The Eleison team has recently launched the ninth cohort of the Healing and Resilience after Trauma (HaRT) Cebu program with youth survivors of trafficking for sexual exploitation, online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC), and marriage trafficking. HaRT is a 3-month group mind-body program combining mindfulness practices, yoga poses, and supportive group discussions. The intervention was originally developed by our collaborator, Healing and Resilience after Trauma, for implementation with survivors of trauma in Uganda. The program addresses three themes: safety in the body, radical self-love, and healthy relationships.
Survivors of human trafficking face significant barriers to accessing community mental health care. Community mental health infrastructures are frequently underfunded and lack specialized clinical training in complex trauma. Consequently, this population remains at elevated risk for untreated post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety disorders. Our mixed-methods evaluation of the HaRT Cebu program found that participation was associated with statistically significant reductions in symptoms of depression, anxiety, and PTSD. Specifically, rates of depression dropped from 61% to 11%, rates of PTSD dropped from 56% to 17%, and rates of anxiety declined from 44% to 6% among program participants.
The Eleison team is committed to addressing the gap in community-based, accessible, and effective mental health care for survivors. We thank the United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery for providing the financial support needed for the Eleison team to implement this vital program.
