CASE - Coordinated Access to Support Exit
Coordinated Access to Support Exit (CASE) is a WAGE funded pilot program offered by YWCA Halifax to develop and test a model of inclusive and trauma-informed supports for survivors of commercial sexual exploitation and human trafficking, and independent sex workers who are looking for enhanced supports to make lifestyle changes and exit the sex trade.
The CASE pilot connects people to wrap-around supports facilitated through the Trafficking and Exploitation Services System (TESS) Network, by mobilizing resources that are central to the participants community and streamline communication among service providers supporting the individual. Our goal is to create a sustainable model of wrap around support which is low barrier, trauma-informed, culturally relevant, responsive to participants needs, focused on participant safety, and leverages existing relationships of trust between them and their service providers, in their home communities.
CASE’s development has been informed by the lived experience of survivors of CSEC, as well as a diverse group of well-respected partner agencies across Nova Scotia who bring the valued perspectives of people who are of African heritage or Black, Indigenous, 2SLGBTQIA+ identifying, criminalized, and/or sex workers.
The CASE Process consists of four main components:
Information - people are given information about the supports that are available in their community; service providers are given tools to assess participant needs
Inclusion - people do not feel stigmatized, judged, or treated unfairly when accessing services in the community
Navigation - people can explore services independently, or they can request to have agencies be brought together for a meet-up in a designated community Safer Space.
Direct Support - people can access what they identify they need through the needs assessment, including connection to a peer support worker (through NSTAY), free trauma counseling and clinical support (through People's Counseling Clinic), Provincial Victim Services, SchoolsPlus, and other community-based agencies in the identified region. They can also access direct financial support.
Who can access the CASE program?
Anyone who is (1) 16 years or older, (2) is currently or recently (within the last year) engaged with the sex trade in some capacity (3) is ready[1] to make a change in their life (in the contemplation, preparation, action, or maintenance stage of change) and (4) currently attached to a service provider in Nova Scotia.
What CASE is Not
CASE is not an intensive case management (ICM), emergency services, or a trauma-recovery program, however if those services are required, CASE can facilitate connections to them (if they exist).
How to Access CASE
Service providers can contact YWCA Halifax’s Community Mobilization Coordinator for more information or download the CASE Needs Assessment and send it to tess@ywcahalifax.com
[1] “Ready” means that the individual must already have some stable and safe shelter arrangements or housing and has directly expressed an interest in making a lifestyle change to a service provider.