Eden House

At 55 years old, Cindy has been in and out of abusive relationships for much of her life and led her to drug addiction, cutting, and suicide attempts. Fortunately, she found a safe haven at Eden House where she shares a room with Michelle, 21, who fell in with the wrong crowd as a teenager and ended up living a difficult life on the streets. On the surface, it may seem that Cindy and Michelle don’t have much in common but what unites them is their history of human trafficking and the trauma that has resulted from it. Both of them have come to Eden House New Orleans to find a safe place to recover and find the path to a new life filled with hope.

Eden House is dedicated to eradicating human trafficking or as it is sometimes called, modern-day slavery. We create systemic change through: youth prevention, education and legislative advocacy, and recovery and reentry services for victims- including long-term shelter. Our work with victims and survivors of human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation is guided by the principle that “Love Heals.” We believe that treating people, especially women who have histories of complex trauma, with kindness and respect is incredibly powerful and will facilitate recovery.  

During their residence at Eden House, victims receive all the resources they need to recover, including, but not limited to: individual and group therapy, legal assistance, access to education, health care, and financial planning, a job in our social enterprise Especially Eden, and the opportunity to share their story through our prevention program R.E.A.L. Choices. Since we first opened our doors in October 2012, we have served 53 women directly and assisted more than 250 women with referrals and information. Our counselors and survivor leaders have educated almost 500 young women and at-risk girls through programs we offer to youth shelters, foster care agencies, juvenile justice, and high schools, and Especially Eden offers socially conscious and Louisiana sourced gift baskets for the community, while providing paid employment, job skills and work experience to survivors.