Human trafficking occurs when individuals are controlled through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of labor or sexual exploitation. This serious violation of human rights has devastating effects on mental health, often resulting in conditions such as depression, anxiety, and complex trauma.
In a recent article published by the American Psychological Association, Abigail Judge, PhD, a clinical psychologist at Mass General and founder of MGH Connect, a program that takes a victim-centered approach to helping survivors of human trafficking is interviewed. Psychologists play a crucial role in addressing the impact of human trafficking by providing trauma-informed care, training professionals, and supporting survivors in their long-term recovery. Understanding complex trauma is essential, particularly for vulnerable individuals with a history of adverse childhood experiences, who face a higher risk of being trafficked.
Psychologists are integrating trauma-informed approaches to support survivors of human trafficking, both through individualized care and by influencing broader institutional responses.
Adopting a systemic approach, Dr. Judge extends her services beyond the traditional therapy setting to help individuals escape commercial sexual exploitation. As a clinical psychologist and co-director of the Boston Human Exploitation Advocacy Team (HEAT), she leads a community-based program supporting women with opioid use disorder who are actively experiencing sex trafficking. Judge emphasizes that conventional psychological models often fall short for this population, as they are in a constant state of survival and rarely seek help through traditional avenues.
Boston HEAT (Human Exploitation and Sex Trafficking) is a collaboration between Dr. Abigail Judge and Sandra Andrade of MGH and the Boston Police Department’s Human Trafficking Unit (HTU) dedicated to women at the intersection of substance use and the commercial sex trade. Boston HEAT mobilizes clinical and peer support for women who are trapped in cycles of commercial sexual exploitation and addiction through a continuum of low threshold settings: tailored street and jail outreach, HTU ride-along’s, and a nighttime drop-in center in Boston’s “Mass and Cass” neighborhood. Collaboration with law enforcement helps reimagine police contact as an opportunity for services rather than arrest. Boston HEAT is supported by the Imago Dei Fund.
Dr. Judge is the founder of MGH Connect, a program that takes a victim-centered approach to helping women experiencing exploitation in the commercial sex trade. This project has been an ongoing partnership with the City of Boston and has been extraordinarily helpful to the women of Mass and Cass. While the police focus on identifying the traffickers, Judge’s team focuses on developing connections, one woman at a time, by offering support and addressing basic needs. According to Judge, “Victim-centered means you have to begin where that person is, help them take another step but it has to be driven by them and that’s why we meet women on the street.”
This video from NBC News Boston takes a look at Abigail Judge in the field:
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Judge AM, Andrade S, Sullivan M. (2023). Boston HEAT: Psychology, peer, law enforcement collaboration to engage women at the intersection of sex trafficking and substance use. Invited presentation, Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association. San Francisco, CA.
Judge AM. Uncharted Waters: Developing Mental Health Services for Survivors of Domestic Human Sex Trafficking. Harv Rev Psychiatry. 2018 Sep/Oct; 26(5):287-297.
