Coffee For Survivors: How Talitha Coffee's 'Survivor Care Network' Works
If you visit any Talitha coffee location, you might not notice the mission first.
Yet, we're a mission-driven coffee company rooted in the belief that coffee can do more than wake you up.
Every bag we roast, every shift we start, every cup we pour exists for one reason: to help survivors of human trafficking rebuild their lives with dignity and hope.
We believe trafficking doesn't just take people; it takes their sense of safety, belonging, and possibility. And for survivors, when the world expects them to simply start over, we know it's not that simple.
That's why we built the Talitha Survivor Care Network, a growing circle of partnerships, training programs, and trauma-informed support systems designed to help survivors recover, rebuild, and eventually, thrive.
Starting A Coffee Business To Help Others
Founded by survivor Jenny Barber and her husband, Robert, Talitha began with the idea that the coffee they already were making could do more than make them money; they wanted to see if it could change lives.
"Talitha works as a kind of empowerment model," Jenny explains. "Ultimately, the survivors are the heroes of the story. We're just gathering support around them, creating opportunities and pathways of hope for them to rebuild their lives."
As a survivor herself, Jenny Barber knew that the challenges she faced were far more holistic than any one charity could address. The entire process, from escape to healing to staying safe requires more than money alone can provide; they need a plan.
That's where the idea for the "Survivor Care Network" began.
Through the Survivor Care Network, Talitha combine both economic aid with survivor care, offering employment, mentorship, and trauma-informed community, all under one roof.
A Care Network That Works Like A Circle
The Survivor Care Network works by connecting together counselors, advocates, ethical employers, and partner nonprofits, such as Justice 180, into one collaborate ecosystem.
By being orchestrated together, it creates a process that works toward what permanent restoration requires: stability, belonging, and the means for opportunity.
How Talitha Care Network Works
For any survivor that arrives at Talitha's Survivor Care Network, whether it's self-admission, police intervention, or a variety of ways, that survivor will move through Talitha's "Two-Step Evaluation Model":
The Talitha Two-Step Evaluation Model
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Workforce Readiness
- Get legal documentation
- Financial and banking setup
- Social Security verification
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Stability and Security
- Housing and mental health evaluation
- Physical wellness check
- Review of support systems
These are the main tenants to survival that Talitha checks for, then addresses in turn.
For each point where help is needed, Talitha connects survivors with partner organizations that specialize in that particular need, and sometimes offers financial support, in addition.
These areas are sometimes addressed by our partners in the following ways:
- Psychosocial Support: Trauma-informed counseling, survivor-led peer mentorship, and programs that nurture confidence and belonging.
- Development and Personal Growth: Life skills training, career development, and goal-setting, empowering survivors to define success on their own terms.
- Practical Assistance: Access to housing resources, legal aid, and education; tangible tools for long-term stability.
- Community Integration: Reconnection through advocacy, public awareness, and local engagement that shifts the narrative around trafficking.
These things are assessed and then addressed by things like housing support, legal advocacy, and/or trauma recovery.
And finally, on a case by case basis, Talitha can ultimately provide employment opportunities for survivors throughout their organization. “When survivors come on and they’re employed by us, they don’t feel like a special project,” explains Barber. “By that point, they report feeling a part of a broader movement.”
By leaning into all the areas of need with organizational collaborators, it dramatically increases the likelihood that the final step of employment becomes a true bridge to long-term independence.
Self-Help Tools
In addition to matching survivors up with appropriate aid in stages, Talitha also offers tools for individuals to lean on when they aren’t actively receiving support.
Using a Four-Phase Development Model, survivors can go from learning to leading, gaining confidence and tools to navigate life.
The four tenants of this model are:
- Accountability: Building reliability, attendance, and consistency.
- Initiative: Developing ownership and problem-solving skills.
- Leadership: Offering feedback, collaboration, and conflict resolution.
- Launch: Transitioning to career advancement, either within Talitha, or beyond.
This social model helps survivors build practical experience and self-trust, which are the things trafficking works to take away from them.
Privacy That Protects Dignity
A necessary disclosure for the Talitha Care Network is that aid is given with a privacy-first, need-to-know approach. At Talitha, survivor status is confidential, shared only when necessary, and always by choice.
This protects dignity, prevents dependency, and ensures that every survivor is recognized for their skills, not their story. Our workplace is designed to feel equal, safe, and empowering, instead of defined by anyone’s past.
Growing Talitha Into What We're Meant To Be
Each year, we expand our survivor-led programs, develop new training curricula, and measure the long-term outcomes of our model. And we do that all while developing and brewing award-winning coffee for our San Diego-based community.
Yet our core mission remains unchanged: to prove that a brand can also be a powerful agent of social change.
Every roast, every paycheck, and every participant in Talitha shows us that hope, when nurtured, becomes contagious.
Here's to Hope Roasted.
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