Counseling Survivors of Human Trafficking

Human trafficking, which encompasses both labor and sex trafficking, occurs within the United States and across the globe. Labor trafficking refers to the recruiting, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services through the use of force, fraud, or coercion (Trafficking Victims Protection Act; U.S. Department of State, 2018). Sex trafficking is a specific type of human trafficking characterized by scenarios in which commercial sex acts are induced by force, fraud, or coercion, and/or in which the person induced to perform sex acts is not 18 years of age. Although rates of human trafficking were difficult to determine (Fedina, 2015), in any given year, it was estimated 20.9 million people globally were exploited through labor trafficking and 4.5 million people were victims of sex trafficking (International Labour Organization, 2012). Given these estimates, counselors must be prepared to work with survivors of labor and sex trafficking.