Bochy's Place

Bochy's Place is a transitional home for girls rescued from trafficking and exploitation, located in the Dallas-Forth Worth area. Their mission is to provide a Christ-centered, nurturing family environment to enhance women emotionally, physically and spiritually according to God's design.

The healing journey from a traumatic experience of being trafficked is not an easy or a simple one. There are so many services that these survivors need after they got out or rescued, including safe houses and transitional homes. Bochy's Place's founder, Carla Shellis, discovered that the prevailing problem embedded in the work of rescuing and restoring victims is indeed their return to the streets simply because they did not know how to transition into community.

We had the honor to do a written interview with Briana Rossiter, the Resident Facilitator at Bochy's Place, and asked her to share a little bit about their work to serve the survivors of sex trafficking :

Q: Bochy's Place was launched in December 2017. Could you share with us what sparked the birth of Bochy's Place?

A:  Our Founder, Carla, spent two years serving in a safe house in Dallas ministering to and helping to restore girls rescued from sexual trafficking. Carla began asking the girls, "How can we better help you walk out your life successfully after you complete this program?" Each time the answer was the same, they believed they needed help understanding how to re-enter society, find a good job and fit into a healthy community!

Carla quickly realized the millions of dollars and countless volunteers who are working so hard to help these girls could be in vain if these women are unable to sustain living independently.

Carla knew she had to do something and Bochy’s Place was born out of this burden.

Q: Could you tell us what are the ways in which Bochy's Place is combating sex trafficking?

A:  Bochy’s Place operated a safe home for women healing from the trauma of sexual exploitation, we provided a loving family environment where the women could work towards their healing emotionally, spiritually, and physically. After running and developing a successful program for 16 months, we sadly lost the lease on the property as the landlord decided to sell the property. Bochy’s worked hard to place or graduate each resident. Exactly at this time a generous donor heard our Founder speak about our hope to build a safe home and donated a plot of land with planning permission. We are continuing case management with residents who have transitioned into living independently while raising funds to build our own safe home.

Q: From your experience, what would you say is the toughest challenge in helping and caring for trafficking survivors?

A:  From our experience in caring for trafficking survivors, we would say that the toughest challenge is their level of trauma and the difficulties it can present. The brain learns to respond to trauma with automatic reactions that are crucial to a victim’s survival, but these same responses cause disruption when returning to regular environments due to the challenging behaviors that present.

Recovery is tough because it involves therapy to process the past in order to heal and this stirs up emotional memories that can cause a survivor to want to give up or stop part way through.

This is why we believe trauma sensitive care is a crucial element to the curriculum in a restorative home.

Q: Could you share with us your favorite story of victory you have witnessed in the life of Bochy's Place?

A:  We took a Bochy’s resident to court to follow up with her attorney and judge regarding her case. Her attorney cried upon seeing the change in her demeanor. The judge expressed her shock in the difference in the young woman she saw before her. The judge described the difference in our resident's mannerisms, speech, and confidence all made it appear that she was talking with a different girl. This was after just 8 weeks in our program! This is definitely one of our favorite victory stories that we have witnessed. 

Q: What are the immediate needs of Bochy's Place? How can we, the everyday person, support you in fighting sex trafficking?

A:  Our greatest immediate need is for funding to build our safe house! Our aim is to raise $500,000 to build a home on this donated land and the staff team to run it. We are also in need of people or companies to donate their services to help with the building process; one of our big needs is for lumber. The everyday person can also definitely support us in prayer! We are praying for God to connect us with people who have a heart to see survivors restored and that partnerships will be born.

A great way for people to connect with us is to join Bochy's League; a community of people who want to make an impact in the world of sex trafficking but do not know where to start, what to do, and are uncertain about doing it alone. Find our more at https://www.bochysleague.com

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You can also support Bochy's Place by purchasing our shirts and products, while sharing the word about the wonderful work this organization is doing in the fight against human trafficking. 10% of all our sales until AUGUST 26 will be donated to Bochy's Place.  CLICK HERE TO SHOP

For further information on Bochy's Place, please visit their:
Website: BOCHYSPLACE.COM
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