A new layer of support has been added to a Cleveland-based center designed specifically for human trafficking survivors.
“We’ll have a nurse and a physician on a regular basis basis ad well as a harm reductionist, someone that can talk to you just about sexual safety or substance use safety,” said Chief Program Officer for Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, Jessica Martin.
“We don’t judge here, we just want to help folks.”
The medical suite will be available inside the Human Trafficking Drop-In Center at Superior Avenue and East 105th Street in Cleveland.
“With the stigma that we face every day, especially survivors of human trafficking, with the danger that they face as well, we wanted there to be a safe space for them to stop, pause, have some trauma informed people around them so that they can think about what their next steps are.”
Younneyjay Jarboe, 33, is a survivor. At the age of 28, someone she said was a trusted friend influenced her to leave Cleveland temporarily.
“I was looking for a better opportunity for me and my children,” she said.
Promised better pay working in the insurance industry in Arizona, Jarboe was hopeful.
“I’ve always been like spontaneous, you know, I’m willing to get up, leave, so when I did it at first I really felt like I was really going to get this job, but then when I got there it was like, how do I get out of here, how do I get myself out of this situation.”
She was trafficked.
“I was sexually abused for the majority of my life, so it wasn’t the sex that scared me, it was the mental abuse, it was the mind games.”
Jarboe is empowered to share her story to help others.
“There’s not a specific John, there’s not a specific victim, all the signs that people see of human trafficking that’s not how we look,” she said. “We look like you. I don’t look like a victim. a lot of times when I’m walking down the street, people will never recognize that I’ve ever been through anything like that.”
The center provides hope for people like Jarboe.
The clinic is open every Thursday from 10 a.m. -2 p.m. The drop-in center is open from 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. Monday-Friday.
A 24/7 hotline is available for talk or text 216-619-6192.
“I want a lot a lot of people to be aware of human trafficking,” said Jarboe. “We have no excuse to continuously be silent about it.”
RELATED: These teens raised $20,000 for human trafficking victims, and they did it in dresses
