Inspired by the transformative Love Heals model pioneered by Thistle Farms, Magdalene House of Austin was established in 2016 to address the critical need for comprehensive, long-term therapeutic care for adult survivors of sex trafficking in Austin and beyond.
When survivors exit exploitation, they often do so without a stable support network, safe community, or access to resources needed to rebuild their lives. Without these supports, the vulnerabilities created by trauma, manipulation, and economic instability can make it difficult to remain free from harmful environments.
Magdalene House Austin provides a long-term, peer-based therapeutic community, where survivors are given the time, stability, and relational support necessary to heal. Our program is intentionally designed for cisgender women and relies on shared lived experience and identity-based peer safety as a core element of the healing process. This relational model helps participants develop trust, rebuild self-worth, and learn new ways of relating to themselves and others.
As the first long-term program of its kind in Central Texas, Magdalene House fosters a community of belonging, dignity, and personal empowerment. We believe that healing happens in the context of connection — and that love, compassion, and safety are powerful forces in reclaiming one’s sense of self and future.
“None of the women ended up in their situation by themselves. It takes broken systems in our community to make them become runaways, allow them to be trafficked, and to become addicted, so it makes sense that it takes a community to help welcome them back and help them heal.”
- Becca Stevens, Founder of Thistle Farms
The line between prostitution and trafficking is often far more complex than it is portrayed. Many survivors describe being recruited, groomed, or coerced long before they understood what was happening. Choice is frequently constrained by trauma, manipulation, economic vulnerability, or lack of safe alternatives — and language used to describe survivors often fails to reflect this reality.
Human trafficking is the exploitation of a person for profit through force, fraud, or coercion, in which one person’s dignity, autonomy, and safety are violated for another’s gain. Trafficking strips individuals of agency and reduces them to a commodity in a multi-billion dollar industry. Our work is rooted in restoring that agency, dignity, and safety through long-term relational healing and community. (Photo from The Exodus Road)
In 2017, The Statewide Human Trafficking Mapping Project of Texas released the first comprehensive study on trafficking within the state. The report highlighted a crisis that had been historically underrecognized and underreported:
An estimated 313,000 Texans are survivors of human trafficking.
Approximately 79,000 are minors or youth who have experienced sex trafficking.
The economic impact of sex trafficking alone is estimated at $6.6 billion annually, largely due to the long-term physical, emotional, and social harm it causes.
The National Human Trafficking Hotline continues to identify Texas as one of the top states for trafficking reports, reflecting both the scale of exploitation and increasing public awareness.
The Texas Department of Public Safety also notes that many survivors first experience exploitation during adolescence, often after histories of abuse, instability, or running away from unsafe environments. Traffickers frequently target individuals who lack access to safety, support, and stable relationships.
These statistics reflect the urgency of providing long-term, trauma-informed, and community-based support for survivors—care that allows them to rebuild trust, reclaim autonomy, and heal at their own pace.Human Trafficking in Austin
Austin is located in what is known as the “Texas Triangle” — the travel corridor connecting Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Because of the large populations, tourism industries, major events, and high volume of transient travel between these cities, the region has become a concentrated area for trafficking and exploitation.
This does not mean trafficking is caused by the cities themselves — rather, individuals who exploit others often take advantage of environments where people, money, and anonymity intersect.
Recent reporting, including a series by The Texas Tribune, highlights the complexity of trafficking in Texas and the need for long-term, trauma-informed recovery communities where survivors can rebuild safety, identity, and belonging.
Magdalene House Austin is a private 501(c)3 organization in good standing. We pledge sincere and honest stewardship of every donation we receive. By donating today, you’re helping us empower survivors by offering a sanctuary to heal and ultimately breaking the cycle of sex trafficking, abuse, and addiction.
