Jada's Journey
*Photo representative of the women we serve.
“I feel safe at ESTN. I’m starting to understand how to have fun, and still learning how to appreciate the good things in life, like birthdays and holidays. I’ve spent so long looking for a reason to live.”
Jada lost her mother at age 3 and never knew her father. Raised in poverty by an aunt and uncle who treated her like a burden and often left her home alone, Jada became the victim of childhood sexual abuse at a young age. Jada’s uncle had a desperate meth addiction and threatened to sell her to his dealer in exchange for drugs and back payment for money owed. So at 16, Jada ran away from home and into the arms of a “boyfriend” she had been talking to online about her troubles at home.
It didn’t take long for her boyfriend to become her trafficker. Jada loved him and built a trauma bond that made it easy for him to convince her to do whatever he asked. With no family or community support system, her trafficker became her family and set the example that defined love in Jada’s world.
Jada was trafficked throughout Tennessee for years and arrested several times for trafficking-related crimes. As part of the abuse of exploitation, traffickers often force their victim to either commit crimes on their behalf or take the fall for crimes committed by the trafficker. End Slavery Tennessee (ESTN) trains partners to identify when repeat offenses are likely related to victimization. After several years and numerous trafficking-related arrests, the court, trained by ESTN, identified Jada as a trafficking victim. She still had a record, so the court gave her the option of ESTN’s Aftercare Program over jail time.
Jada’s trafficker always paid bail to immediately get her back to work, but she thought treatment would give her a longer break from the life. Jada knew she’d get a beating from her trafficker when she got out, but sheer exhaustion made her choose ESTN despite the consequences. It was the first time Jada was given a choice that wasn’t simply a threat.
Depressed, scared and exhausted, Jada rarely made eye contact with anyone when she started at ESTN. She lived in our safe house, protecting her from her trafficker’s retaliation. She was matched with an ESTN Care Coordinator who slowly built trust, showing Jada all she had to live for. Jada felt like she wasn’t a full person, and eventually confided in her Care Coordinator that she didn’t even know her actual birth date. With a family in active addiction all her life, they never celebrated it, and her trafficker gave her a false identity. Jada never had an official ID card, meaning she never had access to opportunities that require identification – things like healthcare, education and employment. Jada’s Care Coordinator tracked down her birth certificate and helped her through the process of getting her first official ID card. In clearing this first obstacle, Jada now had access to a host of healing services, and we found out that she had just turned 20.
We threw Jada her first ever birthday party, complete with a cake and presents. As staff and survivors sang happy birthday, you could see a flicker of life coming back to her eyes. Knowing her birthday and being celebrated for just being alive was new and extremely empowering. It finally gave her a sense of identity and the strength to dig into her recovery process.
Jada is now working toward her GED. After taking an art class through ESTN, she uses art as a healthy coping mechanism to overcome the symptoms of her trauma. Although much progress has been made in Jada’s physical health, safety, and livelihood, Jada came to us with no community, no hope, and in her own words, “no reason for living.” She still has a long road ahead to fully develop a sense of self-worth and learn about healthy boundaries and relationships. But every day she is a little more confident, taking steps forward, making decisions, choosing to live. Jada is on a healing journey from 20 years of trauma. ESTN plans to be a lifelong community of consistent, safe support, celebrating with her at every birthday and milestone along the way.
*Name and some identifying details changed to protect confidentiality.