This presentation is delivered by a male survivor of child trafficking and coercive abuse and explores the long-term emotional, mental health, and addiction-related impacts of early exploitation. The presentation emphasizes survivor-informed insight relevant to clinicians, advocates, educators, and social justice professionals. As a child, the presenter was groomed and psychologically coerced by a trusted adult into participating in deceptive scenarios intended to gain access to other minors. These experiences relied on identity manipulation, secrecy, fear-based compliance, and trauma bonding rather than overt physical force. The presentation reframes such dynamics as the weaponization of children, highlighting how trafficking often occurs through coercive control that remains difficult for systems to identify. The narrative traces how these early experiences contributed to substance use disorder, untreated or misdiagnosed mental health conditions, and later involvement with the criminal legal system. Particular attention is given to how male survivors and those trafficked as children are frequently overlooked, misidentified as offenders, or excluded from survivor narratives and services. The presentation concludes by connecting lived experience with emerging principles from addiction studies and co-occurring mental health frameworks. It offers practical insight into survivor-informed identification, trauma-responsive care, and prevention strategies that can disrupt cycles of addiction, relapse, and criminalization. The session emphasizes ethical storytelling, system accountability, and the value of survivor voices in advancing more effective and equitable anti-trafficking and social justice responses.
Trigger Warning: This presentation contains information (written, spoken, or visual) that may be triggering or (re)traumatizing to attendees.
Gregory Nasky is a survivor of childhood trafficking and coercive abuse and a dual-degree student in Addiction Studies and Mental Health with a focus on co-occurring disorders. His work centers on survivor-informed perspectives, the intersection of trafficking and addiction, and improving trauma-responsive identification, treatment, and recovery outcomes.