The Power of Curiosity and Connection in Anti-Trafficking

I’ve known young people who have been trafficked and each of their experiences is different, yet with similarities. In my role as an independent social worker conducting assessments, I have the privilege of hearing a young person’s life story over the course of a day or two. 

As professionals we have our own feelings about when something doesn’t feel right, which a close colleague of mine describes as his ‘Spidey-sense’ going off. For me it’s these brief moments that allow us an opportunity to support the person to share difficult parts of their story. I’ve found that it's the questions that are rooted in curiosity and an interest in the person’s narrative that are most likely to bring out disclosures, which otherwise are so easily missed.

First responders have a duty to refer to the National Trafficking Mechanism1 but before making a referral practitioners need to have insight into the person experiences. There are three set criteria for the NRM which are ‘action (i.e. movement or harbouring), ‘means’ (i.e. force or coercion) and ‘purpose’ (i.e. forced labour, sexual exploitation etc). Indicators of trafficking help give us an idea that a person has been vulnerable to trafficking, which is really important as encourages us to stay with subjects and explore certain points, but indicators in themselves are not enough! I know that if I wasn’t curious about young people’s experiences and their relationships that they held enroute to the UK I could quite easily have missed that they had been trafficked.

Trauma Informed Approach 

There is a wealth of knowledge and experience within the social work arena around using a trauma informed approach to help young people explore and recount experiences of abuse, and these same skills should be brought to the fore in sessions with potential victims of trafficking. These might include:

• Make an effort to build rapport – developing trust is vital.
• Get a sense of the persons expectations and be clear about what you can and can’t do.
• Encourage the person to have choice within the session – i.e.  where do they want to sit, what do they want to talk about first, when do they want a break.
• Show appreciation – “ thank you for telling me that” .
• Avoid questions that can create further shame such as “ why didn’t you tell someone”?
• Show the person how you can collaborate with others to provide them with support.
• Empower the person to see their strengths and how they can play an active part in safety planning.