Lynn Bryant sat across from a young lady in a small, dingy room, having a conversation that you can’t possibly get used to.
She was serving as part of The Spring’s emergency response team, a group of trained front-line staff who serve as advocates for victims during human trafficking operations by local Tulsa law enforcement. These ERT members are a victim’s first contact point after being apprehended by an officer— they explain what’s going on, describe the services that The Spring is able to offer, and stay present during any interactions with law enforcement. Their ultimate goal is to create an atmosphere of safety and trust. Sometimes, that means offering food and clothing.
On this night, for Lynn, it meant listening to a young woman tell a heartbreaking story about the circumstances that had led her here.
“She was telling me all about these experiences she’d had in her life, and she was telling me the story about how she got to where she was that day, and my heart was just moved,” Lynn said. “This young lady had experienced such heavy, heavy things.”
Part of that experience was an addiction which had made her the target of a trafficker in the area. The man supplied her need and plied her with expensive clothing, coffees, and other gifts, creating dependency.
“This man is paying for all of it, and then he starts to tell her what he wanted her to do, or what he wanted her to watch other people doing,” Lynn said. “She recognized that they were trying to get her to sell her body, trying to manipulate her into that.”
That was the point at which the young woman encountered law enforcement — and The Spring’s emergency response team. As she told her story, Lynn felt led to lead the young woman into prayer.
“God was reminding me, I work for a Christian organization,” she said. “I have the ability to pray with this woman.”
The woman was comfortable with the prayer, but Lynn felt led to go further.
“I felt that I needed to have some sort of physical contact, but I didn’t want to cross any boundaries,” she recalled. “She ended up reaching out to me to hold hands while I prayed. We both ended up needing Kleenexes — I had to leave the room to get more, she was crying so hard.”
The interaction wasn’t short; Lynn spent hours with this person — listening and crying and simply being present with her. When the time came to leave, the woman chose not accept services from The Spring, but Lynn doesn’t chalk the interaction up as a failure.
“By the end of it, she hugged me three or four times,” she recalled. “There was that sense of safety for her that hadn’t been there before.”
Planting Seeds
When she’s not serving on the emergency response team, Lynn coordinates The Spring’s Non-residential Services Program, and it was these services that she most wanted the woman in her interview to be aware of. NR Services are designed for those affected by domestic and sexual violence, human trafficking, and stalking — but who don’t require full-time shelter. Most of the same services offered in our shelter are included, such as individualized case management, legal counseling, mental healthcare, and support groups. These community resources create natural, healthy support systems for our NR clients, and they can even be offered virtually.
Lynn is quick to point out that NR Services aren’t just for people who’ve found a way to escape their abuser — she often works with those who are still in harm’s way.
“If somebody is still in the same home with their abuser, we can offer services if it’s safe for them to communicate with us,” she said. “They can come to our support groups. They can come to our educational groups. They can receive counseling. They can talk to legal services about a safe way to start a divorce process or a separation, if there are custody arrangements to be aware of. We can help connect them with a protective order and help build housing opportunities, so that they’re able to be able to exit the relationship with knowledge and safe practices.”
Over the past year, The Spring has seen a massive increase in the need for these services — more than 44% growth from January of 2025 to December. Lynn credits the jump to increased public awareness about the program.
“The fact that you can receive services while still in the home is not something that’s been widely talked about. Now that we’re starting to get the word out, more and more people are reaching out to access that. And it’s going to continue to grow,” she said.
Lynn has done a lot to get the word out herself — she’s part of a team of Spring staffers that provide in-depth trainings to churches, community groups, and businesses in the Tulsa area. One particularly effective training Lynn has given is about healthy relationships and how to define them. She’s had the chance to present to groups of young people all over the city, and she’s proud of the conversations that result from these opportunities.
The need for an expansion of The Spring’s non-residential program is great, and your year-end gift to The Spring funds opportunities for these survivors to find hope and community — wherever they are.
Most of Lynn’s job, when it comes down to it, is planting seeds. She exists to provide a first-step for survivors to step out of darkness and into a healing community. It’s never a sure thing, what those seeds blossom into, and she knows that. The young woman she met on that night in the dingy hotel room didn’t accept services, but she did take a packet of information about NR Services. Lynn knows that it’s very possible she’ll remember that moment of safety she experienced that night and decide to seek services.
And she’ll be waiting for her when that moment comes.
