ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The St. Petersburg Police Department’s PATH unit is working to be more visible in the community and offer services to victims and survivors of human trafficking.

On March 22 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the department’s mobile command bus as well as several organizations that help provide services to human trafficking survivors, will be at Local Church St. Pete on 2750 5th Ave N.

Laura Henderson is a survivor of human trafficking.

At four, she was put in the foster care system, but she says her life took a turn when she lost her adoptive father to suicide in 2012.

After that, she turned to alcohol and drugs and met the man who led her into human trafficking.

“I had nobody,” Henderson said. “Where I was there were no programs, no outreaches, no nothing, so I went back to what I knew.”

Laura was arrested for shoplifting and prostitution charges, but it wasn’t until the website that she was advertised on was shut down that she was able to get away from her abusers. She contacted a client of hers at the time who helped her escape.

“All my life I struggled with rejection and loneliness but these people wanted me,” she said. “Then I had that spark to live again. It came.”

She has been free from human trafficking for four years and sober for more than three years. Now, she works with organizations that help those involved with human trafficking get the resources they need.