Not On Our Watch: Amplifying the Voices of Human Trafficking Survivors Through Photovoice
Keywords:
human trafficking, community-based participatory research, photovoice, survivor advocacy, homelessness, traumaAbstract
In this paper, I explore the lived experiences of women who endured human trafficking while experiencing homelessness in rural eastern North Carolina. Their journeys became the foundation for Not On Our Watch, a photovoice community-based participatory research project that I designed to amplify survivor narratives and expose systemic service gaps. Throughout this project, I witnessed firsthand how survivors are often silenced through systemic abandonment, particularly after displacement from foster care, domestic violence situations, or institutional systems. Many participants had previously endured domestic violence, human trafficking, or both, making their participation in this project deeply personal and transformative, both for them and myself. Not On Our Watch symbolizes the reclamation of agency through collective action, using photography and storytelling as tools for advocacy. By centering survivor voices, my research informs social work practices, policy reforms, and trauma-informed interventions to address vulnerabilities that place people at risk of trafficking.
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