Learn from four dynamic individuals who share their personal stories of mental health recovery. Panelists highlight the healing power of art, and present a two-fold perspective: 1) how art making helps deal with significant life challenges, such as poverty, grief, depression and trauma; and 2) how art making propels life transformation. The panelists will show a sampling of personal artwork to visually demonstrate and to strengthen understanding of key points. Connections between core recovery skills, instillation of hope, safety, self-efficacy, resilience, and art making will be discussed. The potential for art to impact community awareness of mental health needs and inspire social action will also be discussed. The audience is invited to raise questions and engage in dialogue with the panelists.
Presentation Objectives:

·       Present diverse perspectives on the role of art in recovery

·       Illuminate connections between art making and core recovery skills

·       Create dialogue about opportunities and pathways for artful healing on personal and community platforms

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This presentation provides advocates with a firm understanding of how to prevent the trafficking of minors. Until now, there has not been a comprehensive, evidence-informed model for preventing the trafficking of youth. Youth disproportionately at risk of becoming trafficked require targeted awareness and prevention efforts. A thorough literature review was conducted by the research team to identify at-risk to high-risk youth. Presenters will provide a multi-tiered system of awareness and prevention activities targeting high-risk youth and the adults that interact with them. The tiers are outlined in a manner that allows an individual or collaborative anti-trafficking team to build a successful prevention strategy that includes the use of one or more of the identified tiers. Each tier becomes more complex, moving from effective coalition building (Tier 1), to general community-wide awareness of human trafficking (Tier 2), to targeted awareness (Tier 3), and to a comprehensive curriculum for high-risk youth (Tier 4). Each tier is equipped with a checklist to assess prevention activities and evaluation tools to assess the outcome of prevention activities. This project was supported by a grant from the Ohio Department of Higher Education for the Ohio Children’s Trust Fund.
Presentation Objectives:

·         Explain which youth are most at-risk

·         Discuss ways to engage in human trafficking prevention

·         Describe strategies to assess prevention activities and evaluate outcomes

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The healthcare system is frequently accessed by victims of human trafficking. One study shows that 88% of survivors of sex trafficking accessed healthcare services while being trafficked. Healthcare professionals have a critical opportunity to identify potential victims while they are being trafficked and offer services and support. This presentation will include current research as well as case studies, identification of red flags, and suggested healthcare interventions. A focus on victim-centered care is emphasized.

Presentation Objectives:

·       Review current research around victims of human trafficking in healthcare settings

·       Identify human trafficking red flags

·       Examine suggested healthcare interventions

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When it comes to the criminal and civil justice process, victims of crime do not often know how to navigate the system. Because appointed counsel is usually only provided for defendants, victims are also left without any legal guidance or information about their rights as a victim of crime. Victim advocates from rape crisis and domestic violence resource centers are often left to “bridge the gap” of legal services for victims. However, because victim advocates are not licensed attorneys, there is very little they can do to provide guidance and advice to victims under the law. Fortunately, there are licensed private attorneys in some communities that are willing to partner with sexual and domestic violence advocates to provide more comprehensive legal services to victims of crime. This presentation aims to provide an example of how a partnership between legal advocates and attorneys can help to bridge this gap in victim services.

Presentation Objectives:

·       Provide information on how professional partnerships between legal advocates and attorneys can be a possible solution to the lack of legal resources available to crime victims

·       Encourage advocates and attorneys in the audience to develop partnerships within their communities that can benefit the clients they serve

·       Start a dialogue about civil legal remedies within the criminal justice process

·       Stress the importance of an advocate’s role in the Civil Protection Order process

·       Share examples of cases in which a partnership between an advocate and attorney was successful

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IThe Human Trafficking Law Clinic provides legal services to juvenile and adult sex-trafficking survivors. This involves assisting with criminal, divorce, housing, employment, and other issues. The Renee Jones Empowerment Center (RJEC) provides support groups, individual counseling, art therapy, trauma-informed yoga, and more to sex-trafficking survivors. The Law Clinic and the RJEC formed a partnership to better serve their clients that was premised on their Directors' shared belief: survivors thrive when they have access to continued care, support, and resources. Providing survivors with services for a few months, as some models do, has not proven effective. Both the Law Clinic and the RJEC form long-term and sustained relationships with their clients that last for an indeterminate period of time.
The Law Clinic and the RJEC have partnered in many projects to help survivors and to educate the public on issues related to human trafficking. The Law Clinic developed a Survivor-Educator Certification program, which trained survivors in a trauma-informed setting on how to share their story with others and Renee Jones served as a facilitator in these classes. Ms. Jones and Professor Guirguis created a prison outreach program at Marysville prison and at the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Detention Center. RJEC and the Law Clinic have also partnered on many other outreach and educational programs. Overall, the partnership of the Law Clinic and the Renee Jones Empowerment Center has allowed both entities to better serve the needs of sex-trafficking survivors and better educate the community about the realities of this horrible crime.

Presentation Objectives:

• Educate the audience about legal and support services for juvenile and adult sex trafficking survivors
• Discuss services assisting with criminal, divorce, housing, employment and other issues

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The significance of the Sahara Desert to global security is beyond the representation of the entire region as an empty terrain. Through that same landscape, myriads of nuisance have evolved, from the latent stage to the point where the global curiosity and concerns became heightened. The Trans-Sahara Migration is not just a threat to the survival and balance of Africa, it is one single and biggest challenge threatening the survival of the greatest and the most successful supranational coalition in the world, the European Union, and by connection, every developed nation. Understanding the activities of the regions around the Sahara Desert and the opportunistic illicit transactions that exist in the area is key to finding a universal management plan to the quagmire of issues emanating from the region. The expedition of migrants, potential victims of human trafficking, and refugees aiming to cross the Mediterranean must take them through the North African region. Between the many points of entry and the point of the final voyage in the North Africa, migrants go through trades and activities that keep emerging with history and time. Although Libya remains a traditional route amongst migrants and refugees, the challenges through the Sahara Desert and Libya is as dangerous as the voyage of the Mediterranean. Theoretical analyses have been conducted on the changes in the activities of the organized syndicate groups using these routes over the years, the cultural mindsets of the receiving hosts, and the profiteering that accrues along this axis. Such analyses open up more opportunity for greater scholarship that can fill the existing gaps in security and migration studies.

Presentation Objectives:

·       Explain Trans-Saharan European migration

·       Discuss the dangers to potential victims of human trafficking and refugees who make this migration

·       Address some of the gaps in security

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This engaging journey will provide a greater understanding of how childhood sexual abuse, the foster care system, and human trafficking are all connected. Amy’s personal testimony will leave you inspired and hopeful for a future without human trafficking.  Amy explains how her own experience with abuse, severe disassociation, substance abuse, and cognitive issues set her up to be a target for predators. Children in foster care, runaways, throwaways, and homeless are at a much greater risk of being trafficked than the typical child in America. Preventing human trafficking has proven to be a difficult endeavor, but do not lose hope. Through holistic approaches in mental health, intervention and restoration are possible. This session will explain the physical, emotional, and spiritual impact that trauma in childhood had on Amy’s life and how her experiences can be used to identify and respond to victims, and potential victims, of human trafficking.

Presentation Objectives:

• Describe the connection between children in foster care, runaways, throwaways, and homeless children and sex trafficking
• Describe how early intervention, support systems, and holistic therapy options can prevent sex trafficking through case studies and the presenter’s personal testimony

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