TRAINING AND WORKSHOPS

Human trafficking affects over 40 million people worldwide. While trafficking has garnered increased awareness in the media, sensationalized images of sex workers and trafficking have distorted our understanding of the issue and have left many people uninformed about the reality of trafficking. The Modern Slavery Research Project presents workshops based on research in the U.S. and abroad to educate citizens and stakeholders interested in supporting survivors of slavery and trafficking. Our customized, interactive trainings range from hour-long community awareness programs to two-day advanced survivor care for regional anti-trafficking task forces. We can also conduct online trainings for your team remotely using Zoom. Contact us with your organization or community's requests, and we will tailor a training to your needs.

• Law Enforcement
  We train police officers in effective and culturally-sensitive approaches to identifying potential victims and building a rapport that will assist in investigating cases of human trafficking.

• Medical Professionals
  We train health professionals to identify the physical and clinical warning signs of trafficking, to provide harm reduction strategies to those who might be victims, and to discuss referrals for follow-up services that might aid a victim of trafficking in escaping. 

• Social Workers
  We offer workshops for social workers, who may encounter cases of forced sex work, commercially sexually exploited children, or labor trafficking, to provide evidence-based, trauma-informed care and case management to survivors of trafficking and slavery.

• School Teachers & Counselors
  We train counselors and teachers in interactive sessions in local schools to provide the skills necessary identify and assist potential victims of human trafficking among student populations.

• Student Activists
  We train university and high school students to lead their campuses in the fight against human trafficking by providing cutting-edge research on human trafficking and engaging them in opportunities for activism on campus.

• Community Groups
  We raise awareness among community members who often are the first to recognize cases of trafficking and connect citizens with the community resources they need to effectively assist those in need. 

Online Training and Webinars

trainings, slideshows, and webinars for service providers and task forces featuring MSRP’s work

Please contact us if you’d like to request an on-site or live online training.

See our teaching resources page for more resources and for online discussion questions.

Human Trafficking Among Homeless Youth

Homeless youth are especially vulnerable to both sex and labor trafficking. We conducted interviews with 641 homeless youth in Covenant House shelters around the US and Canada and found that nearly 20% of them had been trafficked in their lifetimes. The full report provides our findings, including information about the economic factors that push young people into dangerous work situations and recommendations for service providers and legislation. The video below provides a short summary of the findings, along with a four-point blueprint for preventing and responding to trafficking among homeless youth.

Design and Limitations of Research on Human Trafficking

The webinar below was hosted by HEAL trafficking network, which is an organization dedicated to using a public health lens to better understand, prevent, and respond to human trafficking globally. The webinar focuses on a study conducted among homeless youth across ten cities in the US and Canada. The webinar focuses on the various aspects of conducting and sharing the research. It is aimed at audiences of researchers and service providers who are more interested in the research side of understanding human trafficking. Can be paired with reading the original report or with the video above.

Over-represented and under-served

When people think of human trafficking, they typically imagine its victims to be young cisgender girls exploited in the sex trade. However, boys and men, people working in the drug trade, and LGBTQ youth, and youth with a history of foster care are much more likely to be affected by trafficking than most people recognize. As a result, we are not providing them the trauma-informed specialized services that they need and deserve. This slideshow (no sound but word heavy) explains our findings from the study of trafficking among homeless youth relevant to these over-represented and under-served populations.

What Homeless Youth Tell us About Sex and Labor Trafficking

Though there are many prevalence studies and a lot of information about trafficking drawn from a bird’s eye view, it is rare that we learn directly from a large sample of youth who have been trafficked about their experiences. They are reluctant to talk about trafficking situations for a number of reasons. Through interviews with over 600 homeless youth, we learned what they had experienced and also what they recommend we do to prevent and respond to trafficking. This slideshow (without sound but text-heavy) explores some of the most salient themes that emerged from talking to trafficked youth about their experiences and their advice for us as service providers. Their recommendations form a four-point blueprint that service providers can use to inform their trafficking response.

Human Trafficking for Homeless And runaway youth Serving programs: a resource guide

Although attention to human trafficking has dramatically increased in recent decades, considerable challenges remain in obtaining reliable and accurate information to guide the development of policies, programs, and practices. This resource guide co-authored by the Modern Slavery Research Project along with other nationally recognized subject matter experts for the Family & Youth Services Bureau and the Runaway and Homeless Youth Training & Technical Assistance Center is designed to help guide RHY serving organizations to develop a comprehensive and informed approach to trafficking among their clients.

more coming soon…