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What child labor taught me to believe about myself

Mary Nikkel @marynikkel.bsky.social · Jun 12

These photos are what I looked like when I was first sent to work, without pay, at 8 years old. Today is World Day Against Child Labor. This is my story. marynikkel.substack.com/p/what-child...

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I went to work for the first time around 8 years old. It changed my relationship to myself forever.

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Mary Nikkel @marynikkel.bsky.social · May 21

If you still have X, would you mind retweeting this? Meta’s active sabotaging of our anti-trafficking work has been a source of tremendous harm. x.com/theexodusroa...

How does human trafficking affect mental health? - The Exodus Road

Mary Nikkel @marynikkel.bsky.social · May 13

Mental healthcare is the #1 reported need of U.S. trafficking survivors. I wrote a deep dive into what some of those needs are. theexodusroad.com/human-traffi...

Meta description: Human trafficking affects mental health in severe and long-lasting ways. These are some outcomes for survivors.

theexodusroad.com

Mary Nikkel @marynikkel.bsky.social · May 11

I will never and always be a mother: marynikkel.substack.com/p/never-and-...

Never and Always

Why I've chosen not to have children of my own, and why that doesn't mean I am absolved from mothering.

My phone rang all day on April 13, 2023.

Mary Nikkel @marynikkel.bsky.social · Apr 15

I’ve outlived myself by two years now. marynikkel.substack.com/p/two-years-...

Two years as a ghost

Recovery means accepting you will sometimes slide.

Mary Nikkel @marynikkel.bsky.social · Apr 1

Recovery is like living on black ice: you learn to lean into the slide. marynikkel.substack.com/p/living-on-...

Living on black ice

Stockholm syndrome and human trafficking - The Exodus Road

Mary Nikkel @marynikkel.bsky.social · Mar 20

I have a particular personal and professional interest in the nuances of trauma, how it manifests in our lives. So researching this piece on Stockholm syndrome and trafficking felt like a passion project.✨ theexodusroad.com/stockholm-sy...

Is Stockholm syndrome real? How are Stockholm syndrome and human trafficking related? Learn more about this type of trauma bond.

theexodusroad.com

We try to just stay alive

Mary Nikkel @marynikkel.bsky.social · Mar 13

Mental health is discussed at a rate I would’ve found impossible years ago. I am so grateful for this. I also wonder sometimes if the urgency has become diluted in the deluge of content. I wonder if we’ve lost sense of what we really stand to gain — or to lose: marynikkel.substack.com/p/stay-alive

I find myself realizing I can lose sight of the stakes in mental health conversations.

It's International Women's Day, and I'm thinking about how survivors of sex trafficking have made me a better woman.

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Mary Nikkel @marynikkel.bsky.social · Mar 8

My primary work is serving as Senior Content Manager for a global anti-trafficking organization. I tell stories about some of the most horrific violations humans can inflict — and much of that violence is gender-based. marynikkel.substack.com/p/a-warrior-... marynikkel.substack.com/p/a-warrior-...

A warrior and a mother

Mary Nikkel @marynikkel.bsky.social · Mar 4

For the first time in a while I dreamed about writing marketing copy, woke up, recorded it, and actually ended up using it, so I guess you could say my productivity game has never been stronger/more disconcertingly obsessive. 💁🏼‍♀️

Falling in love felt like my greatest sin.

Mary Nikkel @marynikkel.bsky.social · Feb 16

Whew, this one felt cathartic and immensely vulnerable. On purity culture, self-punishment, and how I am learning to accept it isn’t a sin to love my lifelong soul mate. marynikkel.substack.com/p/glass-and-...

Glass and gravel

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Mary Nikkel @marynikkel.bsky.social · Feb 7

It would be amazing if we could devote that level of attention and resources to it year-round.

Mary Nikkel @marynikkel.bsky.social · Feb 7

Friendly PSA from your neighborhood anti-trafficking professional: human trafficking does not uniquely spike during the Super Bowl. What DOES spike is awareness and policing, creating a psychological effect where it seems more prevalent because we’re paying attention.

The cool aunt learns to trust

Mary Nikkel @marynikkel.bsky.social · Feb 6

A tiny, indignant face was on the screen, red with all the ignominy of entering the world. I immediately burst into tears. I knew I had just discovered a new way to love. marynikkel.substack.com/p/the-cool-a...

The pre-dawn hours are my least favorite, but it didn’t matter one morning in Memphis: I was in love.

www.thecoloradogazette.com

Mary Nikkel @marynikkel.bsky.social · Feb 5

It truly blows my mind that I get to be a part of work with this kind of impact. I am truly in awe of the skill our cyber investigations team exercises every single day on behalf of survivors. www.thecoloradogazette.com/article/7829...

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Mary Nikkel @marynikkel.bsky.social · Feb 4

🙃🙃🙃

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Reposted by Mary Nikkel

Banned Wagon Books @bannedwagonbooks.bsky.social · Jan 26

Banned Book Quote of the Day:

“From what I’ve read,” I said to him, “the world goes crazy every three or four decades. The trick is to survive until it goes sane again.”

—Parable of the Sower, Octavia E. Butler

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Mary Nikkel @marynikkel.bsky.social · Jan 26

In my latest article, I attempt to illuminate another often sensationalized topic: grooming. Some of the statistics are staggering and sobering. I hope that this serves as an invitation for us to protect each other well. influenced.org/what-is-onli...

What is online grooming?

Online grooming is a predatory behavior that has become one of the most pervasive online dangers today. Here’s how to spot grooming and what to do about it.

influenced.org

Stillborn futures, PTSD, and creating for your life

Mary Nikkel @marynikkel.bsky.social · Jan 19

Stillborn futures, PTSD, and creating for your life: marynikkel.substack.com/p/stillborn-...

The sticky air of early Tennessee summer clung to my skin as 13 patients and a facilitating therapist sat under the slow-lapping sound waves of a Taylor Swift ballad.

Medical trauma and what it's like to be hospitalized for anorexia

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Mary Nikkel @marynikkel.bsky.social · Jan 18

I spent most of November in the hospital. Here is a little about what that experience is like for me. marynikkel.substack.com/p/medical-tr...

The carpet ground against the skin of my face, my hip bone stabbing into the floor.

Mary Nikkel @marynikkel.bsky.social · Jan 18

I have no memory of the dream conversation that preceded this pronouncement but honestly? Go off subconscious

Mary Nikkel @marynikkel.bsky.social · Jan 18

In case you wondered what it’s like to exist in the brain of a nonprofit writer, I woke myself up in middle of the night to find myself loudly announcing “new marginalization impacts the ALREADY marginalized the most”

Maybe every hometown is a ghost town

Mary Nikkel @marynikkel.bsky.social · Dec 16

Maybe every hometown is a ghost town, a haunted monument to the selves we left behind. marynikkel.substack.com/p/ghost-town

Maybe every hometown is a ghost town, a haunted monument to the selves we left behind.