From the Voices of Domestic Sex Trafficking Survivors: Experiences of Complex Trauma & Posttraumatic Growth Heather R
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University of Pennsylvania Masthead Logo ScholarlyCommons Doctorate in Social Work (DSW) Dissertations School of Social Policy and Practice Spring 5-20-2019 From the Voices of Domestic Sex Trafficking Survivors: Experiences of Complex Trauma & Posttraumatic Growth Heather R. Evans DSW University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations_sp2 Part of the Counseling Commons, Criminal Law Commons, Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons, Law and Gender Commons, Legal Theory Commons, Other Legal Studies Commons, Other Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons, Photography Commons, Political Science Commons, Psychology Commons, Religion Commons, Social Work Commons, and the Sociology Commons Recommended Citation Evans, Heather R. DSW, "From the Voices of Domestic Sex Trafficking Survivors: Experiences of Complex Trauma & Posttraumatic Growth" (2019). Doctorate in Social Work (DSW) Dissertations. 126. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations_sp2/126 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations_sp2/126 For more information, please contact [email protected]. From the Voices of Domestic Sex Trafficking Survivors: Experiences of Complex Trauma & Posttraumatic Growth Abstract Human sex trafficking is an ongoing global rights violation formally recognized since 2000 through the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report, 2016). Using ecological and trauma-informed lenses, this qualitative, retrospective study used participant-centered methods to explore identity, sexuality, relationships, and factors that facilitate/ hindered community reintegration for 15 adult female survivors. Interview transcripts, Photovoice captioned images, and focus groups were analyzed using multi-level conceptual and thematic coding. Participants identified with all aspects of complex trauma, including: dissociation, self-perception/identity, relations with others and systems of meaning. Key themes included losing and regaining power, shame, and the dangers of re-exploitation and re-traumatization. Critical domains of posttraumatic growth included deep appreciation for life, finding personal strength, spiritual change, ability to see beauty and perceive deeply, and finding greater meaning in life experiences, particularly helping others. Participants highlighted relationship development as the primary source of healing and growth, emphasizing the value of peer-based support and survivor leadership. The findings of this study affirm the need for ecological and relational perspectives in care of survivors, and approaches using a trauma-informed, victim-centered lens. Findings affirm the value of understanding the nuances of complex trauma as well as celebrating the capacity for posttraumatic growth. Furthermore, while relationships are most significantly impacted from the trafficking experience, they are also considered the greatest instrument of healing, through offering long-term commitment and belief in the individual. Finally, findings suggest comprehensive recommendations directly from the voices of survivors for community members and service providers. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Social Work (DSW) First Advisor Allison Werner-Lin, PhD Second Advisor Diane Langberg, PhD Third Advisor Shea Rhodes, Esq Keywords human trafficking, complex trauma, posttraumatic growth, photovoice, domestic sex trafficking, sexual exploitation This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations_sp2/126 Subject Categories Counseling | Criminal Law | Criminology and Criminal Justice | Law | Law and Gender | Legal Studies | Legal Theory | Other Legal Studies | Other Social and Behavioral Sciences | Photography | Political Science | Psychology | Religion | Social and Behavioral Sciences | Social Work | Sociology This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations_sp2/126 From the Voices of Domestic Sex Trafficking Survivors: Experiences of Complex Trauma & Posttraumatic Growth Heather R. Evans, LCSW A DISSERTATION in Social Work Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Social Work 2019 Allison Werner-Lin, PhD Dissertation Chair Sara Bachman, PhD Dean, School of Social Policy and Practice Dissertation Committee: Diane Langberg, PhD Director, Diane Langberg & Associates Shea Rhodes, Esq. Director, Villanova Institute to Address Commercial Sexual Exploitation From the Voices of Domestic Sex Trafficking Survivors: Experiences of Complex Trauma & Posttraumatic Growth COPYRIGHT 2019 Heather R. Evans Dedication This is dedicated to the survivors who courageously participated in this study, giving of their wisdom, their experiences, and their deeply creative selves through words and photography. This is also dedicated to every survivor who has not yet been seen, heard, or identified. May you find freedom and restoration. iii Acknowledgements To the Survivors who participated in this study. Thank you for using your powerful voices to amplify your depth, wisdom, knowledge, creativity and tenacity. Without your courage and vulnerability to share from your experiences, this would not have been possible. May your voices, your courage and your giftedness go far to change this world. To my DSW colleagues, we are truly the BCE (Best Cohort Ever). We’ve accomplished this together. It’s been a privilege to learn alongside remarkably gifted individuals, and I am so thankful for how much we enjoy each other and being together. I hope to see each of you go far in influencing the Social Work field and in this world. To my Dissertation Committee Chair, Allison Werner-Lin, PhD. I am continually grateful to have had you as my Chair. You were the perfect match for me. Thank you for believing in me and my abilities. You were upbeat, positive, encouraging, efficient and amazingly gifted at partializing this process in the perfect way for me. Your humor and your demeanor kept me grounded. I have learned so much from you and am eternally honored and humbled by your support, help and learning you’re your expertise. To Diane Langberg, Dissertation committee member and greatest mentor. You have been the biggest influence on my life personally and professionally. You embody our Lord and who I want to be as a woman, clinician, author, teacher and worldwide instrument and representative of God. Your fingerprints are left all over the pages of this dissertation, my thought processes and in who I am today. May your legacy of faithfulness, courage, and bold wisdom continue on for many generations to come. To Shea Rhodes, Dissertation committee member and abolitionist colleague. You are an inspiration and a hero. I learn so much from your bold tenacious spirit and you embolden me to amplify more of who I truly am in this journey towards justice, equality and freedom for all. Thank you for believing in me and being a significant sojourner. May our journeys continue to intersect locally and globally. To the first survivors I met through VAST and the ladies of WINGS. You have been my greatest teachers and sources of inspiration. You have changed my life and have been patient with VAST as we have navigated new territory. To the staff, volunteers, fellow board members of VAST and partners around the region and the Commonwealth. Thank you for the collaboration. The African proverb says, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” This is a long, slow, arduous journey, but it is a vital one. We have made much progress together. Let us continue this journey. To Beck, my colleague and first partner in this work. “How did we get here?” Thank you for being on this journey of learning, acting, and mobilizing. I have learned so much from you and alongside you. Your faith, positive spirit, encouragement, prayers and belief in me have been my strength in weakness. I could not have done, nor would I want to do this journey without you. To Zenko, a friend and colleague in life mission. Thank you for being the one to convince me to “let it go out.” To Mark. Thank you for fully supporting me to apply, accept and complete this journey. Thank you for having confidence in my ability and for the many ways you have sacrificed and helped during these years, including the ice cream treat deliveries during class and writing sessions. To all of my family, colleagues and friends in USA, Rwanda & Beyond. I wish I could name you all. Thank you for believing in me and seeing more in my gifts and abilities than I can see in myself. Thank you for the many ways you have encouraged me, prayed for me, been patient with me and supported me on this journey. Every timely text, call, Scripture, word of encouragement and expression of interest and confidence has breathed in me life and courage to persevere. To Jesus Christ, who is the first and last motivation for this work. You were the first Voice for the voiceless, the One who brings true liberty to captives, and restores beauty from ashes. You are the Treasure in darkness. Thank you for inviting me into YOUR work. Please take the powerful, beautiful, deep, wise, courageous, strong voices of the survivors in this study and those they represent and may they loudly bring sustainable change in this work and in bringing justice to this world. iv ABSTRACT FROM THE VOICES OF DOMESTIC SEX TRAFFICKING SURVIVORS: EXPERIENCES