KRISTINA ROSE: We all have a role to play in helping crime victims find healing. Knowing what the options are is so important because every survivor is different. Services are how we operationalize those options. And hope is that catalyst that can change the trajectory of someone's life. You can be the one to give that person hope.
NORMA BASTIDAS: When I first came into the anti-human trafficking movement, the voices of people with lived experience were missing. Every single time I wanted to talk about the issue, it was like, "Let's talk about you." And I didn't want to. I was tired of talking about what happened to me. I wanted to talk about what do we do?
SULEMAN MASOOD: By solely using somebody's story at face value for the intention of wanting to bring awareness to what human trafficking is, you are severely limiting that individual's expertise.
SETTA stands for the Survivor Engagement Training and Technical Assistance Project. We essentially provide training to direct service providers to build meaningful partnerships with those with lived experiences to help agencies improve survivor engagement. We carry out this project with the National Survivor Network and the Survivor Alliance.
REBEKAH LAYTON: Survivors are a community with very diverse perspectives. Instead of identifying this person as somebody who has a trauma experience, how do we as a society or a community or an organization engage with victims of crime in ways that seeks to enhance their humanity and also seeks to create best practices and better ways of doing things.
SULEMAN MASOOD: They're brought in as the expert. We're here to learn from them. Just wanted to check in with you and see how things are going. When you marry peer-to-peer support with survivor engagement, you're creating authenticity in the types of services that you provide.
NORMA BASTIDAS: The work that SETTA is doing is incredible, because I get to do what I feel that it's needed, to actually do meaningful work, to do meaningful engagement that is going to be, better prepare organizations to deal with survivors and victims and people with lived experience.
ARLENE ARMIJO: Bianca's case is a historical sexual abuse case.
BIANCA: He did tell me, "You better not say anything," and I was scared, so I didn't say anything.
ARLENE ARMIJO: In Tribal communities, especially within the pueblos, we still have family meetings. It was at that time that Bianca disclosed what happened to her when she was 8 or 9.
BIANCA: My uncle sat me down, and he was like, "What's wrong with you? Why are you getting in trouble?" And that's when I just felt comfortable enough to tell him, this is what happened to me.
ARLENE ARMIJO: When she disclosed to family, one family member believed her. If it wasn't for the support of her maternal relative, we would have never known what happened to her as a child.
MARCELINO TOERSBIJNS: I received communications from Arlene Armijo, the BIA/OJS victim specialist, who asked me to look into this case. There were some audio CDs, and I started listening to one audio. And it was just very emotional.
BIANCA: I was crying, you know, majority of the whole time I was being recorded. I just felt so heartbroken. But at the same time, I felt like this is finally my chance to let it all out and something, you know, as a little girl holding in the deepest, darkest secret.
ARLENE ARMIJO: Delayed reports are not uncommon in Tribal communities because there's always that fear of my family's not going to talk to me anymore.
BIANCA: They didn't force me to speak about it right away. They just said, "When you're ready, we're here for you. We're here to talk to you." I just felt like I had law enforcement on my side to really believe in me. And they, they really helped change my life around.
KRISTINA ROSE: No matter who a survivor comes in contact with, that person may be the bridge to the help that they need to find healing.
Everybody has a role to play.
How would you help?
