COLUMBUS, Ohio — A newly renovated home in downtown Columbus aims to support survivors of human trafficking.
The three-story, 8,000-square-foot sober-living facility is known as the Turning Point Home. It was created in collaboration between members of the Zion Christian Fellowship and the CATCH Court Program.
Cheryl Kirkham, executive director of the Turning Point Home, said this project was six years in the making.
"I look at this house as life after rehabilitation… It's not a program, this is a place to call home,” Kirkham said.
Kirkham said after human trafficking survivors graduate from recovery programs, they often need assistance transitioning back into the community. This home aims to fill that gap.
"They might need a finance class or maybe life skills in general, a boundaries class, or maybe they don't understand about relationships,” Kirkham said.
"You don't know what life is when you live in the dark,” Barbara Freeman, a human trafficking survivor, said.
Freeman said she was trafficked at the age of 15, which also led her to addiction.
"That life for me was something that I never imagined, it was from day to night being sold over and over again,” Freeman said.
It's now been nearly 15 years since she was able to leave the life she was forced into. Freeman said the home will help fill a vital need.
"This house will pave a way for women to get educated, a place to live and feel safe, and not to feel rushed to just jump back out there,” Freeman said.
The home will house eight women at a time, and they will be encouraged to stay for at least a year. The only requirements are to have graduated from a recovery program and be sober for two years.
"We want those women to be treated like the princesses that they are that they've never had that before,” Kirkham said.
It will also serve as a way to help women find their purpose.
"Going through a life of human trafficking you gotta know that you've been picked to do something special,” Freeman said.
"They will be able to live independently with freedom, wholeness, and joy,” Kirkham said.
The application process opens this week, and Kirkham said they’re hopeful to start housing women by mid-September.