RIA’s mission is to stand with and support people with experience in the commercial sex trade, and its associated exploitation, trafficking and prostitution, by providing a range of community-based services in Massachusetts. Founded in 2014, we have grown from a team of volunteers and one part-time staff person working out of our cars, cafes, libraries, and other borrowed spaces, serving five women, to a growing organization with seven staff members that work out of two offices serving over 250 women each year. Our organization continues to see the confluence of complex trauma, addiction, chronic homelessness, and employment challenges within our population of survivors. These complexities and vulnerabilities are typically heightened for transgender individuals. Our main program, Sisters Leading Sisters, focuses on opening and sustaining exit ramps for adult women survivors in the community and in prison. We invite women in by actively offering peer outreach and trauma-informed relationship building, supported by clinical care and case management. We recognize that when women do not find the emotional/relational support they need from shelters, addiction programs, or hospitals, they commonly return to the situations that make them most vulnerable to abuse and trauma. RIA’s program is designed specifically for survivors and takes a holistic approach, recognizing that mental health is also impacted by a wide range of social factors. To address these complex needs, RIA House employs a highly trained team composed of survivor professionals, social workers, and mental health clinicians.
