Dedicated to Serving Survivors

Healing Action provides direct services to adult survivors of sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation in the Saint Louis region. 

Healing Action was founded to fill in gaps in care that Founding Executive Director, Katie Rhoades, experienced as she was exiting the life of commercial sexual exploitation and addiction. Click here to hear her story and passion.

With a focus on trauma-informed, survivor-centered care, Healing Action strives to fulfill our vision of a community free from exploitation.

What is Commercial Sexual Exploitation?

Commercial Sexual Exploitation (CSE) is the sexual abuse of individuals through the exchange of sex or sexual acts for drugs, food, shelter, protection, other basic needs of life, and money. This includes sex trafficking, prostitution, stripping, escorting, pornography and sexually explicit websites, and survival sex.

Missouri ranks 15th in the country for human trafficking hotline calls. Education, awareness, and support for survivors are crucial to addressing this issue. 

Our Services: How We Help

Intensive Clinical Case Management

Service Management is available to help ensure that basic needs are met and to set survivors up for success. Service Managers typically deliver services one-on-one with survivors to assist with meeting basic needs, accessing substance use treatment, meeting legal and medical needs, and providing support and transportation for appointments in the community.

Peer Support

Peer Support is the giving and receiving of support between people with a common experience. Healing Action’s Peer Specialist connects with survivors through lived experience and offers hope for the future.

Services are centered around recovery, rebuilding, and relationships. Supportive groups and one-on-one coaching sessions are led by a Missouri Certified Peer Specialist that focuses on specific topics during each session. The Peer Specialist assists with survivor-directed goal setting and monitoring.

Trauma Therapy

Therapy at Healing Action is provided to support survivors through a process of growth and healing. Therapy is a long-term support and treatment option offered to help survivors understand and process their trauma. 

Trauma therapy utilizes trauma-focused treatment modalities to provide individual counseling, group counseling, and group psychoeducation. Treatments and interventions include Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), somatic experiencing, cognitive behavioral therapy, and more. 

Basic Needs Assistance

Basic needs assistance is provided by Healing Action to meet the immediate and crucial needs of survivors and to reduce barriers to recovery. Frequent basic needs include food, clothing, personal hygiene items, seasonal items, and more.

Healing Action houses a boutique in our Drop-In Center where members can access many of these resources. We also provide transportation assistance in the form of monthly bus passes and gas cards for Healing Action members.

Coalition Against Trafficking and Exploitation (CATE)

Healing Action houses the Coalition Against Trafficking and Exploitation (CATE), a statewide coalition that provides education, training, and technical assistance to service providers, organizations, law enforcement, and individuals throughout Missouri. For more information on CATE, click here.