The Many Hats We Wear: Our Reason to Go Above and Beyond

Written By: Avery Hammer, NFNL Receptionist and Intake Coordinator

The women we serve at New Friends New Life (NFNL) have faced innumerable and unthinkable trials and tribulations throughout their lives. Many have endured repeated, complex traumas since they were young girls and only now are being given a space to grow and care for themselves. These women are intelligent, brave, generous, resilient, and stronger than anyone else you will ever meet. More importantly, they are deserving of a chance to pursue the life they want to live. As our receptionist and intake coordinator, I have the privilege of being the first person many of our members speak to from the agency. I get to form a relationship with each of these incredible women and am permitted a view into their lived experiences. They are the reason I look forward to coming to work every day.

Our agency’s main priority is always member safety, and that safety comes in many forms. The women we work with have rarely (if ever) had a safe place to call their own. To allow for personal growth, physical safety is deemed fundamental. We closely monitor every person who enters our building, only allowing people into the office once we see their faces in our security camera, guiding visitors to their respective meetings, and monitoring maintenance workers and security officers who come on site. All of our volunteers are trained on the topic of trafficking before they can interact with our women or youth. These extra considerations allow for our members to feel safe taking a nap on our couch when they can’t sleep at home and let them know that this is a place where they can let their guard down and be themselves.

Once everyone feels safe in a space that is designated as their own, emotional safety makes a demand for attention. Our members deserve to have non-transactional relationships that reinforce their own self-worth. We quickly become listening ears to stories that have never been shared and models of healthy relationships as we abide by boundaries they learn to set. Everyone employed at New Friends New Life wants to see our members succeed and strives to provide an environment where they are comfortable, feeling vulnerable and open to personal growth. By having welcoming and understanding staff, our members learn that we are here for them and that they no longer need to fight on their own.

Here at NFNL, we walk alongside our members at a pace that they set. Their choices are paramount to their personal empowerment journey, and they control the direction of their path. This makes a significant difference in so many lives, but the work does not and cannot stop there. We must advocate for change in every aspect of our society. Public perception, policy, ignorance, and demand for sexually exploitative services are all obstacles in the fight against sex trafficking. Our team makes community partnerships for resources, presents at conferences, and speaks out during city council meetings. We attend individual court cases and give news interviews. We work with the police to kickstart their outreach programs and we offer trainings to organizations like Southwest Airlines to help airport personnel spot trafficking victims. We advocate because these are steps that must be taken to protect future women from enduring what our members have endured.

       Our team provides therapy, helps find jobs, sorts through available resources, and strives to help pave the way for the life our members have always desired. We also push for policy change and public awareness, but the true beauty of our program shines through our members. After processing traumas that they may have perceived as their fault and appropriately assigned responsibility elsewhere, our members thrive.  They buckle down and realize that they have always deserved better and that the hand they were dealt was not of their own doing. This is their space; we just happen to work here. They don’t need us, they have survived their whole lives without us, but they allow us to help. They allow us to be a part of their growth, and at graduation, they show us that they are the most powerful and inspirational women we have been lucky enough to know.