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What Survivors of Sex Trafficking Really Need: Bekah Charleston’s Story & the Road to True Restoration - Part 1 | S6, E1
60 Plays11 days ago
In this powerful episode of the Trafficking Free America Podcast, survivor leader and national speaker Bekah Charleston opens up about her experience with sex trafficking in Las Vegas and what it truly takes to help victims transition into long-term survivors.
🎧 Hosted by the U.S. Institute Against Human Trafficking and Kids Not For Sale, this candid conversation dives deep into the rehabilitation and restoration process—beyond safe homes, into the real challenges survivors face reentering society.
🔍 What you'll learn:
- Why leaving "the life" is more complex than most people realize
- The critical difference between a safe home and a restoration home
- Why many survivors return to trafficking—and how we can change that
- The essential role communities, churches, and everyday individuals play in survivor success
👥 This episode is a must-watch for anyone involved in social work, advocacy, policymaking, or just looking to better understand how to truly help survivors.
🛑 Become an Abolitionist:
Subscribe for free training and resources at: https://usiaht.org/abolitionist
📌 Timestamps
00:00 – Intro: What is Trafficking Free America?
00:31 – Purpose of the episode: Helping survivors beyond rescue
01:11 – Meet Bekah Charleston: Survivor and national advocate
02:08 – What happens after safe homes? The missing link in support
03:24 – Bekah’s personal background and story
06:27 – How hard is it really to leave the life?
10:12 – The connection between trafficking and modern-day slavery
11:08 – Graduating from a safe home: Then what?
16:47 – Why rehabilitation isn’t profitable—but why we must still do it
17:56 – Bekah explains transitional housing and restoration services
20:25 – Clarifying safe homes vs. restoration homes
23:07 – Outro: Join the fight to end trafficking
🔔 Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit the bell icon to stay up to date on future episodes.
#HumanTrafficking #BekahCharleston #SurvivorStories #SexTrafficking #RestorationNotRescue #USIAHT #TraffickingFreeAmerica #KidsNotForSale #AbolitionistMovement
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Trafficking Free America
00:00:10
Speaker
Thank you for tuning in to Trafficking Free America, a podcast channel produced by the U.S. Institute Against Human Trafficking and Kids Not For Sale. The goal of this podcast is to help inform about human trafficking in the U.S. It's to help educate people on how to help engage in the fight to end human trafficking and inspire you to take action in your sphere of influence with the tools and guidance we are able to bring to you through content like this and trainings.
Focus on Victim Restoration with Becca Charleston
00:00:38
Speaker
In these next two episodes, we will be discussing victim restoration with Becca Charleston. We've had her on the podcast before and episode six of season two.
Becca Charleston's Journey from Survivor to Advocate
00:00:49
Speaker
Becca is a former survivor who is an expert and speaker on the topic, helping victims in their attempt to leave the life.
00:00:57
Speaker
In these next two episodes, we'll dive into these issues that often surround a victim or survivor who has left the life. Most of the time, they depend on their pimp, and the only way that can they can make a living is through commercial sex.
00:01:11
Speaker
So how can we as a society do better in helping show them a better life and help them truly accomplish that better life? Becca provides some insight for us to think about and consider as we strive to minister to these individuals.
00:01:26
Speaker
It's often the spot that we leave survivors to figure this out, which is why so many end up returning to the previous life. I pray you receive insight from this conversation over the next two episodes.
00:01:38
Speaker
Here's my conversation with Becca.
Challenges Post-Rehabilitation
00:01:41
Speaker
Hey, Becca, thanks for joining our podcast today and helping with creative training on how we can truly address um how to help survivors once they are have kind of gone through a little bit of their first ah phase of rehabilitation. a lot of times what we're seeing is that, um you know, ah sort surviv ah ah victims go into survivor mode, basically but going through a safe home or a program, leaving the life, if you would, and then, know,
00:02:10
Speaker
then there's a rehabilitation, you know, where they get back into society basically. And there seems to be a disconnect on how that happens. A lot of times we think put them in the safe home and then are it's all it's all glory from there. Right. And you know that that's really not the story. So thank you for joining us so that everyone kind of understands your background, where you come from. Go ahead. Tell us a little bit about ah ah your um your story and your background when it comes to something like this.
Becca's Personal Story of Survival and Advocacy
00:02:40
Speaker
Yeah, well, thanks for having me, Jeremy. and And you're so right. So often that is really kind of the beginning. It's not the ending, right? Going in and getting services and having it a safe place to stay is kind of sometimes where you just begin unraveling, you know?
00:02:54
Speaker
um But my background and the reason I'm here today, i actually survived more than a decade of sex trafficking that began as a minor at the age of 17 in Texas. And I wasn't able to get away until the federal authorities became involved. Ultimately, i wound up serving 13 months in federal prison because I was too scared to tell on my pimp. i you know When someone beats you bloody, when when they tell you that they'll kill you if you ever leave them or if you ever snitch on them,
00:03:20
Speaker
That's that that's so a scary threat. And it's a very viable threat too, when they've already been extremely violent with you. And so, um you know, it it took a it took a long road of recovery. I wound up running in 2009 is when I finally ran away, had the courage when my pimp was serving time in prison.
00:03:39
Speaker
I had the courage to run away from him and wish life got better then, but it didn't. I really kind of reverted back to some really negative behaviors and coping skills because I really had blamed myself for everything I had gone through.
00:03:54
Speaker
I thought that I made bad choices and then I got what I deserved. And so I really kind of floundered for a while. Ultimately, I was able to get my life back together. Thankfully, it took for me, it was having compassion for someone else because I didn't have compassion for myself. But When I wound up in a relationship a different relationship a couple years after running away from trafficking and got pregnant in that relationship, that was kind of ah a big catalyst for me to want to change my life, to to even to even have enough hope that things could be different.
Importance of Support Communities
00:04:26
Speaker
because I knew it had to be different from my kid. you know And so I was willing to make that sacrifice, which is what so often, you know running away from exploitation or trafficking, you're you're you're making enormous sacrifices for things that you know you have worked extremely hard for. And that you know as a victim, if you get to walk away, most often you just walk away with nothing but the clothes on your back. You don't even get to take your clothes. You don't get to take any of the belongings that you had.
00:04:53
Speaker
And so um I started my life over from, not even from scratch, from way less than scratch, because my trafficker had put a million dollars of debt in my name. And obviously I'd had all these negative experiences for a decade and been arrested a bunch of times. and so um It was a rocky road, as I mentioned, but thankfully, I came back here to Texas and really had a community of support wrap around me once I did finally decide to change my life. And and that began in the faith community for me.
00:05:20
Speaker
um And so I received a lot of services, went to years of therapy and wound up going back to school. i got my bachelor's degree and master's degree in criminal justice and criminology and Since that time started my business in 2013, and now I'm in front of usually 5,000 to 10,000 people a year training law enforcement and social workers across the country, as well as medical professionals and any other lay people on you know what trafficking actually looks like in America, as well as the best way to intervene and help rehabilitate the individuals that survive.
00:05:52
Speaker
So um I've done a lot of other things in that time as well, but at least I give you a little bit idea about who I am. Absolutely. and um And if you're interested in Bega's story, by all means we have another podcast where we kind of – she talked about it and shared her perspective fund a lot of stuff.
00:06:10
Speaker
I very much encourage you to go look at that. but ah And today what we're going to talk about is truly like, i want to kind of start out
Challenges in Leaving Trafficking
00:06:18
Speaker
with this. ah Becca, you kind of i started the discussion about this, but what how hard is it truly to leave the life?
00:06:27
Speaker
Like, I don't think we have an understanding of that. Yeah, I mean, even that moment of getting away is just like domestic violence is often the the scariest and most dangerous moment is that when you are making that plan or you're trying to carry out that plan, that's when people most often that have been murdered by part ah you know intimate partner violence that's the most dangerous time. And so it's really no different with trafficking. um You know, honestly, at one point we thought he had cameras in our cars. It was like he could read our minds is what it felt like.
00:07:03
Speaker
And he um I mean, so even just thinking about a plan to leave him was terrifying, you know, because, you know, my number one thought every day is how do I make him happy today?
00:07:13
Speaker
you know What do I do to have one of those sweet honeymoon days where he's actually nice to me and sweet to me versus you know beating me up and and cussing me out and calling me out my name? um and so To even have the courage to think about leaving.
00:07:28
Speaker
I think you know once you're once you're trapped in that kind of lifestyle, the amount of shame and stigma surrounding what you're doing is also a huge barrier. you know i when i was Years later, when I was getting my undergrad degree, i was working um as an intern in Rise Court in Tarrant County for Judge Brent Carr. and I was doing my internship. And so one day I was in the office yeah with a probation um kind of case manager, the probation officer. And one of the parolees called in and she was hysterically crying on the phone. And you know so the case manager obviously got her to calm down and, OK, what's going on? Why are you so upset? And she said, well, I i was trying to find a place to do community service at.
00:08:13
Speaker
But Goodwill told me I couldn't do it there because I was a former prostitute. Like, let that sink in for a moment. She wasn't looking for a job. She was looking to do community service and was denied because she had formerly been charged as a prostitute.
00:08:28
Speaker
Like, that is the kind of treatment for community service. I mean, like, goodness. Like it could have been, i'm not calling out Goodwill specifically because that could have been anyone. That's just oftentimes people's reaction to us.
00:08:41
Speaker
And so yet, you know, people look at us from the outside and they think, well, if you really wanted to leave or change your life, you could, you know, he's not with you all the time. People don't understand, like once you start, especially when you start getting a criminal record, that becomes a huge barrier in itself. I mean, the financial barrier.
00:08:57
Speaker
abuse, financial control is a huge barrier. And so, but that, that moment, that, that moment when you're finally free is but what I know to be true is physical freedom does not equal emotional or mental freedom.
00:09:10
Speaker
And so for me, it was a first time in my life that I didn't have a man telling me what I was going to do, um you know, who I was or all those things. And honestly, I I was terrified, you know, once I finally really changed my life and it wasn't exciting at all. It was terrifying because now I'm navigating, you know, in some, in some ways it's easier to stay because at least you know what to deal with. Yeah. You might get raped.
00:09:36
Speaker
Yeah. You might get robbed, right? Like there's going to be terrible consequences in that lifestyle, but you know how to navigate it when you're a survivor, right? When you're an individual that with lived experience and sometimes it's so much easier to just stay than it is to navigate a brand new world that you don't have a ah blueprint for and you don't have anyone helping you.
00:09:56
Speaker
um It could be it could be really overwhelming and terrifying. And so thankfully, um i had a ah supportive group of people around me, you know, because I think healing takes place in community. You can't you can't really do it on your own.
00:10:10
Speaker
And um yeah, golly. I mean, yeah, it's the perspective of like, man up perspective like, oh, you know, you, you, every is the land of opportunity. Anyone can, anyone should it's, it's, it is, it's, it's slavery in a sense, you know?
00:10:28
Speaker
Um, like, uh, when I think about how the connection goes with slavery, it's almost like when, um, uh, when everything was emancipated, right. It's like, oh, they, they could have just left. Why didn't they?
00:10:42
Speaker
come on, like, like look at all the content. Yeah. Like just become homeless. What's wrong with you? Um, you know, so naturally, it's hard enough to leave already, which also kind of is when we talked about this um with ah with Brandy, when talking about our safe homes, how hard it is to just stay, you know, you're you're breaking a lot of chains in that situation. And like you just said, it's not just physical, it's also mental.
00:11:11
Speaker
um And um so once someone does finally um go through the safe home process, um You know, what is usually the next thing that they are currently introduced to? Not necessarily the right thing, but what are they usually becoming introduced to once they are, about you know, let's say graduating from the safe home, if you would?
Transitional Phase After Safe Homes
00:11:38
Speaker
Yeah. So oftentimes, you know, we have we have a lot of different products. I'll say we have a lot of different services. Maybe that's a better way to put it out there as far as, you know, ah living, you know, in that transitional period of getting out of trafficking.
00:11:52
Speaker
You know, we see that drop-in centers are great for that kind of inner intermediate activity. um You know, sometimes there's inpatient that's needed for those individuals. And then, you know, the lucky ones that are able to find a bed, you know, typically have about a year to 18 months at a restoration program, you know, and that's going to look like giving away your cell phone, you know, it's going to look like kind of almost going into hiding and it for a period of time and and giving up a lot of freedoms that you that you enjoy, like cigarettes or cell phones. like
00:12:24
Speaker
and can That could be a big deal breaker that a lot of people don't want to go into restoration homes over cigarettes or cell phones, you know, and that's their choice. um So with it then there's also on the back end, we have like transitional living places that um that have less rules than a safe home because the security risk isn't quite as high because it's individuals that have already gone through quite a bit of healing.
00:12:46
Speaker
And so they have a lot more freedom in transitional homes where maybe they can live there for free and then actually have a job and go out to a job and then be able to come back. So it it helps them for a longer period of time. And I think there's a lot of wisdom in that because you know, a year to 18 months, you know, when you get when you get kind of sucked out of society and you you get the blessing of being able to like rest in a safe place, being able to heal. And like I said earlier, that's kind of when, you know, when you think about being in the life, you in some ways get kind of addicted to the chaos.
00:13:23
Speaker
You know, I feel like i I operate really well in chaotic situations that other people might be flipping out. Like, I'm actually... and And I think it's almost like an adrenaline junkie, like law enforcement. I mean, there's firefighters. Like, there's other fields that...
00:13:39
Speaker
you're constantly around trauma. Like ah as far as in the game, you know, in the life, I was being exploited. i was constantly, you know, fighting with tricks. I'm running in and out of hotel rooms, evading hotel security, trying to evade law enforcement. I'm getting fights.
00:13:53
Speaker
I'm facing violence at the hands of my trafficker, like all of these things. Right. And so when you get plucked out of that and placed in this quiet, safe environment with people that are kind to you, most people kind of bug out a little bit initially because You know, and I think that like we we did't we can't unwind when we're still in that place of chaos, right? Because we're still surviving, we're still going. And once we finally have that calmness and safety, that's when the hard work really starts.
00:14:21
Speaker
And so typically 12 to 18 months, I don't think, ah you know, Everyone's level of traumatic or trauma is different. And everyone's healing is also different. it's so individualized.
00:14:33
Speaker
um But i think there's still a huge need for supportive care after people are released from safe houses, just because, you know, you're, you're kind of thrust right back out into society. And yeah, sure. It was easy to heal and make changes while you were in this soft, supportive,
00:14:50
Speaker
safe place. But now once you're kind of back out on your own, you know, sometimes a big shift like that could throw you right back to where you were before, you know, just because you didn't have that practice of getting your feet under you, you know, and a lot of times the way that you, you know, leave safe houses, some, some of them are really great at, you know, making sure obviously you have your next place to live. Maybe they'll even give you some furniture or something like that, or some household items to get you set up.
00:15:17
Speaker
um But that's not always the case either, like because a lot of women don't go through the full program. And so they don't wind up getting, you know, a lot of the individuals, I should say, not not just women, but they don't wind up getting the full benefit because for whatever reason, maybe they just weren't ready to complete the program at that time or or something.
00:15:35
Speaker
So I think um eight there is There's some promising practices coming out as far as there's some organizations that are offering like subsidized living, which I think is really exciting to see because then we can we can get that individual set up on their own.
00:15:52
Speaker
You know, they're already, you know, they help them all the different barriers that are going to come up inevitably about getting out on their own, help them with those barriers, but then also have like a, almost a sliding scale of, you know, help that is higher in the beginning. And then over, you know, two to three years becomes less and less, they become more self, you know, sufficient and independent.
00:16:14
Speaker
So I think that's really exciting to see because. you know The safe house idea, you know the the pro most promising practice right now is to do about six to eight beds max per home. They kind of found that that works best.
00:16:27
Speaker
I know there's been some people that try to do big, huge hundred bed homes. yeah I've never seen that work out well or even work out at all. So there's there's definitely a need to find a new innovative way to help people that maybe doesn't um cost quite as much because you're building all these six, you know, six to eight bed homes.
00:16:47
Speaker
Right. I mean, it's not a profitable industry and when it comes to rehabilitation and and stuff like that. And, and that's the, um that's the truth um around it, that if you're getting into this of like, Oh, let me do a really systematic way of, of not breaking the bank to help No, you need to go into it ready to break the bank to help ah even just one individual, to be honest.
00:17:09
Speaker
And, and that needs to be, but the thought process around that is if we get more community members to truly help in the best way possible. Right. um I mean, that's how churches, that's how churches, um ah the select people, the trust, some trusted people around a safe home to keep that home extremely safe.
00:17:29
Speaker
And then the community helps those, that group of people help that safe home. Boom, there you go. Like it doesn't have to be an individual directly go to the safe home. It could just be a group of, you know, with a few filters before they actually truly know or, or, or understand or see where that safe home is.
00:17:43
Speaker
But, but again, after a safe home though, you talked about a lot of like great services that are around that are, that are, that exist for kind of halfway homes in a sense. not That's not the right word, but it's very similar to one.
00:17:56
Speaker
But what is, um, ah Like, what are those, what are those services around the country and do we have
Gaps in Housing and Services
00:18:03
Speaker
enough? Definitely not enough at all. Yeah. yeah and And I think what's something that you just said, I wanted to highlight, you know, when people hear about this issue and they, they decide to, you know, get in and do something, a lot of people think they have to start a nonprofit, but like you said, like research what's in your area, find out who's doing what work and see how you can partner with them. you and help serve their people better. Potentially, it's not you always have to recreate the wheel.
00:18:30
Speaker
um But um as far as the services, yeah, so we don't have enough um at all. There is a a great organization called the National Trafficking Sheltered Alliance.
00:18:42
Speaker
NTSA and they kind of have become somewhat of a hub to find out what restoration beds have. I'm sorry, what restoration homes have beds available across the country.
00:18:54
Speaker
And so for a case manager, you know, if I'm dealing with one individual that comes in and trying to find them housing, i might have to call 20 to 30 houses, safe houses across the country. Whereas with NTSA, you can just go to that one place.
00:19:07
Speaker
And then, you know, they'll they'll look across the country. And so because they have partnerships built with all those different organizations. And so um I think that's something new and innovative that that's saved a lot of time, obviously, and ah helped put people in beds and in places that were safe for them.
00:19:26
Speaker
then... but then um you know, there's supportive, like there's more community-based services that, you know, maybe you don't, and maybe you have housing, you have stable housing, but you just need um either case management or help paying for therapy, and um you know, or just like a weekly support group that meets. Like there's a lot of services out there like that. I say a lot.
00:19:48
Speaker
um There are services out there like that. And then, um you know what, I think honestly, we have the, the, biggest crisis of, in my personal opinion, Jeremy, would the, that before the restoration home care, you know, so many people like the restoration homes are kind of more set up to take someone that's not in crisis, right? They're not a stabilizing home. They're, they're a restoration home. And so what we see on that front end is a lot of individuals that, you know, maybe are looking for housing and a way to get out, but they're still using drugs, for instance.
00:20:25
Speaker
So that so there to to help me understand, they're trying to leave, but they cannot go to a restoration home. That's the situation to go to a safe home, right? Right. Yeah. So it take it can take a little while to get into a safe home after the life, you know, and and it's understandable because- Oh, so safe home would be before restoration or after restoration? that Help us understand.
00:20:44
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I think everybody's journey through it is different. and And for some of these reasons that we're kind of addressing is, you know, they maybe they're still on drugs. And so they need a a different venue where they're most likely only, you know, two or three other people, if any other people, it might be individualized living where they're where they're able to kind of land, um begin receiving some of those services and then, you know, kind of stabilize and then they can maybe go on to a safe home.
00:21:13
Speaker
um And so, because safe homes don't take people in crisis. And that's because they have to worry about their seven or eight other individuals. And so if you bring one person in crisis that's potentially still using or something like that, it could disrupt everyone else's healing journey at the safe house.
00:21:30
Speaker
And so I think that's that that immediate crisis housing is probably what we have the least of. There's only one organization that I know of in the whole country that has zero barrier housing. And that's what we call it. We talk about it in the terms of barriers, like,
00:21:45
Speaker
What would prevent you from taking people into your home? And so this place called LIFT, it's L-Y-F-T in Massachusetts. And um I think it it's an acronym that stands for something, but living in freedom together, that's what it is.
00:22:01
Speaker
um And so maybe that's L-I-F-T, sorry. But yeah. they will take individuals right off the street that are potentially still on something and they will allow them to detox in that facility.
00:22:15
Speaker
But they're set up and built for that, right? That was their mission from the beginning. But that's like one safe home or one crisis stabilization housing home that I know of across the country.
Need for Long-Term Support
00:22:26
Speaker
Yeah, so I think that's that to me is a big rub as well as that kind of long-term component of how do we make sure that We are really setting you up for success for life because sometimes leaving that safe home kind of puts you right back in that vacuum of you're lonely again. And sometimes that loneliness is what drives us to go back to unhealthy relationships because it still fills that void, you know, even though it might be ah unhealthy and it might hurt, but, you know, we're designed for connection. And so um how do we how do we see better success rates? And I think that would be, you know, being able to walk alongside people for longer. Would it help?
Call to Action Against Human Trafficking
00:23:07
Speaker
That's part one of this podcast. We'll be launching the next one soon. So make sure you are subscribed. If you want to be more involved in the fight to end human trafficking, please join our abolitionists.
00:23:18
Speaker
Just go to usiaht.org slash abolitionist to subscribe for free and receive tons of training and resources to begin the journey of making America a trafficking free zone.