Keynotes, Presenters, & Panelists (FY20 Conference)

JOHN COTTON RICHMOND Ambassador-At-Large Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking In Persons October 1, 2018 – Present 

John Cotton Richmond serves as the United States Ambassador-at-Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons and leads the Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. In October 2018, the Senate unanimously confirmed him and President Trump appointed him to lead the United States’ global engagement to combat human trafficking and support the coordination of anti- trafficking efforts across the U.S. government. 

Ambassador Richmond comes to the highest position in the federal government dedicated to combating human trafficking after a distinguished career in the global battle for freedom. He co-founded the Human Trafficking Institute that exists to decimate modern slavery at its source by empowering police and prosecutors to use victim-centered and trauma-informed methods to hold traffickers accountable and ensure survivors are treated with respect and care. 

Prior to the Institute, Ambassador Richmond served, for more than ten years, as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit where he was named one of the “Federal Prosecutors of the Year” by the Federal Law Enforcement Foundation. He investigated and prosecuted numerous victim-centered labor and sex trafficking cases throughout the United States. He also prosecuted cross burnings, police misconduct, and neo-Nazi hate crimes cases. Ambassador Richmond regularly served as an expert to the United Nations Working Group on Trafficking in Persons. He also lived in India for three years pioneering International Justice Mission’s anti-slavery work. 

Ambassador Richmond’s work to combat human trafficking has earned numerous honors, including receiving the David Allred Award for Exceptional Contributions to Civil Rights, twice earning the Department of Homeland Security’s Outstanding Investigative Accomplishments in a Human Trafficking Award, as well as twice receiving the Department of Justice’s Special Commendation Award. 

Ambassador Richmond has trained judges, prosecutors, federal agents, law enforcement officers, and non-governmental organizations on effective, proactive human trafficking investigative and prosecutorial strategies. He also taught Human Trafficking Law, Policy, and Litigation at Pepperdine School of Law and Vanderbilt Law School. In 2018, while at the Human Trafficking Institute, he co-authored the first Federal Human Trafficking Report that collected and analyzed all the active federal human trafficking cases in the United States. Ambassador Richmond earned his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Mary Washington and his Juris Doctor from Wake Forest University School of Law.

JESSICA KIM is a graduate from PLNU and a Master in Social Work Candidate. Jessica is a human trafficking survivor’s advocate with almost 10 years of experience in prevention, education, research, and public speaking. After she escaped 10 years of sexual exploitation under the control of her step-father, she found freedom through education. Passionate about learning and books, Jessica now uses her knowledge and life experience to educate and inspire a wide range of audiences, including teens, survivors, researchers, teachers, counselors, social workers, and law enforcement. Through her work with San Diego Child Welfare Services, she developed expertise in System Dynamics, a program designed to tackle dynamic social issues with innovative, design-driven, and transdisciplinary solutions. She is currently in the development stage of Onramps, a multidisciplinary, collaborative effort to build financial opportunities to independence for survivors of trafficking. She is vice president of the Survivor Leader Network of San Diego and on the advisory board as the Survivor Voice for The San Diego Regional Human Trafficking & the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children Advisory Council. We are privileged to host Jessica Kim as a Keynote speaker for our 2020 HT-RADAR Conference. 

Honored Speakers

President pro Tempore of the California State Senate, Toni G. Atkins. Elected to the State Senate in 2016 after serving as Speaker of the California State Assembly, Senator Toni G. Atkins represents the 39th Senate District, which includes the cities of San Diego, Coronado, Del Mar and Solana Beach. She served on the San Diego City Council from 2000 to 2010 and the State Assembly from 2012 to 2016. Toni Atkins is a coalition builder who believes that sound government policies can effect people’s lives in positive ways. In addition to being a leading voice for affordable housing, she is a powerful advocate for women, the LGBT community and a champion for veterans, individuals, and families experiencing homelessness.

District Attorney Summer Stephan. District Attorney Summer Stephan has been delivering justice for crime victims in San Diego County for nearly three decades and is recognized as a national leader in the fight against human trafficking. As DA, she’s known for her balanced, common-sense approach to public safety with a focus not just on prosecuting violent criminals, but also on preventing crime, and protecting and supporting crime victims. Summer has put several innovative programs into place, including a blueprint for dealing with offenders facing mental health challenges, diversion programs for first-time, low-level offenders, and initiatives that steer young people away from the juvenile justice system. As a result, San Diego is one of the safest urban regions in the nation.

Presenters

Danna Basson, PhD, MPP, is WestCoast Children’s Clinic’s Director of Research and Evaluation. Since joining WestCoast in 2012, she has conducted research to further understand the needs and strengths of sexually exploited children. She is the lead author on a community-based research study, Research to Action: Sexually Exploited Minors (SEM) Needs and Strengths, which is a clinical profile of sexually exploited youth. She is the Principal Investigator of the project to develop and validate West Coast’s Commercial Sexual Exploitation – Identification Tool (CSE-IT). She is currently leading a study on how patterns of exposure to trauma are related to mental health needs. Dr. Basson has presented internationally on her work pertaining to sexually exploited youth and the needs of vulnerable youth.

Modeling the indicators of commercial sexual exploitation among system-involved youth

As the commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) of children receives more attention from practitioners and policymakers, researchers have focused attention on the risk factors for and indicators of exploitation among youth. This study investigates how combinations of indicators cluster together in
the lives of vulnerable children and youth. We used Latent Class Analysis (LCA) on seven indicators of CSE to identify how indicators of exploitation cluster together. Our sample includes 35,946 youth who were screened for indicators of exploitation between 2014 and 2019, across 37 child welfare and juvenile justice agencies in California. Our findings show that there are key combinations of risk that children are exposed to, and that these combinations vary by gender and system involvement. Moreover, some profiles are more strongly predictive of exploitation. This suggests that it is beneficial to identify the key combinations of indicators that children present with rather than look at each indicator separately in order to improve the ability of practitioners to identify when exploitation is
occurring.

Dr. Vanessa Bouché is an Associate Professor of Political Science at TCU.  She has been a principal investigator on several federally-funded human trafficking projects totaling over $1 million and is the founder of HumanTraffickingData.org, a searchable database of federally-prosecuted human trafficking cases in the U.S.  Dr. Bouché has conducted public opinion research on human trafficking in the U.S., Moldova, and Albania, and designed and deployed trauma informed surveys with survivors of human trafficking in the U.S. and Honduras. She consults with a variety of organizations, and has been an invited speaker by dozens of agencies nationally and internationally.  With her husband, Dr. Bouché co-founded Savhera, an essential oil company employing sex trafficking survivors in India and the U.S. She has received the Young Leader Award from the Texas Women’s Foundation, the Hero Award from Unlikely Heroes, and the Great Woman of Texas Award from Fort Worth Business Press.

Racial Disparities Among Distributors

For decades, the crime of sex trafficking has been discussed in terms of “supply and demand”, and a growing body of literature has examined these two sides of the equation where supply side research focuses on the victims and demand side research focuses on the buyers. There is very little research on the “distributors”–the individuals that facilitate a connection between supply with demand. This research aims to fill this gap by examining the racial disparities of the defendants in federally prosecuted
minor sex trafficking cases across the U.S. and sentencing outcomes in those cases. Drawing from a dataset of over 1000 federally-prosecuted human trafficking cases between 2000-2015, she finds that minor sex trafficking cases are being prosecuted at double the rate of adult sex trafficking and labor trafficking cases combined, leading to a disproportionate punishment of black males. This research has serious implications for criminal justice policy and practice.

Katherine Bright is a PhD student at the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University-Newark. She managed the Bureau of Justice Statistics Human Trafficking Reporting System database and has served as a field researcher and project manager on several NIJ funded grants focused on labor trafficking and/or the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC). Alongside these academic positions, Katherine also worked in clinical roles for nearly a decade, specifically with teen mothers, their children, and male foster care youth. These direct service positions have helped train Katherine to engage and build trust with hard-to-reach populations, often interviewing persons with severe trauma histories and/or those living with a mental health diagnosis. Her primary research interests include human trafficking and CSEC, the emergence of artificial sex workers, gender and sexual violence, race disparities in the perception of victimization and developing youth partnership models in research. Katherine’s current research is focused on a pilot project that follows 29 formerly incarcerated adults for 3 ½ months, exploring the impact of incarceration on the health and well-being on LGBTQ persons. 

Ethical and Practical Considerations for Collecting Research-Related Data from Commercially Sexually Exploited Children

Despite increased political, public, and scholarly attention, most research on the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) has been conducted using secondary data or data collected from law enforcement, NGO’s or other adult actors. This gap has been attributed to the difficulty
of collecting primary data from vulnerable minors. This presentation will draw from the author’s experience collecting longitudinal data from at-risk and CSEC youth (n=41) over a 12-month period. Several common challenges that can limit data quality will be discussed (1) participant age and
issues of consent and confidentiality; (2) attrition management with hard-to-reach and vulnerable populations; (3) concerns about interviewing traumatized minors (4) the challenges of staying in the role of researcher; (5) secondary trauma and burnout of the research staff; and (6) the burden that data collection placed on direct service providers and NGO partners. Because the process of collecting data from CSEC youth can be rife with ethical and practical challenges, the author will relay their experiences and strategies in order to encourage best practices and further progress in the field.

Dr. Christina Crenshaw is a professor, researcher, writer, and human trafficking fighter. She teaches faith and writing, vocational leadership, and human trafficking courses as a Lecturer at Baylor University. She has also co-published and presented on human trafficking curriculum research in peer reviewed journals and at academic conferences. Dr. Crenshaw recently completed a Cultural Engagement and Leadership Fellow with Dallas Theological Seminary’s Hendricks Center, which focused on how The Church engages social justice related issues, such as human trafficking, for the sake for the common good. For the last five years, Dr. Crenshaw has worked with several anti-trafficking organizations such as The A21 Campaign, UnBound Now, The Texas Governor’s Human Trafficking Task Force, The Heart of Texas Human Trafficking Coalition, and Operation Mobilization’s Freedom Climb. Prior to moving to Waco, TX, she lived in Southern California and held an Assistant Professor position in English Education at California Baptist University. Dr. Crenshaw dedicated the first four years of her career to teaching as a high school English teacher. Those early experiences birthed a soft spot in her heart for vulnerable youth.

• Scott, L., Crenshaw, C. (2019). Not in my city!: How Central Texas teachers equip students with human trafficking prevention and awareness curriculum. Journal of Educational Leadership. (53)1-19.
• Scott, L., Cresnahw, C (2017). : Examining A21 curriculum’s impact on students’ knowledge, attitudes, and advocacy about anti-Human trafficking rights and issues. Journal of Human Trafficking, (38)1-18.
• Crenshaw, C. & et. al. (2014). Bodies are not commodities Texas Version: Anti-human trafficking curriculum. The A21 Campaign.

Not in My City: How a Small City has made a Big Impact in the Fight Against Trafficking

Waco, TX has become a national leader in the fight against human trafficking. In 2015, UnBound, a newly established anti-trafficking organization founded the Heart of Texas Human Trafficking Coalition (HOTHTC). Shortly after, in 2016, the HOTHTC received a three year grant in the amount of $1.5 million from the Department of Justice and the Office of Victims of Crimes to further community work in the areas of human trafficking victim services and criminal investigations. The HOTHTC was
the only coalition in Texas and one of only seven in the nation to receive the grant in full. The HOTHTC serves McLennan County and surrounding counties within the Waco, TX area. The McLennan community is comprised of less than 200,000 people, and yet, in spite of the small demographic, there were significantly more trafficking cases in comparison to larger Texas cities such as Dallas, Austin, and Houston. This year, Unbound received an additional $200,000 in state funding from the Texas Governor’s Child Sex Trafficking Force aimed at educating secondary public school students.
This presentation provides both the narrative and the numbers supporting our community efforts to combat trafficking. Additionally, it highlights the collaboration of over a hundred community stakeholders who have made this work possible.

Hannah Fraley, PhD, RN, CNE, CPH is an Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing, College of Health and Human Development, at California State University Fullerton. She received her PhD in Population Health from the University of Massachusetts Boston. Her research program targets youth violence prevention and risk reduction. She uses community-based participatory research approaches with school faculty and survivors of trafficking nationally to illuminate labor and sex trafficking of youth in U.S. schools and build sustainable prevention programs through development of the front line role of school faculty. Dr. Fraley is a National Leader for the National Coalition to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation and serves on the Policy sub-committee. She also is a member of the American Public Health Association and serves on the School Health Education and Services Policy sub-committee. Dr. Fraley also provides expert consultation on child labor and sexual exploitation cases in the U.S.

Youth Trafficking in U.S. Schools: What We Know
and Where We Go from Here

Youth trafficking is a growing phenomenon. Trafficked youth face negative health sequelae, including HIV exposure, untreated STIs, substance abuse, and mental health struggles. Girls are at an increased risk with estimates as high as 69%, and 14% are under the age of 15 years. At-risk youth continue
attending school despite being exploited and exploiters use peer recruiters to systematically target vulnerable youth. School nurses are primary sources of healthcare for children within U.S. schools. School nurses may be the last point of possible prevention and intervention for at-risk youth who may be at risk of dropping out of school, becoming truant, running away, and victimized through trafficking. Similar to other health care providers, school nurses can lack awareness and misunderstand youth at risk for or victims of trafficking. This learning session offers an overview of the CSEC problem in the school context, latest practice updates, a review of high risk students who may be targets or victims, how to incorporate trafficking identification and prevention into the school nurses’ role, and how to advocate for students.

Sarah Godoy, MSW, is a Research Associate and a Lecturer at UCLA. Currently, she is the Co-Investigator of a pilot study adapting and piloting a reproductive and sexual health curriculum for youth with histories of commercial sexual exploitation in Los Angeles County’s foster care system. She is also the project manager of a mixed-methods, NIH-funded study examining the healthcare needs and trajectories of youth impacted by commercial sexual exploitation in the juvenile justice and child welfare systems. Sarah was a policy associate for the National Center for the Youth Law’s Collaborative Responses to Commercial Sexual Exploitation Initiative. She served as the lead researcher and copy editor of the Digital Technologies Initiative at UCLA’s Luskin Center for Innovation. She conducted preliminary research in the red-light district of Tijuana, Mexico and practiced social work with women and children in the brothels of Old Delhi, India’s red-light district. She worked directly with youth impacted by exploitation at the non-profit organization Saving Innocence. She has published in Forbes, underscoring the intersection of sex trafficking and technology; and co-authored peer-reviewed publications on youth experiencing commercial sexual exploitation. She is a board member to the non-profit organization Women Wonder Writers. 

What We Want and How We Want It: Youth with Histories of Commercial Sexual Exploitation Perspectives on Acceptability and Feasibility of mHealth to Increase Engagement in Care

Youth with histories of commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) are often involved in institutional systems of care (i.e. juvenile justice and child welfare system) in which they receive referrals to treatment and have access to health-related services. Yet, despite receiving referrals to a range of health services, utilization of these services tends to be fragmented. Although mHealth and digital technologies have shown promise for at-risk populations, research is lacking in the feasibility and acceptability of these tools to enhance engagement among youth impacted by CSE. Our study
provides insight into ways that mobile technologies can be leveraged to increase engagement and participation in healthcare services by girls and young women impacted by CSE—a group with a high degree of transience that can benefit from flexible and on demand communication method with
healthcare providers.

Dr. Kimberly Majeski is a scholar, storyteller and activist who has been in full-time preaching ministry for more than twenty years. She is an ordained pastor in the Church of God, Anderson, Indiana and serves as the Associate Professor of Biblical Studies and Christian Ministries at Anderson University.Kimberly’s scholarship is featured on the History Channel, A&E, and in many books, articles and publications. She lives at the heart of the justice movement as an activist and the leader of Stripped Love, a non profit serving victims of sex trafficking. A widely sought after preacher herself, Kimberly brings her years of front line experience and academic preparation to the Preacher Girl School experience, an online community and digital course for women in ministry.

When Poverty is Your Pimp: Exploring the Myth of
Choice in Domestic Sex Trafficking in the Heartland

For more than a decade Kimberly Majeski has served women and children who are victims of domestic sex trafficking and commercial exploitation in Central Indiana. In this workshop, we will explore the inherent correlations of circumstantial and generational poverty related to domestic trafficking and how women and children without access and agency are particularly at risk for sex slavery and exploitation. This break out will feature real life stories and statistics and demonstrate practical ways communities can work together to offer intentional alternative support and prevention
education for women and children at risk.

Gonzalo Martinez de Vedia is the Program Manager for the Buffett-McCain Institute Initiative to Combat Modern Slavery, a comprehensive program to counter labor trafficking in the agricultural sector in Texas. Previously, he served as a Senior Policy Associate at Humanity United, where he helped manage the Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking, and as a Human Trafficking Specialist for the Worker Justice Center of New York, where led targeted outreach to high-risk workplaces, and led several multiagency anti-trafficking task forces. Martinez has also served as a Human Rights Commissioner for the County of Ulster, New York, and Policy Co-chair for Freedom Network USA. He has informed rights-related coverage for NPR Weekend Edition, This American Life, and the New York Times, among many other national and local media outlets. Martinez was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He holds a Bachelor’s degree cum laude from Cornell University, where he was the Founding President of the Immigrant Farmworker Initiative, and a Master’s in Criminal Justice from Arizona State University.  His latest publication — Labor Trafficking: The Garcia Case and Beyond — is in print with the Lawyers and Judges Publishing Company in Phoenix.

Labor Trafficking of Children

Is the sight of a 12-year-old child hand-harvesting berries for a wage on a U.S. farm proof enough a crime is taking place? If that child was forced or coerced, yes — all forms of human trafficking, including child labor trafficking, are illegal in the U.S. However, many forms of child labor, including the scenario above, are allowed by federal U.S. law. Indeed, U.S. regulations often allow children to work at ages below international norms, with particularly low standards in sectors at high risk of trafficking such as agriculture. This session will explore the general hazards of this lax regulatory framework, then go on to explore how the use of force, fraud and/or coercion against child workers deepens the gravity of the issue. Participants will learn of historical and systemic causes of child labor
trafficking, examine specific cases of this human rights abuse, and learn to differentiate between legal, if morally questionable, forms of U.S. child labor, and cases where threats or force make children’s work arrangements illegal. Additionally, the session will explore how unaccompanied immigrant minors, as well as minors in economically stressed households, face particular vulnerabilities.

Arduizur Carli Richie-Zavaleta, DrPH, MASP, MAIPS, is a faculty member in the Graduate and Professional Studies Program of the University of New England—MPH Online program. She earned a doctoral degree in public health with an emphasis in community health and prevention from the Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University. Her national and international diverse academic and professional background also includes sociological practices and human rights studies. Her research focuses on deepening the understanding of those who have experienced gender-violence such as trafficking, among other vulnerable populations and their intersections with risk behaviors and access to healthcare services. Her goal is to inform best practices and policy at the local and state level. Dr. Richie-Zavaleta’s academic and community work aligns with her advocacy efforts through educating the public about the complexities of accessing healthcare for patient-victims of sex trafficking as well as sharing possible ways to narrow the gaps on research and medical services and best practices. She currently supports the work of the Research Committee for the San Diego County Human Trafficking & CSEC Advisory Council as an alternate co-chair and consultant.

Sex trafficking victims at their junction with the
healthcare setting—A mixed-methods inquiry

U.S.-born citizens are victims of human trafficking typically exploited through sex trafficking. At least some of them interact with healthcare providers during their trafficking experience; yet a majority goes unidentified. Although protocols and training guides exist, healthcare providers often do not have the necessary skills to identify and assist victims of sex trafficking. Understanding where victims seek care and barriers for disclosure are critical components for intervention. Thus, this study interviewed survivors of sex trafficking to ascertain a) healthcare settings visited during trafficking, b) reasons for seeking care, and c) barriers to disclosing victimization. An exploratory concurrent mixed-methods approach was utilized. Data were collected between 2016–2017 in San Diego, CA and Philadelphia, PA (N = 21). Key findings: 1) Among healthcare settings, emergency departments (76.2%) and community clinics (71.4%) were the most frequently visited; 2) medical care was sought mainly for treatment of STIs (81%); and 3) main barrier inhibiting disclosure of victimization included feeling ashamed (84%). Healthcare settings provide an opportunity to identify victims of sex trafficking, but interventions that are trauma-informed and victim-centered are essential.

Hanni Stoklosa, MD, MPH, is the Executive Director of HEAL Trafficking, an emergency physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. Dr. Stoklosa is an internationally-recognized expert, advocate, researcher, and speaker on the wellbeing of trafficking survivors in the U.S. and internationally through a public health lens. She has advised the United Nations, International Organization for Migration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Department of State, and the National Academy of Medicine on issues of human trafficking and testified as an expert witness multiple times before the U.S. Congress. She has conducted research on trafficking and persons facing the most significant social, economic, and health challenges in a diversity of settings including Australia, China, Egypt, Guatemala, India, Liberia, Nepal, Kazakhstan, the Philippines, South Sudan, Taiwan, and Thailand. Dr. Stoklosa published the first textbook addressing the public health response to trafficking, “Human Trafficking Is a Public Health Issue, A Paradigm Expansion in the United States.”

The Health Care Response to Labor Trafficking

The majority of trafficked persons in the United States access healthcare at some point while being trafficked. This means that health care must be equipped to care for all trafficked persons, including labor trafficked individuals. Health systems across the United States are designing policies and procedures to respond to trafficking and health professionals are being trained on trafficking. However, many protocols and education on trafficking are focused exclusively on sex trafficking. The gaps in labor trafficking responses in the health sector are multifactorial in etiology, however research is in its infancy. This presentation will include a conceptual framework, literature review, and research agenda for the health care response to labor trafficking as well as preliminary findings
from medical legal partnership data sets.

Dr. Lianne A. Urada is Assistant Professor at San Diego State University School of Social Work and an adjunct faculty at UC San Diego Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health and Center on Gender Equity and Health. She co-chairs the Research Subcommittee of the San Diego Regional Human Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) Advisory Council. Dr. Urada, with social work graduate student co-investigators Lauren Azar, Christian Cacho, and John Kennon, will explore the extent of and intersections between human trafficking (sex trade and sexual exploitation), housing instability, and food insecurity among San Diego State University students. Participants in the study (SDSU students/alumni, stakeholders) were recruited via posted fliers and snowball sampling to participate in an online survey and/or in-depth interviews. Themes include the influence of stigma in seeking help and the correlation between sexual exploitation and college Greek organization affiliation. Results may inform interventions to prevent recidivism (homelessness, human trafficking, academic probation) and to increase awareness about sexual exploitation and human trafficking on college campuses. 

Sexual Exploitation on College Campuses

Dr. Urada, with social work graduate student co-investigators Lauren Azar, Christian Cacho, and John Kennon, will explore the extent of and intersections between human trafficking (sex trade and sexual exploitation), housing instability, and food insecurity among San Diego State University students. Participants in the study (SDSU students/alumni, stakeholders) were recruited via posted fliers and snowball sampling to participate in an online survey and/or in-depth interviews. Themes include
the influence of stigma in seeking help and the correlation between sexual exploitation and college Greek organization affiliation. Results may inform interventions to prevent recidivism (homelessness, human trafficking, academic probation) and to increase awareness about sexual exploitation and human trafficking on college campuses.

Rachel VerWys’ experience roots itself in a variety of communities from Southern California to Western Michigan.  She is the Co-Creator and Executive Director of SEE: Solutions to End Exploitation a collective impact organization which utilizes collective storytelling research, facilitates cross sector collaboration with the Kent County Area Human Trafficking Coalition, and strategizes for creative possibility to create a future free from human trafficking. She has taught as an adjunct professor at Calvin University and consulted with organizations for strategic planning and community listening. Her formal education includes a BSW degree (Calvin University) and an MSW degree (University of Southern California) with an emphasis in community organizing, planning and administration. She has been a part of holistic community development on multiple levels, in her own neighborhood, city, and the broader community.   Her vocational areas of focus include: facilitation, social enterprise, collaboration building, and innovative organizational development.  She co-conspires in life with her husband of 20 years, Ryan, and each day they are schooled by their 4 lovely children.

Missy Weismann is the Research and Intelligence Director at Solutions to End Exploitation in Grand Rapids, MI. She is also an ongoing contributing consultant with Praesidium Partners, a research organization, utilizing her specific expertise in digital intelligence collection and national Law Enforcement and criminal justice partner engagement around human trafficking networks and the illicit massage industry. Her work focuses on understanding the nuances of Human trafficking as a criminal enterprise and applying this knowledge to community impact and change on both micro and macro levels. Counter human trafficking became her passion after living and working in sub-Saharan Africa brought her face to face with complex issues swirling around the crime of human trafficking. 

Celia Williamson, PhD., MSW is the Director of the Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute at the University of Toledo and host of the Human Trafficking and Social Justice Conference. Dr. Williamson has 25 years of experience working with victims, organizing anti-trafficking coalitions and commissions, and received ten years of federal funding from the NIH and/or DOJ, and five years of state and foundation funding to conduct prostitution and trafficking research.

Understanding Which Youth are At Risk for Sex Trafficking and Responding

With limited time, money, and resources, advocates need to know which youth are at the highest risk for sex trafficking and then do their best to prevent it. The presenter will provide the audience with a new and free human trafficking risk assessment tool (HTRISK) developed at the University of Toledo’s Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute with support from the Ohio Children’s Trust Fund and will provide instructions on how to administer and score it. Findings from use of the tool on over 400 Ohio youth will be presented. Once understood, the majority of the session will be devoted to discussing effective ways to implement programming and policies aimed at reducing risk, increasing protective factors, and removing the barriers to serving youth at high-risk for sex trafficking.

Panels

THE COMMUNITY RESILIENCY MODEL WORKSHOP

PURPOSE: The Community Resiliency Model® (CRM®) is a research-informed intervention to help individuals and communities in the aftermath of traumatic events. CRM®’s goal is to create “trauma-informed” and “resiliency-focused” communities that share a common understanding of the impact of trauma and chronic stress on the nervous system and how resiliency can be restored using this skills-based approach. Trauma can
be experienced as ‘too much, too fast’, as in shock trauma like acts of terrorism, or ‘too little or too much, for too long’, as in developmental and cumulative trauma. CRM® can be delivered by the natural leaders of communities as well as mental health providers and medical practitioners. It is affordable, accessible, portable and adaptable. CRM® is based on our current neuroscience and teaches six biologically-based wellness skills to return the mind and body back into a more balanced state. Randomized control trials are being conducted and our first was published in January 2020 by Nursing Outlook. CRM® has been used internationally in the United Kingdom, Europe, Asia, Africa, North American, Central America and South America.

Jessica Karas Waterson, LMFT, TRI Senior Faculty is a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist who specializes in the treatment of PTSD, anxiety and depression. She has a private practice in Old Town San Diego, CA. She has been involved with The Trauma Resource Institute since 2007 when she accompanied Elaine Miller-Karas to Nairobi, Kenya. She is a certified CRM Teacher and Trainer and Consultant for CRM and TRM, including ongoing consultations for North County Lifeline. She has trained/facilitated in a variety of different settings throughout the United States. She has worked in an array of different therapeutic settings including Alvarado Parkway Institute, which is an inpatient/forensic psychiatric hospital in San Diego. She was also the lead psychotherapist at an inpatient/outpatient chronic pain and addiction/dependency recovery treatment center. Her clinical work was highlighted on A&E’s Intervention. 

Elaine Miller-Karas, MSW, LCSW, is the co-founder and Director
of Innovation, Vision, and Creativity for the Trauma Resource Institute. She
is the author of the book, Building Resiliency to Trauma, the Trauma and
Community Resiliency Models® (2015). She has worked internationally
to bring healing to the world’s community. Her models to date have been brought to 102 countries in Asia, Africa, North America, the Mid-East, Central America, South America and Europe. She is a recognized international speaker and author and has presented the Community Resiliency Model® at the Skoll World Forum and the United Nations. Elaine’s book was selected recently by the United Nations curated on-line library as one of the innovations that can help meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Elaine is a founding member of the International Transformational Resilience Coalition and a leading advocate
with regard to the impact of climate change on the human condition. She is a Senior Consultant to Emory University’s SEE Learning program, inspired by and launched by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in New Delhi, India in April 2019. She is also on faculty at Loma Linda University’s School of Social
Work.

Michael Sapp, Ph.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist and the Chief Executive Officer of the Trauma Resource Institute. Dr. Sapp has worked with TRI since 2010 and as a Trauma Resiliency Model® and Community Resiliency Model® Senior Trainer, he has helped train clinicians and non-clinician community leaders both domestically and internationally. He has helped provide training throughout the U.S., including California, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, New York, and North Carolina. Likewise, he has helped provide training internationally, including England, Germany, Iceland, Nepal, Northern Ireland, the Philippines, and Turkey. Dr. Sapp co-authored a chapter with Elaine Miller-Karas entitled, “The Nervous System, Memory, and Trauma” in Ms. Miller-Karas’ book Building Resilience to Trauma: The Trauma and Community.

Kathleen Thomas, APCC, NCC has been working with victim/survivors of sexual and relationship violence since 2010. During this time, Kathleen has worked in many capacities including case management, staffing crisis and emergency response hotlines, victim advocacy, care coordination, and psychotherapy services. Providing services to individuals of varied ages, genders, sexual orientations, and cultural backgrounds, she has worked with victims of intimate partner violence, sexual assault, childhood domestic violence, child sexual abuse, stalking, campus sexual assault, and human trafficking. With a background in training and research, Kathleen has also facilitated training on the Community Resilience Model, LGBTQ service provision, vicarious trauma for service providers, neurobiology, cultural competency/humility, domestic violence, trauma-informed care, and HIV and AIDS service provision. Kathleen is also currently an adjunct faculty member of Bastyr University in the Counseling Psychology and Naturopathic Medicine programs. As Clinical Training Coordinator for North County Lifeline’s Project LIFE, Kathleen provides trauma-reprocessing, intensive case management, victim advocacy, and psychotherapy to individuals who have experienced exploitation and trafficking in San Diego County. Kathleen also provides training to collaborative partners, community members, and other service providers on human trafficking identification and services, trauma-informed care, cultural competency/humility, and best practice.