The National Association of Catholic Chaplains

Menu
  • Membership
      • Apply for Membership
      • Frequently-Asked Questions about Membership
      • Request Retired Membership
      • State Liaisons
      • Newest Members
      • Membership Directory
      • Member map
      • Celebrating Our Members’ 25-year Membership and Certification
      • In Memoriam: deceased NACC members
    • Close
  • Certification
    • Initial Certification
      • Board Certified Chaplain (BCC)
      • Certified Associate Chaplain
      • Palliative Care and Hospice Advanced Certification (PCHAC)
      • VA Initial Board Certification
      • Recognition of Strategic Partners Certification
      • Newly Certified Chaplains
      • Close
    • Renewal of Certification
    • Certification Competencies & Procedures
      • Certification Competencies & Procedures
      • Important Background on NACC Certification Competencies
      • Professional Code of Ethics for Spiritual Care Professionals
      • Certification Commission
      • Certification Appeals Panel
      • Ethics Appeals Panel
      • Close
    • Mentors
    • Recognition of Strategic Partners Certification
    • Verifying Certification
    • Maintaining Certification in Retirement
    • Graduate Theological Programs
    • Close
  • Education Resources
      • 2023 Retreat
      • 2023 Webinar Series
      • Recorded webinars (2009-2022)
      • Calendar of Events
      • Graduate Theological Programs
      • CPE Programs
      • NACC Professional Networking Calls
      • Continuing Education Hour Requests – Guidelines and Forms
      • Ongoing Educational Opportunities
      • Local/Regional Gatherings & Events
      • Past Conferences (2004 – 2022)
      • Vision
    • Close
  • Resources
    • Antiracism Resources
    • Administrator Resources
    • Awareness Resources
    • Chaplaincy Care Resources
    • Coronavirus Resources & Updates
    • Job Listings
    • The Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling
    • Partners in Pastoral Care
    • Research
    • Specialty Care Resources
    • Spirituality and Prayer Resources
    • Spiritual Care Department Resources
    • Vision
    • Close
  • About NACC
    • About the NACC
      • Mission/Vision/Values
      • Constitution and ByLaws
      • Strategic Plan
      • History
      • Close
    • Annual Awards
    • Association Leadership
      • NACC Board of Directors
      • Committees, Commissions, and Panels
      • National Office Staff
      • Episcopal Advisory Council
      • Close
    • Catholic Prison Ministries Coalition (CPMC)
    • Choose Chaplaincy
    • Health Care Collaborators
    • NACC Merchandise
    • NACC Publications and Documents
      • Vision
      • NACC Now
      • Annual Reports & Financial Reviews
      • Documents and publications
      • NACC Blog
      • Close
    • Partners in Pastoral Care
    • Partners for Professional Excellence in Spiritual Care
    • Vision
    • Close
  • Choose Chaplaincy
  • Contact Us
      • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

    • Close
  • Donate Now
  • Member Login
Home » Vision » March-April 2019 » The many faces of trafficking: A survivor’s story

The many faces of trafficking: A survivor’s story

By David Lewellen
Vision editor

After Emmy Myers got out of being trafficked, her mother asked her to come to a meeting about trafficking. “What does a victim look like?” the facilitator, an FBI agent, asked the audience. Emmy could tell that people weren’t thinking of someone like her – white, middle-class, and lured in gradually.

From that evening came her current work as the founder and leader of Lacey’s Hope Project, a Wisconsin foundation dedicated to education and raising awareness of trafficking. She has spoken to thousands of people, including law enforcement officers, and her group has put up billboards around Milwaukee and produced radio and television PSAs.

Emmy’s story began when she was a legal adult. At 18, she moved out of her parents’ house to another state with her boyfriend. He trafficked her, but she didn’t realize at the time that she was being exploited. It happened to her again through a later relationship, and that stint lasted longer before a compassionate female FBI agent helped her get out.

Several times during those years, Emmy received healthcare. Once, she went to the emergency room after she was branded on the back of her upper thigh. “I told them I backed into a hot pipe when I was remodeling,” she said. “And nothing about that story made sense. They could have asked questions.”

Later, her abuser was hospitalized, and she went with him, “but no one asked, ‘what’s this 50-something man doing with this 20-something girl?’ ”

“What happens after the first night? What’s the long-term game plan? Before offering someone a way out, please make sure you have resources in place.”
Emmy Myers, trafficking survivor

And even if there’s no suspicious-looking older man in sight, a patient might still be a trafficking victim. Sometimes, Emmy said, a healthy woman who is also under the trafficker’s control will accompany a patient to the healthcare facility, to make sure that the victim does not say anything “out of pocket,” or contrary to the trafficker’s wishes.

What would have made a difference, for Emmy or for others? “It takes time,” she said. “You need conversations; you need relationships.” In having those conversations, healthcare workers should try to help a victim realize that he or she is, in fact, being victimized, but “basic needs come first. Maybe start with, ‘Are you hungry? Are you cold? Do you need a sweater?’” But if a healthcare professional is offering shelter, “what happens after the first night? What’s the long-term game plan?”

Very importantly, she said, “Before offering someone a way out, please make sure you have resources in place.” Beyond simply a bed for the night, it will take a full plan of medical and psychological care and support, over a period of months or years. “If you can’t provide that, you’ll lose your opportunity, and the next time the person has an opportunity, she may not take it because that trust has been broken.”

If other victims, like her, don’t realize that they are being victimized, what can a chaplain or a nurse say? “That’s a very good question.” Personally, she wouldn’t have read literature in the waiting room. “It took multiple people letting me know,” she said, and “offering to meet my basic needs. My trafficker had everything – my clothes, my ID, cigarettes.”

Another positive way that Emmy can help survivors now is through her job; she is an administrator at an assisted living facility, and she can offer both job training and a living wage. She has been out for five years now, but “my stuff is still ongoing. It’s getting better. But many people end up going back.”


About Vision
Archive of back issues
Current issue
Current issue (printable PDF) (UPDATED with a new article, April 11, 2019)


Human Trafficking: What can chaplains do?

Trafficking is wide-ranging, but resources are available – by David Lichter,
Executive Director

The many faces of trafficking: A survivor’s story – by David Lewellen, Vision editor

Printed protocols help staff screen for trafficking victims – by Jodi Pahl

ICD-10 codes will raise awareness, gather data on trafficking – by Laura Krausa

Human trafficking has become a healthcare issue – by Kelly Herron

Caring for the caregivers on the front lines of trafficking – by Kimberly Williams and Hilary Chala

Medical advocate role helps trafficking survivors – by David Lewellen, Vision editor

Research Update

Human trafficking: Implications for Chaplains – by Sr. Nkechi Lilian Iwuoha, PHJC

National Association of Catholic Chaplains
4915 S. Howell Avenue, Suite 501
Milwaukee, WI 53207
Get Directions

Phone: (414) 483-4898
Fax: (414) 483-6712
Email: info@nacc.org

Our office hours
Mon-Thur 8:00am – 5:00pm Central Time
Friday 8:00am – 12 Noon
Sat-Sun closed

Job Listings

Current job opportunities for chaplains, priests, CPE residents, supervisors, directors of pastoral care, managers, mission directors, and more.

Job Listings

Free Publications

Don’t miss the latest news, subscribe to our newsletter today! You don’t have to be a member to subscribe.

Donate Now

Learn more about making a tax-deductible donation to NACC.

Donate Now

Connect with us

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
© 1997 - 2023 National Association of Catholic Chaplains - Sitemap

Built by Westwords