BBCA charity supporting slavery victims said it has people coming to them “malnourished” and mentally unwell.
The Medaille Trust runs safe houses in Swindon – one for women opened in 2016, another for men opened this year.
Helping victims has been described as a “window into a dark world” by Terri Bayliss, who works with the charity.
The trust has seen figures showing there were 337 modern slavery and trafficking incidents in Swindon between September 2022 and March 2023.
Ms Bayliss works with women in the charity’s Moving On project and, speaking to BBC Radio Wiltshire, explained the figures do not give the full picture as so much will go unreported as criminals “prey on vulnerability”.
“With sexual exploitation, a lot of that is pop-up brothels. It’s hard to for the police keep track of – it could be they’re renting Air B&Bs, they’re moving on regularly,” she said.
“It is a window into quite a dark world, but the human spirit that comes through is quite inspiring.”
‘It’s a privilege’
The Medaille Trust runs a drop-in café for female victims in Swindon, often doing activities like knitting and crocheting.
Arzu Anderson, who volunteers there, said: “It’s a privilege. It’s a very humbling experience.
“Sometimes I’m driving home and my eyes tear up because it touches my soul,” she added.
“It’s the compassion, it’s talking to somebody who’s been through so much trauma and has the courage to move on in their life.”
The charity says it has seen more people being exploited from Albania and Eritrea recently, but there are victims from the UK too.
Hannah Moccia works in the charity’s male safe house and explained they are seeing an increase in the numbers of people needing help, especially with men involved in labour and drugs exploitation.
“We are seeing county lines involvement and gangs, where people have been coerced into working in cannabis farms or running drugs around the country,” she said.
“Physically people will come into the safe house malnourished.
“Perhaps they’ve leaned on drug and alcohol to get them through or perhaps they’ve been given those things deliberately by exploiters.
Ms Moccia said a lack of medical care is an issue as well, with a lot of victims coming to them with dental problems, but mental health plays a big part too.
“People present with low self-esteem, sadness, depression and sleeping problems depending on what has happened to them.”
