Sex trafficking survivor starts counselling program
Goal is to build community between Black women with similar experiences
A woman who survived sex trafficking has started a new project to help other survivors heal.
Wyndolyn Brown founded her non-profit group, Empowerment for Hope, last year. She's now organizing a free counselling program for women who have been sexually abused or trafficked, with a particular focus on helping Black women.
"The idea did come from the fact that I was trafficked at a young age," Brown told CBC's Information Morning Halifax in an interview on Tuesday.
"It's really hard for women to get free mental health counselling, and especially it's hard for Black women because we're scared to come out of this shadow to express or even talk about our vulnerabilities or traumas that we have been through."
Brown says she worked on the project with Barbara Roberts, a registered social worker.
The program involves five individual counselling sessions with the women, five art therapy sessions and five group therapy sessions. Brown is also hoping to have guest speakers in every week as well as workshops. The idea is to create a sense of community.
Ten women will take part in the program. Brown said one of them came as a referral and others reached out to her after she posted about it on social media.
"It's really hard to express yourself. But if you know that you're not the only one in that situation, it's easier to let go and feel a sense of safeness so that you'll be able to express what is happening. And I want these women to express themselves and not really hold back," Brown said. "... It feels better when you're not by yourself."
Roberts said she is excited to work on the project and sees it as a chance to learn.
Finding a path forward
"We're not only empowering the women in this group, but we're empowering ourselves," Roberts said.
Roberts said a fear that comes with counselling is potentially opening old wounds and retraumatizing people who are seeking help.
"My hope is to get to know the participants in the beginning and then to build on what all the other counsellors are doing within their session and to leave folks with a path forward," she said.
Brown said she hopes the program will help open up discussions about sexual violence. She said speaking about her own experiences has helped. She said women who aren't ready for counselling have also reached out to her just to chat over coffee.
"I don't hide anything and it makes me heal. The more I talk about it, it makes me heal," Brown said.
With files from Information Morning Halifax