Career coaching for victims of human trafficking is a needed service

The NAS introduced its new targeted career coaching for victims of human trafficking and other severe exploitation in autumn 2021. Based on the initial results of the first coaching, victims of exploitation would appear to require specific and individualised support and understanding from the employment services during their challenging stage in life. The feedback from the participants in career coaching has been positive.

Career coaching against revictimisation

Career coaching targeted victims of human trafficking and exploitation started on 30 August 2021, following a lengthy and thorough preparation. The career coaching will be piloted with a total of 20 victims of exploitation as part of the IKUT project coordinated by the NAS. The purpose of the coaching is to prevent victims from becoming revictimised and to provide knowledge about their rights. The first coaching programme, which ended on 12 November, had four participants.

“The project aims to help the development of working life skills as individually as possible. For this reason, the coaching includes one-on-one weekly meetings. The project cannot as such offer jobs to the participants. Instead, it provides valuable support for the participants in finding jobs with fair terms of employment. We continue to offer support to the participants also after the actual coaching ends,” says Veikko Mäkelä, Project Manager.

The coaching modules are designed as ten-week programmes during which time the participants receive information and guidance on employee rights, job seeking, career opportunities and identifying their career identity. The coaching also includes group and individual services supporting working life skills, such as weekly Finnish language learning, IT training, life management skills training, and counselling with a psychologist. 

Participants require individualised support – time management skills a challenge

Alongside improving the victims working life skills, the purpose of the coaching is also to gather information about any specific employment service requirements of victims of exploitation. The information gathering continues throughout the project.

“Based on our experiences of the first coaching, it can be generally noted that the victims of exploitation require individualised, face-to-face support, in particular. Supporting the understanding of one’s rights and identifying suitable employment and study opportunities and sharing information about them clearly helped participants to think more openly about their future plans and aspirations. The participants learned to value their own potential, which lowers the risk of being exploited. However, it is far too early to draw any further conclusions about any specific employment service needs profile for the victims of exploitation.”

In addition to many successes, the first coaching programme also revealed certain challenges. Owing to the participants’ limited life and time management skills, there were quite a few absences and on occasion the participants came to class late. The participants sometimes failed to notify the project team, and sometimes there were not enough participants for group activities to be productive.

“The IKUT coaching is an excellent pilot for this particular target group, as they do not face sanctions like they would with employment authorities, such as the withholding of benefits. This allows for more flexibility needed, for example, when having to attend to matters such as legal proceedings. A lack of time management skills is a clear development area that merits more attention as it can create problems in the workplace and undermine a person’s participation in employment policy measures, such as language and integration training. Therefore, it is essential to take the person’s general life situation into consideration from the early stages when offering employment services. Hopefully, the Nordic employment services model adopted in spring 2022 will provide tools to respond at least partially to this need,” says Mäkelä.

Three coaching programmes left

Two more coaching programmes will be arranged in spring 2022 and one final session in autumn 2022. Based on the experiences gained from the first coaching programme, future coaching will additionally concentrate on supporting the participants’ life management skills and wellbeing although the main emphasis will still be on working life skills.

During the final year of the project, careful consideration must also be given to how and where the further support for participants will be provided. 

“We will be fully focused on delivering the upcoming coaching programmes. However, we must also consider how we can deliver a similar service in the future and whether there is a need to expand it to those victims of exploitation and trafficking who do not yet have legal residence in Finland. This will help victims to avoid becoming revictimised, wherever they happen to live in the future,” says Mäkelä.

The project for building employability skills and working life competence for victims of human trafficking”, known as the IKUT project, received support from the European Social Fund (ESF). Funding for the project is granted by the Häme Centre for Economic Development, Transport, and Environment.

The images used are stock images. The persons appearing in the photos are not coaching participants.

Further information on the project:

Veikko Mäkelä, Project Manager, tel: +358 295 463 171, e-mail: firstname.lastname@migri.fi

Saija Korkeakangas, Project Worker, tel: +358 295 463 088, e-mail: firstname.lastname@migri.fi

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