This research study examined the potential for skills acquisition to mitigate the psychological trauma of forced marriages for girl survivors in Northern Nigeria. The findings indicate that skills alone cannot empower girls or form the basis of an alternative to early marriage if access to counseling to address psychological trauma, capital, markets, and mentorship are unavailable. This study recommends a holistic girls' empowerment program design in which skills acquisition interventions for survivors of forced marriage must incorporate psycho-therapeutic programs implemented in safe spaces and long-term timelines that include mentoring support after the program and address infrastructural and historical barriers to true empowerment.