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May 5th 2025
Two decades ago, Shamin Brown stood at a crossroads. As a biracial woman with lived experiences of human trafficking, she faced a choice in the early 2000s: stay hidden in the shadows of her past or step forward to fight for others still trapped in the same exploitation.
She chose to fight. Armed with unwavering resolve and guided by her faith, Shamin transformed her personal trauma into a mission to help others reclaim their lives–and ever since she’s been pushing to transform the systems that overlooked her.
The belief that survivors deserve support from those who understand their journey has fueled Shamin’s remarkable evolution from a volunteer in active recovery to becoming one of Canada's most respected voices in trauma-informed care and anti-trafficking advocacy.
Shamin’s commitment to supporting human trafficking victims led to the creation of Shamin Brown Consulting, where she integrates feminist, decolonial, trauma-informed social work and counselling methodologies, wellness coaching, and advocacy to help individuals reclaim their self-worth and find healing.
Her approach to healing is distinctive because it emerges from lived experience. As a registered social worker, therapist, certified life and health coach, and Canadian brainspotting therapist, she brings both professional expertise and profound personal insight to her work. This rare combination allows her to bridge the critical trust gap that often exists between survivors and support systems.
Within counter-trafficking efforts, many survivors harbour profound mistrust of others—a direct consequence of their exploitation. For those who have survived trafficking, trust has been weaponized against them. They've experienced betrayal from systems and individuals who promised safety but failed to protect them–in some cases, their own family.
These experiences create deep psychological wounds that make forming new relationships and accepting assistance extraordinarily difficult.
This is precisely why a trauma-informed approach is so important in supporting survivors. As defined by Gov.uk, a trauma-informed approach aims “to increase practitioners’ awareness of how trauma can negatively impact on individuals and communities, and their ability to feel safe or develop trusting relationships with health and care services and their staff.”
This perspective is particularly crucial when working with trafficking survivors, whose dangerous experiences have fundamentally undermined their capacity for trust.
At the heart of this approach lies safety—something trafficked individuals have been systematically denied.
Developing environments where survivors can begin to feel secure is the foundation upon which all other healing work must be built.
Shamin has established a trauma-informed sanctuary where healing can occur on multiple levels. Her practice embraces the whole person—addressing emotional, psychological, and spiritual dimensions of recovery.
Among her innovative approaches, art therapy and storytelling stand out as powerful tools that help survivors process trauma without requiring them to verbalize painful experiences before they're ready. In addition, her expertise in brainspotting therapy—a specialized neurobiological approach that‘s designed to help overcomers process psychological trauma through eye positions—offers another pathway to healing, accessing the body and brain’s deeper areas that traditional talk therapy may not fully reach.
While these individual healing practices form the foundation of her work, Shamin recognized early that true transformation would require addressing not just individual trauma, but the systems that allow trafficking to persist. Her personal healing journey revealed gaps in societal understanding and response to trafficking, inspiring her to expand her mission beyond one-on-one clinical work.
To tackle exploitation at its roots, Shamin developed a multi-faceted approach that seeks to bridge the gap between direct survivor support and broader societal change.
Through her SEE IT program, she equips youth and professionals with the knowledge to recognize human trafficking warning signs and address sexual exploitation before it takes root. When youth learn the dynamics of sexual exploitation, they begin to recognize how human trafficking affects society and their own lives, while also becoming better equipped to identify human trafficking vulnerabilities and red flags.
To expand her reach beyond in-person training, Shamin launched "Conversations with My Sisters' Keepers," a podcast that brings essential dialogues about wellness and trauma recovery to global audiences. These candid discussions offer practical insights for both survivors and allies and serve as a vital resource for those without access to traditional support services.
Shamin's influence also extends to policy development as the first Canadian chairperson of the G100 Anti-Human Trafficking Wing. In this capacity, she works to advance gender equality, amplify survivor leadership, and advocate for meaningful legislative reform.
As the first Canadian chairperson of the G100 Anti-Human Trafficking Wing, Shamin works at the policy level to advance gender equality, amplify survivor leadership, and advocate for meaningful change. She frequently addresses how human trafficking can be prevented through education, awareness, and policy reform–creating protection systems that recognize trafficking can occur domestically, not just across international borders.
At the local level, her board position with the Heartwood Healing Centre—Manitoba's only organization exclusively focused on childhood sexual abuse recovery—strengthens the critical connection between childhood trauma and later exploitation vulnerability. This role allows her to shape programs that address the developmental impacts of early abuse, which research shows significantly increases trafficking risk.
These efforts form a comprehensive ecosystem of change—each initiative reinforcing the others while addressing different aspects of trafficking prevention and recovery. It's a holistic strategy reflecting Shamin's profound understanding that effective anti-trafficking work must simultaneously support survivors' healing journeys while dismantling the conditions that enable exploitation to flourish.
For Shamin, this work isn't just a career—it's a deeply personal calling. Every person she supports toward healing is a victory against darkness and injustice.
Over the past two decades, the landscape of anti-trafficking work has evolved significantly. What was once a largely invisible issue has gained recognition across law enforcement, healthcare, education, and policy spheres. Trauma-informed approaches, once considered revolutionary, are increasingly becoming standard practice.
This progress represents the collective effort of survivors, advocates, and allies working tirelessly to create change. Survivor-led organizations like Shamin Brown Consulting demonstrate how survivor leadership can transform the counter-trafficking movement, ensuring that those who have lived through trafficking are no longer merely subjects of intervention but architects of the solutions.
The path ahead remains challenging, but there is genuine cause for hope. Each survivor who finds healing, each professional who becomes trauma-informed, each policy that centers survivor voices—these are the foundation of a better future. Thanks to the dedication of lived experience experts and advocates like Shamin, we continue to make strides toward a world where exploitation is met with swift, trauma-informed intervention and survivors find true recovery and empowerment.
As the anti-trafficking movement continues to evolve, Shamin's journey– from survivor to a thriver that serves her community–stands as a powerful reminder of what's possible both for individuals on their healing journeys and for our collective ability to confront trafficking and create systems that truly serve those who have endured it.
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