Strength in Shared Experience: ACT Alberta’s New Peer Support Program

There is incredible strength and power in shared experience. That’s the heart of peer support. 

Unlike clinical or crisis services, peer support offers understanding through shared experience, reminding survivors that they are not alone. Yet in Alberta, there is a significant gap in services, with very few peer support offerings available to survivors of human trafficking.  

To meet this need, ACT Alberta has launched a new Peer Support Program. 

Rooted in connection, trust, and resilience, the Peer Support Program is designed to empower survivors as they move forward on their path to healing.  
 
We sat down with Kathleen, ACT’s Survivor Inclusion Specialist, whose own experience as a survivor informs her work, to learn more about what peer support really means—and why it can make all the difference in a survivor’s healing journey. 

What is peer support? 

Peer support is a supportive relationship between individuals who share similar lived experiences. For survivors of human trafficking, peer support provides a safe, non-judgmental space where they can connect with others who understand their journey. It is based on mutual respect, shared understanding, and empowerment.  

Peer support at ACT can take two main forms:  

• One-on-one peer support: A survivor works individually with a peer supporter, allowing for personalized connection and trust-building.  

• Group peer support: Survivors come together in a facilitated space to share experiences, learn from one another, and foster community.  

While both peer support and therapy or counselling provide essential support, they approach healing in different ways. Therapy and counselling are clinical and professional, led by licensed mental health providers such as therapists, psychologists, or social workers. The focus is often on diagnosis and treatment, with sessions structured around assessing mental health conditions and developing treatment plans or goals. 

 “Peer support is very different from counseling and therapy. When you’ve lived through these experiences, I feel it's important to have both” says Kathleen.  
 

How our peer support groups work 

Before a survivor begins peer support, they will first connect with our Victim Response Team and go through an assessment. Meeting the basic needs of survivors is the top priority, ensuring they are safe and well supported.

“Once their basic needs are met, and if they choose to, they can move over to peer support. The first session is always one-on-one with me,” says Kathleen. “We want to make sure that they're in a place where they can be in this group without retraumatizing or triggering. So if they're not quite there, I will do weekly one-on-one sessions with them until they're in a place where they can join the group.”

Each peer support group session has a guiding topic, though the conversation is allowed to flow freely. “Whether or not we talk about that topic, sometimes we do and sometimes we don't. I let the group lead our conversation.”

All meetings begin with some check-ins: How are you feeling? How has your week been? Is there something on your heart you need to share? From there, sessions may include practice with different coping tools, such as breathing exercises and sensory techniques, and guidance on how to manage re-traumatization and triggering.

“We’ve also discussed that when a person is trafficked, it is very easy for them to be re-trafficked,” Kathleen says. “So, we go over the red flags and green flags to look for in relationships and workplaces, while reminding participants of reporting services, available resources, their rights, and the laws.”

Self-care strategies are often explored as well, with a focus on helping participants notice where stress and triggers show up in daily life and how to work through them.  

“I really try to get them to sit with themselves and how they feel. Where is that stress coming in? What kind of things are triggering them? How do we work through those triggers? You’ve got to find the meaning in those experiences. Once you do, a trigger transforms from something painful into a memory—and now it’s just a memory. We’ll never forget what happened to us, but we can use it to empower ourselves. Most of our traffickers told us things like we would never amount to anything, we would never go anywhere. And we are prime examples that this is not true.” 

At the heart of these peer support groups is a strong emphasis on safety, confidentiality, and empowerment. Every session is designed to create a space where participants feel safe to share their experiences without judgment or fear of exposure.  

Why Peer Support Matters for Survivors of Trafficking 

No two survivors’ journeys are the same, and the path to healing looks very different for everyone. Services that are specifically designed to support survivors of human trafficking remain limited and are often hard to access. Many survivors face barriers to finding safe, understanding spaces to process their experiences, leaving many feeling isolated and unsure where to turn. Peer support offers a safe space to connect with others who truly understand, providing survivors with connection, guidance, and a sense of community. 

“Shame comes with being a victim of human trafficking. Nine times out of ten, we do things we are not proud of in order to survive,” says Kathleen. “Having a place where we can share these things and have others who have lived it to remind us that this was not our fault is powerful. Yes, we did these things, but we had to do them out of survival. It's like finding meaning in your experiences so that you can move forward with your journey.” 

Benefits of peer support for survivors include: 

• Reduced isolation: Connecting with others who “get it” is deeply validating. 

• Emotional safety: Survivors can share without fear of judgment or misunderstanding. 

• Empowerment: Hearing others’ success and resilience helps build one’s own. 

• Practical tools: Survivors exchange knowledge, strategies, and lived wisdom that is often different from what professionals provide. 

• Hope: Seeing others further along in their healing journey can offer a vision for what’s possible. 

Research shows that peer support increases resilience, improves emotional well-being, and helps individuals stay connected to services and community. Many participants describe it as the first space where they felt genuinely understood. 

“Being a victim or survivor of human trafficking is an experience different from anything else. This is why I went into social work,” Kathleen explains. “After I left my trafficker, the young woman who he exploited after me reached out and said, ‘I need to talk to you because you are the only person who understands what I am going through.’ 

And right then and there, I thought, ‘I am able to use my experience to empower others.’” 

Moving forward: a path built on connection 

ACT Alberta’s Peer Support Program fills a critical gap in survivor-centred care across the province. By creating safe, empowering spaces where survivors can connect through shared experience, the program helps foster healing, confidence, and community. 

Every survivor’s journey is unique, but no survivor should have to walk it alone. 

If you or someone you know has been impacted by human trafficking and may benefit from peer support, ACT Alberta is here to help. 

To learn more about the Peer Support Program or to get connected with support, please email survivorinclusion@actalberta.org or visit www.actalberta.org/peer-support.