Human trafficking is one of the most devastating violations of human rights. When it is experienced in childhood, the effects can last a lifetime, and the repercussions are not something words can explain. YES, it’s severe and debilitating and can lead to unbearable emotional pain. I hate to say this but the pain is misunderstood sometimes even by health professionals. Beneath the surface of resilience and survival often lies deep psychological and emotional pain, wounds that may never fully heal, but can be transformed through understanding, safety, and trauma-informed care. Victims of this horrendous abuse can find a way through the maze with the right help.
What is Human Trafficking?
Human trafficking involves the exploitation of individuals through force, fraud, or coercion, for purposes such as sexual exploitation, forced labour, domestic servitude, or criminal activity. Children are particularly vulnerable because they are dependent on adults for protection and care.
Trafficking may occur in plain sight – within families, institutions, or communities – and is often hidden behind layers of fear, shame, and silence.
The Psychological Impact of Childhood Trafficking
When trafficking is experienced in childhood, it disrupts every aspect of development:
Attachment and Trust: Children learn early that the world is unsafe, and that adults cannot be trusted. This can lead to lifelong difficulties forming healthy relationships
Long-Term Effects into Adulthood
Without trauma-informed intervention, survivors may struggle with depression, anxiety, substance use, self-harm, or relational instability. Many feel disconnected from their bodies or identities. The impact can echo across decades, influencing how survivors parent, form relationships, and engage with the world.
Pathways to Healing
At Reflections Psychology Services, we recognise that healing from human trafficking is a slow, layered process that requires safety, patience, and empowerment.
Therapeutic approaches such as EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing), parts work (Internal Family Systems. Structural Dissociation, Ego State Therapy), and somatic therapies along with expressive arts, can help survivors process traumatic memories while reconnecting to the body’s innate wisdom.
Creative modalities such as art therapy, dance, music, or expressive writing can offer non-verbal pathways to healing when words feel unsafe or overwhelming.
Breaking the Silence
Every survivor’s story matters. By raising awareness about the lifelong impact of childhood trafficking, we can shift the conversation from blame to compassion, from stigma to understanding.
Healing begins when survivors are believed, supported, and offered spaces where their voices are honoured.
Experience of Mary Krishnan psychologist
My client once told me she only stuck with therapy because “you didn’t flinch when I told you what happened”
My experience is approaching this with:
• Trauma informed care, not rescuing, as this only makes it worse in the long run.
• Building rapport (this can take a long time but with consistency can be priceless)!!!
• Learning about the individual’s experience, and not going too fast with too many questions and curiousness about what happened. This will only make the person retreat into themselves and question your motives.
If you or someone you know has been affected by human trafficking, help is available.