers

• In Event: Innovations in Human Trafficking Research—Part 2: Community Partnerships and Engagement

Abstract

Research on the use of trauma-informed approaches is an expanding area in academic research on human trafficking victimization. The Substance Abuse and Mental Services Administration (SAMHSA) defines a trauma informed approach via six principles: 1) safety, 2) trustworthiness and transparency, 3) collaboration and mutuality, 4) empowerment, voice and choice, 5) peer support, 6) cultural and historical awareness. The purpose of this paper is to explore the implicit use of SAMHSA’s trauma informed principles by anti-human trafficking stakeholders in their approaches to working with victims. Data from 26 semi-structured interviews with anti-trafficking stakeholders and service providers was analyzed using a deductive coding approach vis-à-vis SAMHSA’s six principles of a trauma-informed care. Our analysis reveals that stakeholders and service providers are more likely to implicitly use certain SAMHSA principles such as voice and choice compared to others such as peer support. These findings suggest that stakeholders express these principles through intentionality in their interactions with trafficking victims and are acutely aware of the existing barriers toward providing trauma-informed care. Consequently, stakeholders’ implicit use of these principles forms the foundation for advancing the explicit use of trauma-informed practice in the future.

Authors

• Timothy Kauer, University of Missouri-St. Louis

• Valerie Anderson, University of Missouri-St. Louis

• Nicole McKenna, John Jay College of Criminal Justice