Peel Region, Ontario is the second-largest municipality in the Greater Toronto Area. It’s located in Canada's largest economic area, borders the United States, has an airport, and has 5 major highways passing through. Peel continues to be a hot spot for sexual exploitation and is facing various economic crises, which have increased risks and vulnerabilities in its community. Housing continues to be a crisis, which adds to the challenges and increases risk and vulnerabilities for youth experiencing homelessness. Recognizing and understanding the intersectionality of youth homelessness and sexual exploitation, participants will take away a comprehensive understanding of the keys to providing intervention and establishing prevention for exploitation within youth shelters. Through operating Peel’s youth shelters and nCourage (Peel’s Anti-Human Trafficking Integrated Service Hub), Our Place Peel will shed light on the reality, risks, and vulnerabilities when youth experience homelessness. Youth continue to be an overrepresented group in homelessness and exploitation. The presenter will explore policies, interventions, and practices that support young people through their journey to healing and housing. Attendees will take with them the importance of community collaboration, client-centered/led work, and advocacy for systems change.

 

Presentation Objectives:

•  Provide an understanding of the intersectionality of youth homelessness and sexual exploitation

•  Discuss examples of intervention and prevention strategies and community collaborations to help support youth experiencing homelessness and sexual exploitation

•  Explain how to increase access to dedicated support and services for youth experiencing homelessness who are at risk of or identify as victims/survivors

•  Increase collaboration, coordination, and evidence-based practice across the system responding to human sex trafficking with the youth population

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Children and young people voraciously consume technology and social media, expanding social connections and relationships far beyond previous generations. With such advances, it has been argued, young people are at greater risk of exposure to unwanted sexual material and advances via these media. Some youth appear to be particularly vulnerable to internet solicitation, placing them at significant risk of subsequent sexual victimization. This presentation is an extension of last year’s discussion at the IHTSJ Conference. It will serve to review basic theory and how early disruptions in attachment and developmental needs contribute to vulnerability to internet solicitation and sexual exploitation and trafficking. Using this information as a springboard, the discussion will highlight various avenues of improving prevention, detection, and intervention, ranging from parent education, to provider education, to greater system involvement and program development.

 

Presentation Objectives:

•  Explore how attachment and development may contribute to specific vulnerabilities to online grooming and solicitation

•  Discuss various applications of theory in improving prevention, detection and intervention

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This presentation will outline the ups and downs in a decade long investigation into one of the biggest human traffickers in Dallas, Texas: Macc Bucc. This presentation will dive into the lives of those trafficked and the remaining scars that are still evident in their lives. This presentation will also show the loyalty that human trafficking victims have towards their trafficker. Detectives will show the different methods used to build evidence in this case that covered multiple jurisdictions. Attendees will see how other investigative techniques can be used to collect evidence and the small part it plays in the “big picture.” Attendees will see how perseverance in an investigation led to a greater outcome that benefits the public even more so than law enforcement. Attendees can use this case study as a means for successful investigations in the field of human trafficking. As human trafficking becomes an even bigger focus for law enforcement and the community, this session will show detectives the work involved in these types of prosecutions.

 

Presentation Objectives:

•  Discuss the loyalty of trafficking victims and why they "choose" the life

•  Describe the different investigative techniques when faced with these type of investigations

•  Explain how thinking outside the investigative box and patience can pay off in the end

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One would think that human trafficking victims are mostly kidnapped against their will by very powerful trafficking rings. However, this is not the case in a Southern Nigerian state known as Edo State. Majority of the sex trafficking victims in West Africa hail from this part of the country. Parents plead with traffickers to sponsor their daughters abroad to “hustle” as early as 16 years of age. What would make a parent consent to the trafficking of his or her own offspring? They claim they want the family to have a better financial life and to escape the harsh realities of a country where most youths are unemployed and majority of the population live below poverty level. The major push factor of sex trafficking in Africa has always been poverty. Victims, as well as parents, consent to their own trafficking in that part of the world. The victims even willingly participate in oath ceremonies orchestrated by traffickers through voodoo priests. This presentation will discuss the legal implication of a victim's consent to being trafficked (e.g., Does a victim's consent reduce a trafficker's culpability?). This presentation will conclude with initiatives and recommendations to the government of Africa as well as NGOs on how to curb this menace especially through providing a better economy for its people and through education.

Presentation Objectives:

•  Discuss the legal implication of a victim's consent to being trafficked

•  Explain how most West African sex trafficking victims' parents recruit their own daughters into trafficking.

•  Provide insight into the role of poverty as a push factor of sex trafficking in Africa

•  Provide recommendations for prevention

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Through the lens of complex trauma and posttraumatic growth, this workshop will share findings from a qualitative study focused on the impact and experiences of sex trafficking survivors. This study included in-depth interviews and photovoice methods and followed principles of trauma-informed research with 15 adult survivors who were all trafficked within the United States and had been separated from the trafficker for minimum one year. Using purposive convenience selection with snowball sampling, it answered the following research questions: What are the experiences of adult female domestic sex trafficking survivors? How do women view these experiences as influencing identity, sexuality, relationships, and seeking services after separation from trafficker? What factors do survivors believe contribute to community reintegration? Through rich data from interviews and photovoice captioned images, workshop participants will hear and see direct evidence of the aspects of complex trauma as well as the capacity for posttraumatic growth. This presentation will specifically emphasize the power of “bearing witness” to another’s pain through empathic listening and witness, as a mutual benefit for transforming traumatic experiences, and thus serving as a catalyst for societal change. Participants will listen to the voices and impact of sex trafficking through photography taken by survivors and practice having our listening inform our response. Finally, workshop participants will receive recommendations directly from the voices of survivors on what factors help or hinder community reintegration and posttraumatic growth. Key findings that will be explored include avoiding re-traumatization and re-exploitation and the integral role of relationship in the reintegration process for survivors.

Presentation Objectives:

•  Define the practice of bearing witness to complex trauma and posttraumatic growth and how it is observed in victims of domestic sex trafficking

•  Provide recommendations for post-trafficking community reintegration that come directly from survivors of sex trafficking

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The world is harder for girls than it has ever been. Data released in 2023 from the CDC revealed that nearly 60% of high school girls reported feeling persistently sad or hopeless, 30% have seriously considered suicide, and 20% experienced sexual violence. While these statistics are alarming, there is increased concern when taken into consideration with vulnerabilities associated with exploitation. Research shows that when girls have low self-confidence, decreased connection and support, and lack of access to accurate information, they are at an increased risk for exploitation. The CDC findings are a signal that precise attention be paid to the health, safety, education, and empowerment of girls. Calls for programs, interventions, and efforts that increase girls’ connection to school, sense of belonging, and coping skills have made clear the necessity of programs and organizations like Ruling Our eXperiences, Inc. (ROX). ROX is the national leader in programming, research, and education focused on girls. Their mission is to create generations of confident girls who control their own relationships, experiences, decisions, and futures. ROX uses the best practices in research to implement evidence-based empowerment programming in schools, conduct large-scale national research, and educate the community on the issues impacting girls. This presentation will highlight the ROX 20-week evidence-based program which is delivered in schools across 33 states with girls in grades 5-12. Attendees will gain an understanding of the skills, competencies, and support needed to reduce vulnerabilities and will leave with specific strategies for protecting and empowering girls.

 

Presentation Objectives:

•  Discuss risk factors for exploitation of girls

•  Describe the skills, competencies, and supports necessary for reducing girls’ vulnerabilities

•  Provide specific strategies for empowering and supporting girls

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Attendees will learn the importance of shared language, building relationships, and fostering trust. They will gain knowledge about a collaborative communication approach that encourages input from victims and survivors to build safety and trust in relationships. By learning to communicate with commonly accepted terms across disciplines, attendees can adapt language that reduces stigma and bias to overcome barriers. They will also gain insight into advancing individual-centered outreach and support services through civic engagement, non-government, and government partnerships while combatting human trafficking at the local, state, and federal levels. Carolyn Kinkoph will explain how the victimization of her daughter, Courtney, and ongoing advocacy efforts as a co-founder of the Alliance Against Human Trafficking (AAHT) highlight the need to utilize meaningful shared language and individual-centered strategies that support victims of human trafficking without stigmatizing, revictimizing, and retraumatizing them. Carolyn’s experience, ability to collaborate, and education provide insight into various anti-trafficking strategies for human trafficking prevention from human rights, criminal justice, social justice, and healthcare perspectives. The complexities and intersections of human trafficking along with the failure of several systems drive Carolyn’s determination to command change. She will share how encounters with providers, law enforcement agencies, survivors, and professionals in several disciplines further her ability to educate and partner with others. Attendees will learn about the importance of utilizing a proactive approach to break silos, coordinate efforts within and across systems, build multidisciplinary teams, and use shared language to promote trauma-responsive comprehensive care for victims and survivors of human trafficking, exploitation, and abuse.

 

Presentation Objectives:

•  Discuss the role of language relative to the victimization of individuals and interactions with others from different perspectives

•  Explain how to apply what individuals learn from experiences and the importance of using shared language

•  Describe the various resources that have the ability to assist a victim of trafficking using trauma-informed, individual-centered strategies

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In this presentation, Jarrett Davis and Wendy Stiver explore the ethical application of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance survivor-led research. The presentation begins by providing an overview of the critical ethical issues related to AI that must be addressed to responsibly incorporate this technology into research and society. Best-case and worst-case scenarios, likely outcomes, and necessary policies and processes to proactively address potential risks while harnessing AI's benefits are examined. The focus then shifts to practical applications of AI to enhance survivor-led research, particularly in qualitative data analysis. Using sample interviews, Davis and Stiver demonstrate how AI-powered thematic analysis tools can efficiently synthesize qualitative data while allowing for human verification and triangulation. This approach has immense potential to empower survivors to shape research and uncover impactful insights without the typical barriers in qualitative work. Attendees will gain an understanding of key ethical considerations in practical knowledge of leveraging AI to enhance qualitative research and inspiration for thoughtfully harnessing new technology for social good in a survivor-centered way. The accessible live demonstration aims to spark ideas for responsibly integrating AI into attendees' own work supporting and empowering survivors.

 

Presentation Objectives:

•  Provide an overview of key ethical considerations in applying AI to survivor-led research

•  Summarize currently available models and their differing approaches and applications, along with limitations applied to survivor and community led research in the development field

•  Demonstrate how AI can facilitate proposing qualitative research and analysis in a more accessible, holistic, and accurate developing survivor-led research

•  Inspire attendees to thoughtfully leverage AI for social good in a survivor-centered way

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This training equips professionals with the skills to establish Peer-Led Support Groups tailored for survivors of trafficking, specifically focusing on leveraging virtual spaces to enhance accessibility. Participants will learn effective strategies for creating a supportive online environment where survivors can connect, share experiences, and foster a sense of community. Attendees will gain practical insights into facilitating meaningful discussions, utilizing virtual tools, and addressing potential challenges unique to online platforms. This training aims to empower participants with the tools needed to build a virtual community that enhances support, connectivity, and healing for survivors of trafficking.

 

Presentation Objectives:

•  Describe virtual tools for support groups

•  Discuss gains and challenges of virtual spaces for support groups and how to effectively facilitate using these platforms

•  Discuss ongoing program evaluation and lessons learned by Restoring Ivy Collective

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