Trauma Informed Linkage to Care (TLC) Clinic

The Institute for Family Health, one of the largest federally qualified health center (FQHC) networks in New York State (NYS), will sustain the Trauma-Informed Linkage to Care (TLC) Clinic’s specialized medical, mental health and related services for trafficking survivors/victims in New York City, and will expand services to an additional health center location: at the Institute’s Cadman Family Health Center. The TLC Clinic’s goal is to expand and strengthen the trauma-informed services for survivors of human trafficking in New York City, including information and referral; personal advocacy/accompaniment; and emotional support, safety, and health services. The objectives and activities are to increase the quality and quantity of trauma-informed health and client coordination services to meet the individualized needs of victims of human trafficking; collaborate with and train local health professionals, community-based organizations and other partners to ensure trafficking victims are properly identified and referred; assure comprehensive services for survivors by providing referrals for services not offered by the TLC Clinic; and conduct ongoing quality improvement, data collection and evaluation activities to assure high-quality services and training. The expected outcomes/deliverables are to increase the volume of services delivered (i.e., number of patients and number of services) by 10-30% over the three-year grant period; conduct 12-15 trainings (4-5 annually) around trafficking awareness, trauma-informed care, overdose prevention, as well as other to-be-identified trainings as needed, to TLC Clinic staff, other Institute staff, and community partners; collaborate with 24 existing and at least five new referral partners (including those who offer legal and criminal/civil justice system assistance, focus on serving immigrants and/or focus on serving survivors of labor trafficking) to provide referrals; and collated program data, discussion of data findings, identified areas for program improvement, and corrective action plans, as well as annual results of patient feedback surveys. The TLC Clinic serves NYC-area trafficking survivors including women; young adults and individuals from high-poverty areas; Blacks; Hispanics and Latinos; those who speak a primary language other than English; and those who are LGBTQ+.