Few trafficking and modern slavery survivors get counselling. They have to face their trauma alone

Survivors of modern slavery and human trafficking, exploited for another person’s gain, often live with the impact of this abuse alone. Yet, many survivors of modern slavery and trafficking face needless barriers to accessing mental health support, despite international law dictating that they should be able to access help. New research by After Exploitation shows that only 4% of adults referred as potential victims of trafficking and slavery are getting counselling through the Home Office-run modern slavery victim care contract (MSVCC). 

In my experience, as a survivor of sexual exploitation and as a mental health practitioner, I know that evidence burdens on survivors are preventing them from getting the help they need. Home Office-funded counselling for victims of trafficking and modern slavery through the Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract (MSVCC) is not easy to access. In my case, I was told I needed to provide evidence of long waiting times on the NHS and to secure paperwork from my GP. It took months for my GP to write the letter. By this time, my support worker said the Home Office will reject the evidence for being “out of date”. I came to a dead end and still have not received counselling through the MSVCC.

Sadly, my case is not unique. The Home Office expects survivors to provide evidence of NHS waiting times before agreeing to pay for counselling the survivor needs. This is a huge barrier to getting help. If you are struggling to get out of bed in the morning due to complex trauma, it is no ‘simple’ task to gather all the paperwork currently expected of survivors. At work, I see survivors who are debilitated by their mental health, experiencing psychosis, PTSD, daily panic attacks, waking nightmares, severe depression and more. Yet the UK is expecting survivors, often in unstable living situations like hostels or shelters, to have filing cabinets organised with everything they need. It is not realistic.

To make matters worse, charities report that survivors are only ‘eligible’ for counselling by the Home Office if their mental health symptoms are ‘directly linked’ to the exploitation. Complex trauma is tough to unpick, and it is impossible to know what symptoms are caused by exploitation or related issues like hardship, family issues, or not having safe and secure housing. 

In response to After Exploitation’s findings, the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner (IASC) called the low rate of counselling provided to survivors “unacceptable” and recognised that “survivors should not be forced to navigate complex bureaucracy or prove the unprovable to access basic mental health support”, but this issue has not yet been addressed by the government.

Read more:

• If we want to prevent modern slavery, we must start with preventing homelessness
• Modern slavery is still rife in the UK – where do we go from here?
• How can we tackle modern slavery if those on the frontline don’t know what it looks like?

In theory, although survivors can access mental health support in the NHS, and many would be better supported within those services, getting this help is not always guaranteed. Sadly, testimony provided to After Exploitation shows that some survivors struggle to get referred for talking therapies through the NHS due to capacity pressures, delays and poor understanding of exploitation.

In my experience, funding for mental health practitioners is being cut from GP surgeries, and there is not enough face-to-face training for healthcare professionals to understand trauma-informed practice, modern slavery, or the needs of survivors. In my career, I have never been offered modern slavery training despite encountering many patients I believe may have been exploited.

Good awareness is vital, to ensure survivors who come forward for help are understood and not dismissed when they ask for a mental health referral. Many survivors fall through the ‘gap’ if they are not quite deemed in ‘crisis’ but are seen as not stable enough to begin talking therapies like cognitive behavioural therapy. For this reason, it is so important that every survivor of human trafficking and slavery can access a fair minimum number of counselling sessions through the Home Office-funded MSVCC when the NHS is not able to step in.

Right now, the system is needlessly complicated. Agency is taken from survivors, as they are not told about their rights. In my opinion, survivors’ rights are withheld strategically, in order to save the government money. To make sure survivors can navigate support, there should be a ‘one-stop shop’ for survivors to access all information about their rights in one place, and request the help they need without additional paperwork, including access to lawyers, counsellors and the compensation scheme.

Every survivor should have the help they need to recover, without exception.

Kate (not her real name) is a survivor of sexual exploitation working with non-profit After Exploitation.

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