“When Soraya first came to us from the brothel, she was unable to speak about her experiences there,” she said.

“It was too painful for her to recall those memories. I understand,” I said.

“No, I mean she was physically unable to speak at all. The trauma had been so profound, she could no longer talk.”

I stared at her trying to allow this new revelation to sink in.
“I had no idea…” was all I could manage in reply.

We came to hear Ruth, an aftercare specialist, speak about her work with girls rescued from brothels in Bangalore, India – victims of slavery, or what has come to be known by many as human trafficking.

The hideous realities of modern slavery were not new to us. With our band, JUBILEE, we’d been making music for more than five years, reaching thousands with the message that slavery still exists. Still, when I hear a story like Soraya’s, I feel the same fist-to-the-gut sensation I’d had years ago when I first learned that little girls as young as five were being raped for someone else’s profit. That there was an international black market for human beings rivaling drugs and arms for 1st place on the list of illegal commodities. People for sale.

As musicians, we knew there had to be a way for us to engage our art directly with the issue of human trafficking beyond playing benefit concerts. Hearing Soraya’s story that night, the seedling of an idea we’d only felt deep in our souls began to sprout and blossom into the full-color vision of what Arts Aftercare would become.

What could the arts mean to someone who had been robbed of their voice? And how could that person’s story change me as an artist? These were the questions that inspired the founding of Arts Aftercare. These questions continue to inspire us as we seek to become better artist-advocates for the millions still being enslaved, and to bring restoration and healing to those who have already been rescued.

Arts Aftercare Mission - We are a hub that brings the arts community - musicians, painters, dancers, photographers, poets - together to use their unique resources as artists with at-risk youth and survivors of trauma.

Arts Aftercare provides resources for trained arts therapists and artists of all kinds to engage in the healing process with at-risk youth and survivors of extreme trauma.

This is accomplished through three paths: 

1. Healing Arts Toolkit:

The Healing Arts Toolkit will contain simple therapeutic exercises utilizing music, visual arts and movement that aftercare staff will be able to use with their clients to aid in the recovery process. The Toolkit will be suitable for all aftercare facilities serving survivors of trafficking domestically and internationally.

Clinical Introduction:

The Healing Arts Toolkit will provide a research-based curriculum along with basic arts (music, visual arts, movement) interventions to facilitate development of core skills with traumatized individuals such as affect regulation, identity development, and healthy interpersonal relationships. With the understanding that staff working in aftercare facilities with survivors of human trafficking may have little or no therapeutic training but have the ability to foster such skills as self-awareness and emotion management, this Toolkit will provide the necessary framework to move artistic and creative activities which may already be in use to a therapeutic level.

Special attention will be paid to cultural contexts in the development of the Toolkit. It is the understanding of Arts Aftercare that art therapies provide a unique opportunity for trauma work in non-Western cultures where talk therapy may be considered less appropriate or helpful.

In addition, training will include an overview of trauma and trauma responses so that staff are prepared for what may come up for individuals as the Toolkit is used. It is not the intent of this Toolkit to facilitate trauma narrative work; rather, to provide a foundation of core, stabilizing skills for traumatized individuals which can be facilitated by non-practitioners and practitioners alike, through various art modalities.

2. Seattle Programs:

Local volunteer opportunities for members of the Seattle arts community. Our local program currently brings Seattle musicians and street youth together for weekly jam sessions, informal lessons, and positive relationship building. The musicians are not therapists, but do receive basic training in working with traumatized populations. While the current opportunities are limited to musicians, we will be expanding to provide opportunities for visual artists, dance artists, and others.  We are officially partnered with YouthCare and New Horizons Ministries, and have music volunteers every week at their drop-in facilities for street youth.  We are partnered with The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology where graduate students are conducting research on topics related to the cross section of the various arts therapies with human trafficking aftercare.  We are also officially partnered with Music Works Northwest, providing opportunities for their board-certified music therapists to work with Seattle street youth and survivors of human trafficking.

3. Face2Face Trips:

Short term trips for teams of artists and professional therapists to visit international aftercare facilities. Our international programs are currently in the development stage. As we build relationships with international abolitionist organizations and specific aftercare centers, we are refining our concept for these trips. Our development strategy includes recognizing the pre-existing assets within the target communities and providing help that will remain beneficial after our volunteers leave.

Since the founding of Arts Aftercare we've worked closely with International Justice Mission in many capacities.  IJM has been a critical partner in the development and piloting of our Healing Arts Toolkit.  We are currently working closely with IJM as they develop their Artist Partner Program, and are discussing future collaborations as part of our Face2Face trips program.

We are officially partnered with YouthCare and have run our "Thursday Jams" volunteer program at their James W. Ray Orion Center since October of 2010.  We are in the process of connecting Seattle-area arts therapists with YouthCare's safehome for survivors of human trafficking in the State of Washington.

Since the fall of 2010 we have partnered with The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology (formerly Mars Hill Graduate School) working with graduate students on research related to the therapeutic use of arts in human trafficking aftercare.  We will soon have a database of research and other resources available through this website.

We are grateful for our partnership with Art With Heart whose mission is to: "...improve the lives of high risk youth with therapeutic tools and programs that promote mental health and well-being." 

We are proud to team up with Music Works Northwest, consulting with their music therapists on our Healing Arts Toolkit, and working together to develop programs with Seattle-area street youth.

We are pleased to join forces with New Horizons Ministries on Tuesday nights.  Since September of 2011 Arts Aftercare music volunteers have jammed with the wonderful youth that come to New Horizons for a hot meal, clean clothes, a shower, job training, and many other empowering services that the encouraging folks at New Horizons provide.

Samaritana Transformation Ministries serves victims of sexual exploitation in Manila, Philippines, and provides holistic care that gives women and children more choices for a brighter future.  Samaritana directors Jonathan and Thelma Nambu serve on the advisory board for the Healing Arts Toolkit, and have co-hosted the pilot trainings at their facilities in Manila.

Arts Aftercare is headquartered in a secret base in Seattle, Washington.