Creating Sanctuary: Trauma-Informed Change for Survivors of Sex Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation

Author: Middleton, Jennifer & McDonald, Amber

Abstract: The Sanctuary Model® is an evidence-supported, trauma-informed, and traumaresponsive organizational culture approach to addressing the needs of individuals who have been exposed to overwhelming and usually repeated and sustained exposure to maltreatment, violence, and systematic dehumanization. Victims of sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation have experienced profound moral injury, and repair must be a fundamental component of healing. The objective of introducing an organizational culture approach is to enable a program, a system, or even an entire community to organize itself around a shared vision, knowledge foundation, set of values, language, and practice in service of creating a total service delivery environment to counter the complex effects of traumatic exposure. As a result of the scarcity of literature pertaining to evidence-based, trauma-informed treatment for survivors of sex trafficking, and the potentiality of a trauma-informed organizational and systems intervention to reduce stigma and promote healing, this chapter will describe the Sanctuary Model, outline the four major pillars of the model, and discuss its application for enhancing the system of care for survivors of sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation.

Keywords: trauma-informed care, commercial sexual exploitation, treatment, organizational change, sanctuary model