Lived Experience of the Sex Trade is an expertise that can’t be taught in school! Being Survivor-Informed means that we honour and value this expertise, and incorporate it into our programs and services. These are some of the ways the TESS Partnership is implementing Survivor-Informed Leadership and Practice into the work.
Learning from Survivors
There are a number of Survivor-Led programs and organizations operating across North America. These are some that TESS partners have engaged with and learned from through training and consultations
Jane Runner - New Beginnings - Manitoba
Jane Runner is a survivor with over 35 years of experience working with individuals who have been sexually exploited/trafficked in the sex trade. Her work with this population started in the 1980’s, as Chair of the Board for P.O.W.E.R.: “Prostitutes and other Women for Equal Rights” which is now known as Sage House. Jane also managed POWER in the early 90’s and since 1996 has been managing the Transition, Education and Resources for Females (TERF) program of New Directions for Children, Youth, Adults and Families in Winnipeg.
In Manitoba, Jane oversees for the Province of Manitoba, and is a trainer for, specialized training for front line workers on “Understanding and Working with Sexually Exploited/Trafficked Children/Youth”.
In Nova Scotia, Jane has been working with the Department of Community Services on training social workers and foster parents, as well as policy and program consultation.
Rachel Lloyd - Girls Educational and Mentoring Services (GEMS) - New Your
Rachel Lloyd is a survivor and the founder and Executive Director of Girls Educational and Mentoring Services (GEMS) based out of New York City. Rachel started GEMS in 1998 at her kitchen table with $30 and a borrowed computer, and has grown the organization to be a leading voice on Human Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation internationally and hosting the largest survivor leadership network in North America.
In 2019, Rachel came to Nova Scotia for a 3-day Train-the Trainer Institute with TESS partners from a variety of sectors across the province to share her expertise and build service delivery capacity for working with victims and survivors. Since then, the TESS partnership has continued to engage with Rachel and GEMS for consultations and getting survivors from NS connected to the Survivor Leadership Institute.
YWCA Halifax continues to share the knowledge gained from that 2019 training by incorporating learnings into their own online training modules.
Consulting with Survivors
The TESS Partnership consults with Survivors on a regular basis and uses that information to improve policy, programs and supports. We recognize the value of Survivor Expertise and honour it through adequate compensation for their time and expertise
NSTEP Survivor Advisory (2016-2019)
In the early days of the partnership, we convened a lived experience advisory with Stepping Stone, to consult with a small group of people on best practice in engaging with survivors, and also for programs and support. This Advisory informed much of the early research on service provision and the best ways to engage with and compensate survivors for their expertise.
Hearing Them Consultations (2020 & 2021)
In 2020, with funding through the Community Foundation of Nova Scotia, the TESS partnership engaged in a unique, community-based consultation project with people who had lived experience of the sex trade from across Nova Scotia - Hearing Them.
Survivors were paid $75 to participate in a one-hour interview with TESS service providers, asking them to reflect on their pathways into the sex trade, their challenges, and their service needs. Their responses informed the work of the TESS partnership and led to the ongoing development of policies and programs.
In 2021, the Hearing Them Consultation leveraged funds from the Canadian Women’s Foundation to repeat the consultation, improved by the learnings from the 2020 project.
This time around we engaged with survivors on the design of the interview tool through our ASPEN groups, and opened participation up to individuals who were not connected to services.
We will be releasing the results from the 2021 Hearing Them Consultation in Spring 2022. Watch our blog for the release!
ASPEN - All Survivor Peer Empowerment Network (2021-2022)
In 2021, TESS partners came together to collaborate on a new survivor advisory project called ASPEN - All Survivor Peer Empowerment Network. Led by YWCA Halifax with financial support from the Canadian Women’s Foundation and Women and Gender Equity Canada, ASPEN convenes monthly groups in Truro, Windsor, Sydney and Halifax to discuss program initiatives such as the Hearing Them project and our Coordinated Access to Support Exit (CASE) Conferencing Tables.
ASPEN groups also work with external partners, such as NSCC and Public Safety, to ensure survivor voices are included on all aspects of program and policy design.
Hiring Survivors
In addition to learning from and consulting with survivors, agencies within the TESS partnerships also hire survivors as Peer Outreach and Support Workers as part of their commitment to supporting leadership and creating opportunities for employment.
YWCA Halifax NSTAY Peer Outreach Workers
NSTAY program is participant- led and survivor- informed. A crucial component of the program is peer outreach which draws on the lived experiences of our peer outreach workers to connect with youth who have experienced sexual exploitation and human trafficking. The peer outreach workers meet participants where they are at; without judgment, act as advocates, positive adult role models and mentors that participants can trust. This peer relationship fosters client engagement and recovery. Another important aspect of the peer outreach is that the peer workers often act as bridges between participants and the rest of the NSTAY team and other service providers, and enable participants to engage with, and so better access, services such as mental health, addiction, income assistance, housing etc.
NSTAY peer outreach workers provide the following one-on-one client support to youth
Meeting accompaniment
Court support
Systems Navigation
Crisis Management
Community, Leisure and Social activity planning
Collaborative case management
Elizabeth Fry Society of Mainland Nova Scotia/Cape Breton Peer Support Workers
Survivor Informed Leadership and Practice has been paramount to Elizabeth Fry projects and programs since the birth of the organization. Peer experience creates genuine and sustainable community building, and that is our goal – to help build community connection for folks who have not had community care.
Working historically with femme individuals involved in the criminal legal system, the folks who have experienced the system are best positioned to tell us what they need. It is our role to facilitate those needs being met, in a person- and client- centred approach, with self-determined goals at the forefront.
Our GATE project, (Girls Action against Trafficking and Exploitation) focused on supporting folks at the crossroads of vulnerabilities for criminal justice involvement, and commercial sexual exploitation, takes these principals and applies them consistently through the development of programs and supports. Survivors are the experts in their own needs and goals. This creates responsive and effective, constantly evolving, programming.