December, 15 2022 Recap – Outcomes of Human Trafficking Survivors Tool & Panel on Implementation
HT-RADAR Quarterly Research Meeting presents Dr. Stacey Cutbush and Samantha Charm on Outcomes of Human Trafficking Survivors

Quarterly Meeting Recording
December 15, 2022

Dr. Stacey Cutbush and Samantha Charm presented on Outcomes for Human Trafficking Survivors (OHTS). This tool is designed to measure progress in a holistic way for survivors of trafficking throughout all stages of their healing journey across different sectors. The main categories measured by the instrument are safety, well-being, rights, social connectedness, and self-sufficiency. The presentation was then followed by a panel from Los Angeles-based Elevate Ministries, a local collaborative that has implemented OHTS. The Elevate Ministries collaborative focuses on partnering with local organizations that serve survivors of HT to maximize development and program outcomes. They have incorporated the OHTS tool in a variety of organizations that support survivors and shared their challenges and successes since the adoption of OHTS.

Timestamps
3:00 – OHTS Presentation (45 min)
48:25 – Q&A – OHTS development (13 min)
59:38 – Panel introductions (5 min)
1:03:29 – Panel discussions (30 min)
1:34:38 – Panel Q&A (12 min)

OHTS

Studies & Resources on OHTS
  1. Information about this project and other human trafficking research within RTI’s portfolio can be found here: Human Trafficking Research, Evaluation, & Training and Technical Assistance | RTI
  2. The Outcomes for Human Trafficking Survivors (OHTS) instrument can be downloaded for free here: Download the Outcomes for Human Trafficking Survivors Instrument | RTI
  3. OHTS User Guide and Development Brief.
  4. A paper about the validity and reliability testing we conducted was published: Cutbush, S., Charm, S., Tueller, S., Krieger, K., & Gibbs, D. (2021). The Outcomes for Human Trafficking Instrument: Validity and Reliability Testing. Journal of Human Trafficking, 1-12.

 

Speaker Bios
Dr. Stacey Cutbush Starseed
Dr. Stacey Cutbush Starseed

Dr. Stacey Cutbush Starseed is a senior social scientist at Research Triangle Institute (RTI)’s Center for Safety, Victimization, and Resilience, where she directs the Violence and Resilience Research program. She served as the principal investigator for the National Institute of Justice (NIJ)-funded Measuring Outcomes in Services to Domestic Victims of Human Trafficking: Instrument Development and Testing project. This NIJ-funded grant study involved creating an instrument to describe human trafficking client status in several domains relevant to key human trafficking program outcomes and assessing the instrument’s validity and ability to detect change over time. Dr. Cutbush also serves as the project director for the OVC-funded Improving Outcomes for Child and Youth Victims of Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance project, and the NIJ-funded project, Identify, Respond, Prevent: Addressing Human Trafficking among Juvenile Justice– and Child Welfare–Involved Youth. She is an expert in process and outcome evaluation design, quantitative and qualitative instrument development and testing, and cognitive interviewing. Stacey Cutbush Starseed can be reached at scutbush@rti.org.

Samantha Charm
Samantha Charm

Samantha Charm (she/her) is a public health analyst in the Victimization and Resilience Research Program in RTI International’s Justice practice area. She has more than 10 years of experience in public health research and practice. Her areas of focus include victim services, human trafficking of minors and adults, child welfare, and sexual assault prevention. She has supported a number of projects related to human trafficking including the Measuring Outcomes in Services to Domestic Victims of Human Trafficking study funded by the National Institute of Justice and the Domestic Human Trafficking and Child Welfare project funded by the Administration for Children and Families. Samantha holds a master’s in public health from the University of North Carolina. Prior to her pursuing her master’s degree, she worked as a reproductive health educator and counselor. Samantha Charm can be reached at scharm@rti.org.

Panelist Bios
Esther Suh Kwon
Esther Suh Kwon

Esther Suh Kwon is a trauma-informed occupational therapy (OT) practitioner and consultant with a focus on community-based and mental health practice, leading the emerging area of OT service provision in anti-human trafficking work. She co-founded the first occupational therapy-based non-profit, Dwelle Collaborative, serving survivors of human trafficking in the areas of wellness support as well as life/job skills and has served as its Executive Director from 2015-2021. As Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer of QUALIFIED, Esther believes in going beyond business as usual to push the envelope for what can be done as an organization and what each survivor can achieve when given choices and a voice to navigate their own recovery and occupational journey.

Esther’s professional career has spanned over 16 years in nonprofit social services for children and adults with special needs via South Central LA Regional Center (SCLARC), California Children’s Services (CCS) and volunteer work locally and abroad. She provides OT consultation to organizations serving vulnerable women and children with specialized needs and frequently speaks at universities/conferences on The Role of Occupational Therapy in Human Trafficking Intervention. Esther holds her OT Master’s Degree from USC and cosmetology license through Paul Mitchell. Esther is using her experiences in the OT and beauty industry to uplift and create opportunities for women who have experienced oppression and institutional dependency to transition into inspired independent living. She enjoys traveling, hair/art design and creating DIY projects. Find Esther Suh Kwon’s work at qualifiedwomen.com or email her at esther@qualifiedwomen.com.

Bryan Cullison
Bryan Cullison

Bryan Cullison has been working in the nonprofit world since he moved to Los Angeles in 1996. After receiving degrees in Computer Science, Mathematics, and Social Work, he began working with World Impact mentoring youth, teaching computers in the Los Angeles Christian Elementary and Middle School, and church planting. Informally, he developed friendships with neighbors experiencing homelessness and learned more about the system of services and obstacles that faced the unhoused. His work in communities around South Los Angeles also led him to become aware of the issue of human trafficking, which was happening in his own neighborhood, unbeknownst to him. He began to volunteer with After Hours, a street outreach ministry focused primarily on women being sex-trafficked in Los Angeles. He joined their Board in 2012 as well as the CARE-18 Southern California HT Taskforce in 2014, eventually serving on their Leadership Board in 2016. His work in both the homelessness and human trafficking realms led him to work for Kingdom Causes Inc. (KCI) and its homeless services affiliate City Net in 2019. In 2021, KCI started the Elevate Project, a collaborative taskforce with four esteemed partner organizations in the Southern California area known and respected for their work with survivors of commercial sexual exploitation. Find Bryan Cullison’s work at kindomcauses.org or email him at bryan.cullison@citynet.org.

Jami Flick
Jami Flick, PhD, MS, OTR/L

Dr. Jami Flick received her Master of Science in Occupational Therapy (OT) from the University of South Alabama. She completed her Doctor of Philosophy in Health Science at Nova Southeastern University with an emphasis in Global Health, August 2022. Her qualitative dissertation focused on the lived experiences of survivor advocates and survivor leaders in the anti-trafficking movement. She has presented nationally and internationally on occupational therapy’s role in the anti-trafficking movement since 2016. She is a member of HEAL Trafficking and National Human Trafficking and Disability Working Group. She was accepted as a Developing Scholar Member with the Global Association of Human Trafficking Scholars (GAHTS) in March 2022. Dr. Flick joined the PNWU School of OT as the Director of Clinical Education in September 2021 and has 10 years of experience in academia. Find Jami Flick’s work at Google Scholar: https://tinyurl.com/ya7wfb9z or LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jamiflickot/, she can also be reached via email at jflick@pnwu.edu.

 

Past Quarterly Meeting Recaps