BENEATH THE SURFACE | COUNSELING CELEBRATIONS

“[Counseling] helps me to not feel so alienated, like I'm the only one who goes through it. I always thought my situation was super different and no one else could understand or relate, but I'm finding my situation is not that uncommon.”  - Counseling Recipient

In 2023, Polaris Project (the anti-trafficking organization that operates the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline) conducted a study of 914 people who were either being actively exploited or who were just exiting that situation.. The goal was to assess their top need at that moment. Shockingly, the answer was the same for both groups: Trauma-informed counseling. Survivors are desperate for care from mental health professionals who can respond with compassion and walk with them through the difficult journey of healing. (Source: In Harm’s Way: How Systems Fail Human Trafficking Survivors)

Thanks to the generosity of many individuals, organizations, and churches in 2024, NightLight was able to fully fund a completely free, trauma-informed counseling program for the women in our care. In both Bangkok and Missouri, we have the privilege of offering excellent, compassionate counseling to the individuals we work with as they push through adversity from darkness to light. Because of our community’s generosity, we are seeing new avenues of healing and hope.

Recently, one woman came for a counseling session. In the few minutes before her session, she began to share all the ways she felt she was standing in the ruins of the life she’d worked so hard to build. A short time later, a door creaked as she stepped out of her session, proclaiming, “There is hope!” 

Another woman has been faithfully attending counseling over the last few months. When she began, she did not have the tools, coping skills, or time to process the complex trauma that held her captive. Since working with our counselor, she has begun to unpack the web of trauma from her past. Even in this short time, we’ve seen remarkable growth in her day-to-day stability and substantial strides in her perception of her value. Similarly, another woman who has struggled to understand her own trauma responses has been able to explore healthy ways to navigate distressing situations. She now has methods to cope with stress and the language to describe what is happening. She doesn’t have to face these situations in isolation anymore!

Two other women have experienced growth and healing through counseling this year. One has lived on survival instincts and impulse decisions most of her life. Since receiving counseling, she has started to learn the value of slowing down and thinking through her decisions. Counseling has helped her weigh the outcomes of a decision before she makes it. This growth has allowed her to recognize people in her life who may not be healthy and enabled her to create healthy boundaries. The other has been relieved to finally find a counselor who’s equipped to handle the level of trauma she has experienced, after years of searching for someone qualified and capable.

Counseling is bringing breakthroughs to women in Bangkok, as well. Our counselor there has been working with a woman struggling to make progress. Deciding to try something new, our counselor pressed into speaking truth over the lies this woman had been told for years. “I didn’t think she would ever open up,” our counselor shared. “But that day in the counseling room, I stood up and told her I was going to stand in the place of the one who had hurt her most deeply. When I began to say all the things to her that the other person refused to say—the hard outer shell broke wide open and she sobbed... That was the day the hard exterior began to fade away.” 

Moments like this bring freedom and pave the way for true healing.

Life after exploitation is a hard road to walk. It can be lonely, heartbreaking, and tiring. But with a loving support system, each precious person who exits exploitation finds moments of despair replaced with confidence and hope that there is still a beautiful, fully healed life ahead. By venturing into difficult and sometimes hidden places, a seed of hope is planted, the broken pieces begin to heal, and beauty springs forth once again.