Hidden in Plain Sight: The Impact of IPV/HT - Identifying and Responding to IPV/HT Series

The session, Hidden in Plain Sight: The Impact of Human Trafficking, provides an overview of human trafficking and its implications for healthcare professionals. Presenters explain how trafficking can involve commercial sex or labor through force, fraud, or coercion and emphasize that it does not always involve kidnapping, physical confinement, or crossing state lines. The session highlights how traffickers may use false promises of employment, housing, wages, or a better life, while coercion can create lasting psychological and physical trauma. A survivor perspective illustrates how trauma and trauma bonding can continue to affect individuals even after leaving a trafficking situation. The presenters also emphasize that there is no single profile of a trafficking victim or trafficker, making continued education and awareness essential for healthcare providers who may encounter trafficking survivors in their work.