“I was lucky because I had lived another world before it happened. I knew there was something else and I knew that there was better.”
Pugh-Roberts wanted to make the most of her second chance. She says “sheer stubbornness” and the knowledge that she could make the most of life kept her moving forward in her recovery.
“I was lucky because I had lived another world before it happened,” she says. “I knew there was something else and I knew that there was better. I was lucky from that perspective.”
Pugh-Roberts says it took her a number of years before she fully recognized that she was a victim of sex trafficking.
Goldsmith says that there are a lot of women and girls who think that they are in agreement with what's going on. In her experience, there’s only a small number of women who are in a position where prostitution is safe and consensual, and these are often the voices being heard.
“In my opinion, they're leaving their sisters behind. The ones who don't have a choice, the ones who are out on Hamilton road turning a trick for 10 bucks just so that they can get their next hit of whatever,” says Goldsmith. “Or the women and girls who are really being trafficked and don't have a choice in this.”
Three years after her escape, Pugh-Roberts put together a five-year plan to begin working with other victims.
“I knew I needed to have the education so I could have the words. I had the experience and the reality, but I didn’t have the learned words,” she says. “Just put one foot in front of the other and make it happen.”
She finished her grade 12 education before completing six years at Fanshawe College. After eight years of volunteering at six organizations, Pugh-Roberts was hired by the Salvation Army in 2018 as a peer support worker.
Today, she’s an advocate in the London community against human trafficking, running multiple support programs, speaking at conferences, and providing on-the-ground support to sex trafficking victims.
“It’s important that I talk so people can grasp how easy it is to happen to somebody.”
Pugh-Roberts’ current caseload contains 180 women. She says over 600 women in London self-identify as victims of sex trafficking.
“It’s huge, huge, huge here in London.”
Pugh-Roberts says the city is both a source of women and destination for women. It’s a common misconception that most trafficking victims are international as most of the London-area victims are domestic, says Pugh-Roberts.
Pugh-Roberts works with two programs in the community, The Phoenix Program and Cornerstone Dignity. The programs are geared toward women who are or have been at risk of being trafficked and those who self-identify as sex workers.
“Our goal is to build transformational relationships and broaden their horizons,” she says.
Beyond traditional counselling and assistance with resources, the programs use therapy dogs, trauma-informed yoga, and trips to local farms.
“We’re showing them that there is more to life and there is more after.”
Every day, Pugh-Roberts is inspired by the strength of the women she works with.
For many women, sex trafficking is intergenerational. Pugh-Robert says, “Their mom was prostituted, her mother was, their sisters are. They know nothing else.”
Pugh-Roberts assists women aged 18 to 60, but she says some sex trafficking victims in London are as young as 12. She also works with men who have been sex trafficked.
According to Goldsmith, there isn’t an average demographic when it comes to human trafficking. “The truth is that every woman is at risk of being trafficked just by the very fact that we're women,” she says. “I will say though that 50 per cent of the women who are trafficked are Indigenous women and girls.”
“We’re showing them that there is more to life and there is more after.”
Those in need can access the Salvation Army on a drop-in basis, however sometimes Pugh-Roberts takes a more hands-on approach, actively walking the streets of London to search for victims of sex trafficking.
This initiative is part of a physical outreach program Pugh-Roberts runs with two other women where she offers on-the-ground resources to potential sex trafficking victims.
“I get people coming to me, people I don’t even know, saying there’s a girl working on Dundas,” she says. “I will go there and walk until I find her.”
She says building trust and rapport with the women in the community is essential to her outreach. Pugh-Roberts carries Tim Horton’s gift cards, emergency kits, sweaters, shampoo and toothpaste, and provides education about the resources available at the Salvation Army.
“A lot of the girls that are working will admit it to another woman,” she says. “The conversation goes from there.”
Goldsmith says it’s important for women to relate when they are in these situations or are being approached by social service workers. “The stuff that I know I've learned a lot from listening to women and a lot from reading, but I haven't lived that experience,” she says. “It just feels more comfortable sometimes to work with someone that can relate and who's been there.
Pugh-Roberts explains her outreach program.
Community outreach is just one of the many ways Pugh-Roberts is helping victims in London. In addition to running the drug addiction drop-in group, she also facilitates the “John School,” in conjunction with the Middlesex-London Health Unit and the London Police Service. It’s a day-program for men who have been charged with illegally purchasing sex, designed to teach them the ramifications of their actions.
A large part of her job is also coordinating resources with other social service agencies. Pugh-Roberts works with law enforcement, local hospitals, psychiatrists, trauma specialists, social workers and London Housing in what she calls a “wraparound holistic program”. She says the challenges faced by human trafficking victims who are ready to escape or have escaped are often complex.
“You’ve got to support them on so many fronts,” she says.
“There’s physical, psychological, spiritual, emotional issues that are profound, that have to be supported and helped with. And some of them, you can’t fix. So she needs to be helped for the rest of her life.”
At both the Salvation Army and the London Abused Women’s Centre, executing a coordinated care plan to address all of a victim’s needs is essential.
“No one person can know everything and be an expert in everything,” she says. “You have to get help everywhere. That’s how we do it.”
At the London Abused Women’s Centre, Goldsmith says a lot of the work that they do is around things like housing and basic needs. “They don't have credit, they don't have a job history. Like what are they going to do? Work in McDonald's with a bunch of people that have no clue what they've gone through?” says Goldsmith.
In many sex trafficking cases, drug addiction is an additional factor. Pugh-Roberts says most women will also suffer from various physical and mental health issues.
“There’s a host of mental health issues,” she says. “Prostituted women have more severe and higher rates of PTSD.” She says victims of sex trafficking are also at a higher risk for contracting HIV, AIDS, hepatitis and other sexually transmitted diseases.
Beyond addressing the immediate safety and pressing health concerns of the women she works with, Pugh-Roberts also aims to address the systemic barriers that can impede long-term recovery.
Allowing women who have escaped from sex trafficking to be properly reintegrated into the community is a major goal of Pugh-Roberts. To achieve this, the Salvation Army has partnered with groups like GoodWill to provide victims with retail experience so they can obtain employment in the future. They also work with Pathways Skill Development and Placement Centre to teach business administration skills. These partnerships are designed to foster practical skills and lead to meaningful employment.
Pugh-Roberts says one of the hardest parts of her job is seeing the women she works with come and go from her programs.
“What happens is they'll disappear for a while,” she says. Some women who begin the process of leaving will often return to their trafficker for financial or emotional reasons.
But that fact isn’t something that discourages Pugh-Roberts’ dedication to her cause. “My phone is 24/7,” she says.
And yet she still finds a way to balance the passion she has for her work with her own mental health.
“Until that phone rings, I am able to go home and forget about everything. I can do it. I have Netflix, my cat. I can switch right off,” she says. “I've done everything I can in a day.”
Pugh-Roberts explains how she remains positive and copes with the stories she’s told.
It’s this daily advocacy that can make a difference in the lives of other women who have been impacted by human trafficking, according to Goldsmith.
One of those women was Ashley White. While searching for support services, she saw Pugh-Roberts speak at the Wolf Theatre.
“It just inspired me,” says White of Pugh-Roberts speaking out. “She made me comfortable to want to meet her and see what it’s like to have a life after you figure it out.”
For White, navigating her future with the reflection of her past is still a struggle.
She was only 13 when she was trafficked in London.
“It inspired me and made me comfortable to want to meet her and see what it’s like to have a life after you figure it out.”