3 Things We Learned at Thistle Farms

Recently, Board Member Mary Covington and I travelled to Nashville to attend the Thistle Farms National Conference. Thistle Farms is an extraordinary organization that provides two years of free housing and employment for female survivors of human trafficking, prostitution, and substance abuse disorder.

Founded 25 years ago by Episcopal priest Becca Stevens, herself a victim of child abuse, the nonprofit’s primary purpose was to provide a sanctuary for trafficked women. When she realized that long-term success was not possible without employment opportunities, Becca began the first of several social enterprises, which she calls “justice enterprises.” These are businesses created by a nonprofit to provide employment for their clients, with the proceeds going back into the nonprofit.

As we have certainly found at Justice Forward, employment opportunities for clients in Specialty Courts are hard to find, often due to their criminal records. (This is exactly why we started the Clear Path Forward program.) Looking to the future though, we wanted to learn more about these justice enterprises and see if they might be a feasible opportunity for us some day. At the conference we were provided with a blueprint on how to start a social enterprise, but we came away with so much more.

What did we learn?

1.    We are on the right track in providing trauma counseling to our clients. This conference was very much focused on the survivors and how to best help them heal. We learned that once a girl is abused, she has a target on her back for the rest of her life. A target that is apparent to predators. That target remains in place unless the girl gets serious therapy and support. At Justice Forward, we provide that to juvenile girls who have been trafficked as well as to our adult female clients.

2.    Healing takes place in a community. One of our biggest concerns for the Specialty Court graduates is that they may not have found a community of people who are trying to live life the way they do. This is precisely why we started the Party Sober Partnership: to provide fun social activities for people in recovery to meet each other and form friendships and connections. (https://www.partysober.org/)

3.    “Leading with Love” or being a “Love Leader” was the theme of Founder Becca Steven’s talk, and it resonated with me. She spoke of meeting clients where they are and treating them with compassion and respect. Leading with love means truly providing a clean slate, a second chance for these folks as they try to regain a healthy and happy way of life. It means ensuring that if a client is willing to share their story publicly, that it is a cathartic and helpful experience and not an exploitative one. And it means that we must always fight the stigma that remains around mental illness and substance abuse disorder. What would the world of criminal justice and re-entry look like if there was less guilt and shame and more compassion and love? Compassion, understanding, and love must be at the forefront when assisting these heroic people seeking redemption and forgiveness.