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ATI’s mission is to prevent human trafficking before it starts, and our strategic high school and community education programs aim to reach at-risk populations before they encounter the deceitful recruitment practices of traffickers who are bent on exploitation. The presentations in the Prevention cohort of Anti-Trafficking Conference 2023 focus on how the challenges of childhood trauma, substance abuse, the opioid epidemic, social media, modern culture, and the role of the buyer contribute to the tragedy of human trafficking. |
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The Connection Between Trauma, Substance Use and Commercial Sexual Exploitation Dawn Ferrer | Executive Director, A Safe Place Dawn Ferrer is Executive Director at A Safe Place, a non-profit in Wilmington, NC where she created a 12-bed emergency shelter specifically designed for trafficking victims and their children, and designed a 10-week after-school program for vulnerable girls aged 11-14 called EmpoweredMe! to link them with mentors and build self-esteem. |
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She is also the primary human trafficking trainer for Trillium Health Resources where she instructs law enforcement, EMS and fire officials on how to identify and help victims using a trauma-informed, person-centered approach. In this presentation, Ms. Ferrer will provide an in-depth overview of sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation and the correlation with trauma and substance use. She will discuss victimology, childhood trauma and Adverse Childhood Events (ACEs), substance use before and after trafficking, trauma-informed language in crisis response and how changing perceptions can decrease stigma toward survivors. Participants will have a better understanding of survivors, their experiences and behaviors and how their vulnerabilities led them down the path to exploitation. |
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Why Men Matter in Human Trafficking: How Focusing on Men Can Reduce Demand and Supply for Human Trafficking Jeff Rush | Ph.D., Public Administration | M.S., Criminal Justice | MA, Educational Leadership Jeff Rush has over 40 years of experience as a law enforcement officer, juvenile probation officer, and private security officer. Retired from 30 years of full-time teaching, he is an adjunct professor and continues to serve in law enforcement as an Alabama Peace Officers’ Standards and Training Commission Deputy Sheriff. |
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He is a trainer for the Child Trafficking Solutions Project and a former board member, and past Chairman of the Board of the Faith Based Security Network (FBSN), the immediate past chairman of the Police Section, and a board member of the Security and Crime Prevention Section at the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. In this presentation, Dr. Rush will discuss how human trafficking is built on the economic theory of supply and demand. Buyers make the commercial sex market profitable, and focusing on the demand – men – can reduce the supply. |
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Social Media and the Impact on the Meteoric Rise of Human Trafficking in America Judith Paparozzi, Esq. | Professor at University of North Carolina, Pembroke Judith Paparozzi has 30+ years of experience in various aspects of the criminal justice system, including as a parole board hearing and appeals officer, assistant county prosecutor specializing in narcotics cases, a prosecutor in the superior and municipal courts of New Jersey, criminal defense attorney and public defender. |
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She now teaches criminal law, criminal justice, and human trafficking courses at UNC Pembroke. In 2017 and 20221, she received UNC Pembroke’s Outstanding Teaching Award for her work in human trafficking. In this presentation, Ms. Paparozzi will discuss the role social media plays in the spread of human trafficking, how predators use to their advantage the fact that young people on social media are looking for validation in order to scout their victims and manipulate them behind a veil of anonymity, and what parents can do to protect their children from this fast-growing and lucrative crime. |
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The Deadly Intersection Between Human Trafficking and the Opioid Crisis Barbara Amaya | Advocate, Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Trainer, Author | Director of Survivor Leadership at Anti-Trafficking International Barbara Amaya is a survivor leader and has dedicated her life to combating human trafficking and violence against women and children. She holds a background in education, a credential in early childhood development, and a Ph.D. in psychology. Barbara has been actively raising awareness of the sexual exploitation of children and domestic sex trafficking since 2012. |
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She is the author of the award-winning memoir Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Lost Innocence, Modern Day Slavery and Transformation, which describes her experiences as a teen on the streets of New York City as a victim of domestic minor sex trafficking and exploitation, and her eventual escape. Ms. Amaya provides training to law enforcement, healthcare professionals, teachers, and counselors on how to interact and interview victims in a trauma-informed manner. She received the James B. Hunter Human Rights Award in 2014 and the ATI Survivor Leadership Award in 2021. Ms. Amaya will discuss how traffickers often use drugs and addition as tools to control and manipulate victims. This presentation is tailored for medical experts, first responders, parents, teachers, substance abuse counselors, and community leaders who want to understand what human trafficking survivors experience, and how to spot someone who is being trafficked while struggling with addiction. |
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Sex Trafficking: A Culture of Commodification from a Biblical Worldview Alcinda Hatfield | Colson Fellow and Community Ambassador, Anti-Trafficking International Alcinda Hatfield is dedicated to protecting young people through anti-human trafficking awareness and prevention programs for students and parents. Over the last two decades, she has mentored hundreds of children through volunteer programs in faith-based and secular organizations, as well as through educational programs at her farm in Virginia. |
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In this presentation, Ms. Hatfield advocates for prevention programs rooted in a biblical worldview. She discusses sexual exploitation, its resulting harms, and ways to safeguard youth from skilled traffickers and protect families in today’s secular culture of hyper sexualized commodification, where it is easy strip human beings of dignity and to regard them as objects to be used, traded, and discarded. |
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Sex Trafficking Prevention and Interception Zoey Bullock | Business Consultant and Trauma Healing Advocate Zoey Bullock is a business consultant, energy healer, mentor, and trauma healing advocate. Her personal healing journey inspired her business expansion from e-learning consulting for healers and nonprofits, to becoming a healer herself. She is currently writing a book about how trauma sufferers can reclaim their power. In this presentation geared towards parents, Ms. Bullock will present a high level overview of her survivor story and how she was targeted and trafficked after a history of trauma and physical abuse, identify the signs of trafficking, and offer safety suggestions for parents to help with prevention and interception. |
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She will discuss methods of prevention based on an awareness of sophisticated trafficking kidnapping methods as well as non-violent manipulation topics, and also give tips on how to spot red flags on social media, with friends, relationships, and potential job opportunities. |
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Anti-Trafficking International
1751 Pinnacle Drive Suite 600 | McLean, Virginia 22102
1-833-ASK2END | info@PreventHT.org |
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Anti-Trafficking International
1751 Pinnacle Drive Suite 600 | McLean, Virginia 22102
1-833-ASK2END | info@PreventHT.org |
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