Not One, But Many

Written By: Jessica Brazeal, MA, LPC-S, EMDR Certified , NFNL Chief Programs Officer

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and therefore no better time to discuss and consider this important issue and its prevalence. Statistics tell us that one in three women will experience sexual assault in their lifetime. At New Friends New Life, we serve an incredible community of women that have survived sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation. As you can imagine, sexual assault is an issue that our staff spends a great deal of time working to provide support and treatment around. It is an experience that goes hand in hand with the experience of surviving sex trafficking and exploitation, like others such as domestic violence and child abuse.

Most of the women we serve have complex and chronic backgrounds of traumatic experiences, often including things like childhood sexual abuse, domestic violence and sexual assault as previously mentioned. Because of this complexity, it can be easy to lose sight of the pain associated with even just ONE instance of ONE of these categories of abuse. By its very definition, sex trafficking of an adult “requires the presence of force, fraud, or coercion” to be considered trafficking. This essentially means that every single instance of a women being forced to go on a job by her trafficker can be considered an instance of sexual assault, whose definition says that it is “any intentional sexual action by one person without the other person’s consent or coercing someone to engage in a sexual act against their will”. When we consider the sheer number of jobs or “calls” a woman is forced to go on per night, we begin to have an overwhelming tally of sexual assault occurring against her.   

It would be easy to get lost and disheartened with all of that trauma as we begin to consider that one night of being sex trafficked can be akin to being sexually assaulted upwards of 10-15 times in one night, and yet, when you look into the face of any one of the women we serve at New Friends New Life you are met with eyes filled with hope, determination and bravery. It is a place where the strength of women is palpable in the air. These women are not defined by their experience, but rather are daily seeking support and services to heal from their past and dream about their future.

One of the approaches we take at New Friends New Life to treat this accumulated trauma is through Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, or EMDR, therapy. EMDR is an evidence-based treatment modality that has been recommended in treating trauma by organizations like the World Health Organization, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, and the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies amongst others. EMDR utilizes bilateral stimulation in the brain the replicates the natural bilateral stimulation that occurs during REM sleep. This allows a therapist and their client to identify a distressing or traumatic event and essentially work to desensitize and reprocess that event so that it is no longer disturbing to the client. EMDR allows the client to address ongoing triggers and decrease symptoms such as increased anxiety and depression. As you can imagine, when you have been sex trafficked and have potentially years of accumulated traumatic experiences, this therapy model is able to provide immense healing and relief to its recipient.

Despite this painful and heavy material our staff encounters with our members, we find ourselves celebrating the strength, resilience, and tenacity that the women we serve demonstrate daily and invite you to join us in that celebration. What a world it would be if there was no need for a Sexual Assault Awareness Month because there were no sexual assaults. And yet, that is not the world we live in. At least not yet. Until then, we will continue to honor those who have survived this incredibly traumatic experience and celebrate their bravery and resilience. We will continue to provide services and support that helps to resolve the residual effect those events have left in their wake. And we will continue to raise awareness around sex trafficking, sexual assault, and the ways in which we seek to make Dallas a safer place.