Survivors of human trafficking and gender-based violence commonly experience many forms of crisis in their recovery, including suicidality, interpersonal and community violence, homelessness, and acute mental health crises. According to research, suicidal ideation, behavior, and attempts are substantially greater among survivors compared to the general population, with recent studies showing 50% report suicidal ideation and over 40% report attempting suicide. During this holiday season, our staff are giving round-the-clock care to help survivors stay safe over the holidays.
When survivors are in crisis, they need help from a trained and trusted professional who can provide them with the support they need to cope with their situation safely and effectively. Many survivors, however, are unable to access necessary mental health and crisis intervention services. In the Philippines, survivors face barriers in seeking care due to insufficient mental health professionals, low service utilization rates, and the stigma surrounding mental health services.
At Eleison, we provide immediate, short-term counseling and psychosocial support for survivors who are in crisis. We use evidence-based interventions that have been culturally adapted for survivors in the Filipino context and connect survivors with emergency support needed to help them stabilize, stay safe, build coping skills, and strengthen their support systems. Eleison staff actively screen for risk when survivors exhibit common warning signs or disclose suicidal thoughts or behaviors. During the crisis intervention sessions, survivors are assisted in strengthening their internal and social supports, an approach that is well-suited for settings with limited formal mental health services. Following the immediate intervention, we continue to support clients by monitoring for future signs of distress, assisting with referral needs, and being available to reopen crisis cases if safety concerns re-emerge.
Thus far in 2022, Eleison has provided crisis intervention services to 18 survivors, including 74 crisis intervention sessions with survivors in acute crisis who experienced suicidal thoughts, behaviors, and attempts, as well as sexual and physical violence. Our interventions have shown immediate results. Suicide risk dropped for 100% of survivors in our crisis intervention program, and 92% of these clients sustained lower suicide risk levels over time.
Recovery from human trafficking and gender-based violence is often a long journey. If you would like to support our work in offering crisis intervention services to survivors, we invite you to donate here.
