Trust at Work: Lessons Learned From Co-Researchers Who Have Experienced Human Trafficking

The benefit of survivor participation in human trafficking research is becoming increasingly recognised. Ethical and equitable relationships between qualitative researchers and lived experience experts rely on developing trust within the research team, yet literature on building trusting partnerships with survivor researchers is scarce. For survivors of labour exploitation and human trafficking, employment and workplace practices may reactivate traumatic memories, making it difficult to trust colleagues and supervisors. We conducted thematic analysis of reflexive journals, evaluations and group discussion recordings of our team’s lived experienced researchers. This was compared and thematically synthesised with a review of the literature which identified methods of control used by abusive employers. Aspects of professional behaviour that co-researchers identified as building trust were inversive to the coercive behaviours used to subjugate trafficked people. The data were drawn from the Modern Slavery Core Outcome Set (MSCOS) Project; a participatory study that identified and implemented into practice a set of core recovery outcomes for survivors of human trafficking. We provide best-practice recommendations for researchers working in partnership with lived experience experts, based on six trust-building domains designed to resist evoking memories of exploitation: holistic, strengths-based practice; non-hierarchical, reciprocal relationships; fair pay; transparency and dialogue; anti-oppressive practice; and recognising trauma and cultivating consistency. Our recommendations may also be pertinent to work with trafficking survivors in alternative settings.