Foundations of Practice for Survivors of Human Trafficking are not built on a single intervention, service or legal pathway. As Rachel Witkin, Executive Director of the Modern Slavery Community of Practice, explains in her session at the Tackling Modern Slavery Conference 2026, effective survivor care depends on joined-up systems, trauma-informed practice, long-term support and a clear understanding of the realities survivors face.
The session, now available to watch as part of the Tackling Modern Slavery Conference 2026 On Demand, offered a wide-ranging reflection on the development of the modern slavery sector, the pressures currently facing survivors and frontline professionals, and the practical resources that can help services respond more safely and consistently.
Why Survivor Care Must Be Viewed Across the Whole System
Witkin began with the emphasis that support for survivors of trafficking and modern slavery cannot be understood in isolation. Survivors often interact with multiple systems at once, including immigration, housing, healthcare, welfare, criminal justice, safeguarding and specialist advocacy services.
When any one part of that support network is missing, risk increases. A survivor may have access to healthcare but no secure housing, or legal advice but no long-term emotional support. Witkin described this as a deeply arduous situation for survivors, where the absence of one core element can place enormous strain on all the others.
Foundations of Practice for Survivors of Human Trafficking: Core Outcomes That Matter
A central theme of the session was the Modern Slavery Core Outcome Set, an evidence-based study developed through King’s College London and partners. Witkin explained that this work identified the outcomes that survivors and professionals see as essential for recovery, integration and safety.
The Seven Core Outcomes Highlighted
The top outcomes discussed in the session were:
- Safety from traffickers or other abusers
- Secure and suitable housing
- Access to healthcare services
- Long-term, consistent support
- Trauma-informed services
- Access to education
- Finding purpose in life and self-actualisation
Witkin stressed that survivors emphasized that the core outcome, ‘finding purpose in life and self-actualisation’ must not be dictated by professionals. Instead, it should emerge from the survivor’s own indivdual progress, choices and priorities once safety and stability are in place.
How the Modern Slavery Sector Has Developed
Drawing on her frontline experience, Witkin reflected on how the modern slavery sector has changed since the late 1990s and early 2000s. At that time, victims of trafficking were increasingly being identified within asylum and criminal justice systems, but professional understanding was still developing.
She traced key milestones, including the Human Rights Act, the development of the National Referral Mechanism concept by the OSCE, the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings and the Modern Slavery Act 2015. Together, these developments helped shape legal recognition, identification processes and victim-centred approaches.
Witkin also made clear that recovery from trafficking is not linear. The effects of exploitation can continue for years, with health risks, external pressures and system-related challenges making it difficult for survivors to remain engaged in legal or criminal justice processes. Too often, survivors are wrongly treated, in all systems, as people whose credibility must be constantly called into question.
The Importance of Survivor Leadership
One of the most significant developments in the sector, Witkin argued, has been the growth of survivor leadership. Professionals with lived experience now contribute across policy, practice, research and frontline work, including through international structures such as the International Survivors of Trafficking Advisory Council (ISTAC).
This matters because services are stronger when they are informed by those who understand the realities of exploitation, recovery and system navigation. The Modern Slavery Community of Practice itself is led by a board of professionals with lived experience, who inform, curate, design and develop its projects.
Current Pressures on Survivors and Frontline Professionals
The session also addressed the difficult climate in which modern slavery work is currently taking place. Witkin warned against the conflation of trafficking with immigration, explaining that this distances survivors from justice and increases vulnerability, particularly for those with insecure immigration status. It also obscures the experiences, risks and realities of UK nationals who are trafficked.
These external pressures on the Modern Slavery Sector affect not only survivors but also the professionals supporting them. Frontline workers often carry the strain of trying to help people facing homelessness, detention, removal, criminalisation or imprisonment linked to their exploitation. This makes professional resilience, supervision and trauma-informed working essential.
Using the National Referral Mechanism as a Practical Framework
Witkin highlighted the online OSCE/ODIHR National Referral Mechanism handbook [2022=2nd edition] as a key resource for busy professionals. She explained that it provides ‘walk through guidance’ on the 4 NRM four pillars that should be available to every child and adult, regardless of nationality, background or culture.
The Four NRM Pillars
- Identification plus protection: identification and protection should always go together.
- Individual support and access to services: survivors need practical routes into the support they require.
- Social inclusion: recovery involves connection, participation and belonging.
- Access to criminal justice and redress: survivors should be supported to pursue justice safely.
Witkin said that from a wider perspective of considering NRMs internationally, the UK’s NRM has significant strengths that should be recognized and maintained, as well as weaknesses that undermine its operation. Her message was not to overlook the NRM framework, but to understand and use it carefully as a tool for better survivor support.
Why Trauma-Informed Practice Must Be Simple and Consistent
A major part of the session focused on trauma-informed practice. Witkin discussed the ‘Trauma-Informed Code of Conduct for All Professionals Working with Survivors of Human Trafficking and Slavery’ that she developed with clinical psychologist Dr Katie Robjant. This is designed to help professionals build trust, reduce distress and avoid re-traumatisation.
Crucially, she argued that trauma-informed working should be designed for the safety and well-being of frontline professionals, as well as the survivors they are working with. Survivors should not have to rely on exceptional individual workers who exercise compassion, emotional energy and effortful practice. Instead, all frontline workers, in every profession, need clear, task-based, safety-centred methods they can apply consistently in any setting, whether in an office, on the street, during a raid, or in remote contact by phone or video.
Practical Trauma-Informed Principles
The session highlighted practical techniques such as ‘creating the illusion of time, returning attention to the here and now when distress arises, maintaining consistency of communication in all forms, and being aware of who accompanies a survivor. Witkin also emphasised the importance of having a basic understanding complex health needs, including physical injuries, PTSD, complex PTSD, anxiety and depression, while recognising that these concerns may not be immediately visible.
Supporting Children and Young Adults
Witkin closed by drawing attention to work focused on outcomes for children and young people who have experienced trafficking. She particularly noted the importance of young adults aged 18 to 25, who can face ‘a cliff edge’ heightened trafficking risk while also losing access to forms of support available in childhood.
This transition period requires specific attention from practitioners. Support should not simply fall away at 18, particularly when risk, trauma and instability may still be very present.
Strengthening the Foundations of Practice for Survivors of Human Trafficking
Rachel Witkin’s session reminds us that the Foundations of Practice for Survivors of Human Trafficking must be grounded in safety, dignity, consistency and long-term thinking. Survivors need more than identification; they need protection, housing, healthcare, support, inclusion, justice and the freedom to define their own future.
For frontline professionals, the call to action is practical: use established frameworks, listen to survivor leadership, avoid narrowing the issue to immigration, and embed trauma-informed methods across everyday practice. To explore the session in full, you can access the Tackling Modern Slavery Conference 2026 On Demand.