A Place to Heal
Safe Harbor Ohio will serve as a sanctuary for child survivors of sex trafficking.
When we discuss safe harbor with clients, we’re usually talking about a provision in an agreement that gives one party a reprieve from liability when certain events occur. For this article, the term “safe harbor” will be life-changing in the Holmes County area. On 30 acres of farmland, Safe Harbor Ohio will soon open its doors as a welcoming, therapeutic, faith-based place for teenage girls getting out of a nightmare situation—sex trafficking.
Hummel recently had the opportunity to speak with Melissa Brown, CEO and founder of Safe Harbor Ohio. She and the Safe Harbor Ohio team are diligently working on getting their long-term residential facility ready to help child survivors regain their mental and physical health and get back on their feet.
Getting Their Lives Back
In a whirlwind of hope, God’s will, and generosity from an incredible number of individuals, businesses, and volunteers, Safe Harbor plans to open in June on donated land and will be able to welcome up to 12 girls at that time in a safe and healing environment. Featuring six buildings, including a chapel, the sprawling campus will eventually be able to provide up to 25 survivors with their own bedroom and bathroom, access to education from Quaker Digital Academy, and onsite medical care provided by SpringVale Health Centers. The management of behavioral medications, gynecological and physical health service will be provided as needed, along with eye and dental care.
Girls will be referred to Safe Harbor Ohio from an array of agencies, including but not limited to social services, police, foster care services, the FBI, and Homeland Security. “They will have gone through horrible trauma, which may have occurred over several years, in an underground trade that is unfortunately all too common and happening in ‘plain sight’ in many communities,” says Brown. Safe Harbor will accept girls from all over Ohio and neighboring states. By stepping in at this critical moment in the survivors’ lives, Safe Harbor Ohio will make a long-lasting impact—far beyond the individuals seeking help—to break the chains of generational trauma that tend to stay with survivors of traumatic experiences. “It’s God’s project. We’re going to open our doors and be able to create a facility that changes everything for these kids,” Brown says. “It’s not just the kids we physically meet—it’s the kids that we’ll never meet because, one day, they’re going to grow up and their mom* will be able to tell them that God is good.”
The residents of Safe Harbor Ohio will receive ongoing counseling, including weekly meetings, and when appropriate, family members or, depending on their situation, trusted individuals can join virtually as part of their healing process. They can stay at Safe Harbor for up to 12 months. Legislative reasons dictate the length of time a survivor can stay, and Brown is advocating for more flexibility in this regard. “Everyone heals a little different,” she says.
The Prevalence of a Big Problem
Brown first learned about the extent of human trafficking more than 10 years ago during a leadership conference in Atlanta when a speaker put on a disturbing display of thousands of white umbrellas on various chairs throughout the arena. Each umbrella, the speaker said, represented someone who “would be sold as a commodity in Atlanta today.” She later learned that Ohio ranks fifth in reported cases of sex trafficking. In the criminal industry, drugs rank first, followed by sex trafficking, and with guns ranking third. It has been said that sex trafficking will soon surpass drugs, as you can sell a human over and over again.
All of this knowledge emboldened Brown’s to volunteer and help survivors. This work has included mentoring a 15-year-old and a 16-year-old survivor and building on her experience as the senior executive director of New Pointe Community Church in Dover to determine how she could make an even bigger impact. One of the most disconcerting statistics she discovered is that there are only 1,000 beds available for both adult and child survivors of human trafficking in the United States. Safe Harbor will increase that number.
It was in 2020 that Brown felt led to create the Safe Harbor ministry to give trafficking survivors a safe and healing environment paired with professional therapeutic services to bring about lasting recovery. Soon after, in December 2021, Safe Harbor Ohio was created. Brown is adamant about how much God has directed the entire process, bringing the right people, companies, and opportunities together to get this ministry up and running so quickly.
“It’s not about me,” Brown says. “It’s not about the people who have come to the table to help us. It’s about the girls who are trapped right now who wonder where God is.”
By the time they to get to Safe Harbor, these girls will have gone through unimaginable tough times, and many of them will be addicted to drugs, according to Brown. Drugs are frequently used by traffickers to control their victims. For those survivors, the organization will help with the healing process after they have detoxed.
“They are regular kids who get caught up talking with the wrong person,” Brown says. In fact, she adds, the methods for trapping children into trafficking often include perpetrators pretending to be someone they are not. They hide behind fake profiles on social media platforms and interactive online video games, also claiming to be teenagers. Next, they tap into their targets’ interests, preying on their insecurities, and then form a relationship over time. They are persistent in their communications until the person starts trusting them more than the people they physically interact with. It’s then, once this relationship is established (and often strengthened by a dependence on drugs the perpetrator is supplying), that the victim is forced into sex work.
Finding Sanctuary at Safe Harbor Ohio
For those who manage to break out of this horrific cycle, either through their own choice or intervention by the authorities, survivors can find peace during their time at Safe Harbor. When people ask Brown how she found the location in Holmes County, she tells them, “It was handpicked by God. Because when you stand on the property, it’s a place where you can just breathe. You can hear the birds, you can hear just the quietness of God’s presence, and it’s the perfect place for a child to restart their life.” Indeed, what started as a Holmes County farmer asking God what to do with the land he wanted to sell, has quickly materialized into the literally life-changing ministry of Safe Harbor Ohio.
How You Can Help Safe Harbor
Since August 2022, when Safe Harbor Ohio was incorporated, the faith-based, therapeutic community for girls ages 14–18 recovering from sex trafficking has received an enormous outpouring of support, donations, and labor to get its facilities up and running, including help from Eight Days of Hope volunteers. “God sees them right now, and He’s working in a way that feels like turbo speed to everybody else in the business world,” says CEO and Founder Melissa Brown.
Safe Harbor Ohio will continue needing volunteers and donations to manage the campus and the girls’ ongoing care. Go to www.safeharborohio.org to see how you can help and make a tax-deductible donation.
