Caroline Bradbury-Jones, Professor of Gender Based Violence and Health at the University of Birmingham and co-author of the report said:
“For the nearly 50 million people around the world affected by modern slavery, the trauma that individuals experience threatens to affect their wellbeing long after they have been able to escape exploitation.
“This study is part of our portfolio of research within the Risk, Abuse and Violence research programme, where we have expertise in conducting participatory research with survivors. This latest report demonstrates how important survivors’ voices are in shaping the services they are accessing.”
Nancy Esiovwa from the Survivor Alliance, one of the authors of the report, said:
“For me, going through the project where survivors of modern slavery were able not only involved from the start, but were able to themselves define what mental wellbeing means for them, was a game changer.
“Unfortunately, it’s not a standard practice yet but we hope this project will help expand the space where survivors can come as experts on research projects and help inform policies and practices.
“It was also eye opening to see how differently survivors see wellbeing to those who support them. Whilst practitioners tend to address mental health challenges such as the lack of sleep or anxiety in relative isolation, survivors see a much wider picture, with issues such as uncertainty immigration status, lack of access to jobs or education having a big impact on their overall wellbeing.”
