The Global Center for Women and Justice launched the Ending Human Trafficking podcast in April 2011. Our mantra is Study the Issues. Be a voice. Make a difference. We believe that if you do not study first, you may say or do the wrong thing. The National Family and Youth Services Clearinghouse promoted EHT as “a good way to get up to speed on human trafficking”. Our audience includes students, community leaders, and even government leaders. EHT listeners come from all corners of the world, which accomplishes our mission of building a global community that works together to end human exploitation.
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363: The Hidden Link Between Romance Scams and Forced Labor
Episode 363
Monday, January 19, 2026 • Duration 38:09
Matthew Friedman joins Dr. Sandie Morgan as they explore how pig butchering scams work, why they're so effective, and how they're tied to forced labor and human trafficking, while explaining what prevention can look like from personal red flags to safeguards in financial systems.
Matthew Friedman
Matthew Friedman is the Founder and CEO of The Mekong Club, a pioneering organization that mobilizes the private sector to fight modern slavery across Asia. A globally recognized expert on human trafficking, Friedman has spent over three decades working at the intersection of business, government, and humanitarian action to combat exploitation and promote ethical leadership. Before founding The Mekong Club, Friedman served as Regional Project Manager for the United Nations International Project on Human Trafficking (UNIAP/UNDP), overseeing a six-country initiative spanning China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Thailand. He also served as Deputy Director for the USAID Office of Public Health (Asia Region), managing a $100 million annual portfolio. Friedman holds a Master's degree in Health Education from New York University and is a renowned keynote speaker who has delivered more than 900 presentations in 20 countries, inspiring individuals and organizations to take a stand in the fight against modern slavery.
Key Points
Pig butchering scams are sophisticated romance scams where criminals build trust over weeks before convincing victims to invest life savings in fake cryptocurrency schemes, with the metaphor referring to "fattening the pig before the slaughter."
An estimated 300,000 to 400,000 young professionals have been trafficked into scam centers across Southeast Asia, where they are forced under extreme violence and coercion to run online scams targeting victims in wealthy nations.
The Prince Group sanctions marked one of the most significant global crackdowns on forced-labor scam centers, with the UK freezing real estate assets and the US freezing $15 billion in cryptocurrency, signaling increased international cooperation.
Financial institutions can help prevent pig butchering by monitoring unusual withdrawal patterns, such as when customers who haven't touched their accounts for 30 years suddenly liquidate everything, and by contacting clients before large transfers are completed.
Victims in scam centers face brutal violence including being tasered, beaten, and in some cases tortured to death with videos sold as "hardcore" content, creating a level of violence unprecedented in modern slavery according to Friedman's 35 years of experience.
Only 0.2% of the 50 million people in modern slavery receive assistance globally, not because counter-trafficking organizations don't care, but because the $236 billion generated by criminals vastly outweighs the $400 million available to fight it.
Public education and awareness are critical for prevention, as people in North America remain largely unaware of pig butchering scams while Asian communities have become more informed through widespread media coverage and victim testimonies.
The Mekong Club has developed multilingual e-learning tools including a three-and-a-half-minute video to help raise awareness about both human trafficking into scam centers and the scams themselves, emphasizing that prevention must be widespread.
362 – Before Teens Hide Online, Youth Pastors Must Build Trust
Episode 362
Monday, January 5, 2026 • Duration 34:41
Brenton Fessler joins Dr. Sandie Morgan as they explore why teenagers aren't hiding their digital lives because they're rebellious—they're hiding because they don't feel safe talking, and what trusted adults do next can change everything.
Brenton Fessler
Brenton Fessler is the Lead Pastor of Refuge OC Church in Orange County, California, where he provides vision and leadership for a growing faith community with a strong emphasis on family, discipleship, and community responsibility. With a background in youth ministry and ministry education, Brenton brings deep experience working with adolescents, parents, and church leaders navigating the complexities of formation, trust, and safety in a digital age. In addition to his pastoral leadership, Brenton has taught ministry-related courses and mentored emerging youth pastors, equipping them to build relationally healthy, developmentally appropriate, and ethically grounded ministry environments. As a parent of teenagers himself, he offers a practical, lived perspective on the challenges families face around technology, online identity formation, and risk exposure. Brenton's work reflects a prevention-first, relational approach rooted in grace, accountability, and collaboration between parents, churches, and broader community systems.
Key Points
Youth pastors hold a unique position of trust with teenagers, making them critical partners in digital safety conversations, as students often confide in them before approaching parents about risky online behavior.
The scaffolding metaphor illustrates healthy digital boundaries—parents and church leaders provide temporary support structures that can be removed as young people demonstrate increasing responsibility, rather than permanent fences.
When a 14-year-old discloses risky online behavior, youth pastors should offer to walk alongside them in conversations with parents rather than protecting confidentiality at all costs, because these young people need adult guidance to navigate complex situations safely.
Youth ministry should focus on spiritual formation and relationship building rather than behavior modification, creating environments where students feel safe to make mistakes and receive grace while learning to live righteously.
353 – Grooming in Trusted Spaces: A Conversation with Dr. Beth Lorance
Episode 1
Monday, September 1, 2025 • Duration 34:51
Dr. Beth Lorance joins Dr. Sandie Morgan as they discover how a high school coach gave one of his players expensive gifts, things her mother had refused to buy, with the mom posting online asking what to do, not realizing she was witnessing grooming behavior that creates the same vulnerabilities traffickers exploit in trusted spaces throughout our communities.
Dr. Beth Lorance
Dr. Beth Lorance is an adjunct professor at Vanguard University, where she teaches Family Violence and has also taught Introduction to Psychology and Psychology of the Family. She earned her PsyD in Clinical Psychology and previously served as the director of Vanguard’s counseling center. In addition to her academic background, Beth is a licensed minister with the Assemblies of God, which allows her to bring both psychological expertise and theological insight into conversations about abuse, trauma, and healing. Her passion is deeply personal, rooted in her own family history of child sexual abuse, and she is committed to equipping others to use their voices to prevent abuse, protect the vulnerable, and walk alongside survivors. Beth also works to bring awareness into the church, encouraging faith communities to reflect Jesus’ response to victims and to take seriously the call to protect those who are most vulnerable.
Key Points
Family violence creates deep vulnerabilities by teaching children harmful lessons that love is transactional, they’re not enough, and there’s something wrong with them that they can’t overcome – wounds that become embedded in their brain chemistry when trauma happens at a young age.
Traffickers don’t create vulnerabilities but rather exploit existing wounds from family abuse, stepping into unmet needs and exploiting lessons already learned about intimacy being tied to exploitation.
Statistics reveal that 90% of abusers are known to their victims with only 10% being strangers, and 31% of traffickers are actually family members of the victim, making “stranger danger” education insufficient.
Grooming is a process of control and manipulation that builds trust, chips away boundaries, and creates dependency so victims willingly comply when lines are crossed into inappropriate behavior because they’ve been normalized to the perpetrator’s actions.
264 – How Are All The Children?
Episode 1
Monday, December 13, 2021 • Duration 28:59
Co-hosts, Dr. Sandra Morgan and Dr. Dave Stachowiak, discuss the wellbeing of all our children. The emphasize the need to provide access to education and access to social services in order to see that all the children are fine, which will lead to a strong community.
Key Points
High percentage of youth who have been identified as CSEC were also previously identified by Social Services for prior abuse.
ACEs screening tests serve as a preventative tool to provide resources to youth who are vulnerable.
From 2019-2020, child labor increased for the first time in two decades.
Corporations and consumers play a role in demanding fair labor.
263 – Substance Use Prevention in Schools with Stephan Lambert
Episode 1
Tuesday, November 30, 2021 • Duration 33:02
Dr. Sandie Morgan is joined by Stephan Lambert, the Prevention Coordinator with OCDE. Together, they discuss the prevalence of substance use amongst youth, prevention strategies, and intervention to teach youth about the harms of substance use and the signs of withdrawals, addiction, and mental health disorders.
Stephan Lambert
Stephan Lambert is the Prevention Coordinator at the Orange County Department of Education. He has fourteen years of experience in substance abuse prevention, positive youth development, family and community engagement, and developmental asset building. In his role at OCDE, he supports schools and districts with training and technical assistance around alcohol, tobacco, and other drug prevention.
Key Points
Orange County fentanyl overdoses have significantly increased
Substance use prevention strategies:
Start conversations around health, safety, and poison control
Cultivating a warm and supportive relationship
Be a role model
Knowing the risk factors
Know their friends
Monitoring, supervising and setting boundaries
Have conversations with youth to help them understand the signs of addiction and mental health disorders so they know when to seek help.
Building a healthy and caring relationship with youth so they understand they have safe place to turn for help.
262 – Human-Centered Design with Shauntina Sorrells
Episode 1
Monday, November 8, 2021 • Duration 29:55
In this episode of the podcast, Dr. Sandie Morgan is joined by Dr. Shauntina Sorrells, Chief Program Officer at Orangewood Foundation. Dr. Sorrells discusses what a human-centered design is, the various stages, and how to implement it.
Dr. Shauntina Sorrells, MSW DSW
Dr. Shauntina Sorrells joined Orangewood Foundation in 2019. She holds a Master’s and Doctorate in Social Work. Dr. Sorrells is certified in Trauma Informed Training and has been a Trainer of Trauma Informed Practices for various Orange County establishments such as the OC Probation Department and the OC Juvenile and Family Court Judges. She loves to see youth accomplish something they set out to do. “I believe that every youth can reach their greatest potential and I believe that is what Orangewood has always done.” When Dr. Sorrells is not advocating for OC youth, she loves to craft and go camping with her family.
Key Points
Human centered design is a thought process to develop programs that incorporate the needs and the voice of those being served.
Incorporating the voices of those affected by the problem ensures the development of quality programs.
There are three phases to a human-centered design:
Inspiration
Ideation
Implementation
There are three main populations affected by a problem that need to be included in a human-centered design–primary, secondary, and tertiary levels.
Dr. Sandie Morgan is joined by Sarah Byrne, founding member of the National Survivor Law Collective. Dr. Morgan and Sarah discuss the need for trauma-informed legal services for survivors of human trafficking and their complex legal needs.
Sarah Byrne
Sarah has years of experience representing survivors of sex and labor trafficking and is nationally recognized for her work in combatting human trafficking. Sarah is a frequent conference speaker and advocate for legislative change in support of trafficking victims. She is a founding member of the National Survivor Law Collective, a national network of trauma-informed lawyers providing legal aid to survivors. Representing MVA as a participating member, Sarah works with the United Nation’s Finance Against Slavery and Trafficking (“FAST”) Initiative to increase survivor access to financial services and guide banks on the Survivor Inclusion Initiative.
Key Points
Establishing a collective of trauma-informed pro-bono legal services for survivors of human trafficking.
There is a consequential need to have trauma-informed lawyers who understand the complex trauma that survivors have faced in order to prevent retraumatization and build trustful relationships.
Many survivors seek vacatur or expungement of crimes that are directly related to their exploitation.
Victim witnesses play a significant role as advocates for survivors who are navigating the legal system.
Restitution to survivors gives them the resources to become financially independent.
260 – Labor Trafficking Outreach with Rachel Parker
Episode 1
Monday, October 11, 2021 • Duration 31:43
Dr. Sandra Morgan and Rachel Parker discuss labor trafficking outreach strategies, touching on community allyship, training and safety protocols, and outreach with and to the local community to identify labor trafficking victims.
Rachel Parker
Rachel Parker is the Anti-Human Trafficking Services Program Manager at World Relief Triad, which she had led for 10 years. She has a master’s in international studies from East Carolina University. Rachel coordinates and supervises outreach and direct services for survivors of both labor and sex trafficking, as well as supervising the coordination of the Triad Labor Trafficking Task Force, the Guilford Minor Trafficking Response Team, and the Triad Rapid Response Team to support victim identification and effective responses across Guilford, Forsyth and Davidson counties.
Key Points
Development of a labor trafficking task force to fill the gap in identification and building stronger networks across the community.
Outreach at seasonal fairs required community support and yielded responses from migrant populations.
Redefining success to also include providing information and awareness of services available to victims of labor trafficking, even when they decline services.
For outreach, using a decentralized bystander approach.
Prioritizing safety for workers and volunteers during outreach.
259 – Which Screening Tool Should I Use, with Dr. Corey Rood
Episode 1
Monday, September 27, 2021 • Duration 32:40
Dr. Sandra Morgan and Dr. Corey Rood discuss what screening tools are, their prevalence in prevention and identification of human trafficking, and how diverse human trafficking screen tools are due to the complex nature of human trafficking and exploitation.
Corey Rood, MD
Dr. Corey Rood is the Medical Director of Child Abuse Pediatrics with the Department of Pediatrics at UC Irvine, the CAST medical clinic, and the Child Abuse & Prevention Team at Miller Children’s and Women’s Hospital in Long Beach. He is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics with the UC Irvine School of Medicine. As a Child Abuse Pediatrician, his work focuses on the diagnosis, care, and management of potentially abused and neglected children. Dr. Rood’s clinical and research interests and expertise include commercially sexually exploited children (CSEC) including human trafficking, both international and domestic. Dr. Rood’s research endeavors include recent studies on sexting and online sexual solicitation exposure amongst adolescents with suspected sexual abuse, and human trafficking screening of adolescent patients.
Key Points
Screening tools are a set of questions to define a specific characteristic.
There is no one screening tool for human trafficking since human trafficking is a complex issue that requires adjustments based on the target population.
Validated screening tools should be developed with the target populations characteristics, such as age, language, and mental development.
Screening should be viewed as a conversation starter that is culturally sensitive, trauma informed, and victim centered.
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Transcript
258 – Missing Children and the Overlap with Child Trafficking, with Elizabeth Smart
Episode 1
Tuesday, September 7, 2021 • Duration 30:36
Dr. Sandra Morgan is joined by advocate, Elizabeth Smart to discuss the importance of teaching young children how to protect themself, safe boundaries, and how to know who to trust. They conclude the conversation with the topic of bystanders and how everyday people can play a role in protecting women, men, and children.
Elizabeth Smart
The abduction of Elizabeth Smart was one of the most followed child abduction cases of our time. Elizabeth was abducted from her home at the age of 14 on the night of June 5, 2002. For the next nine months, her captors controlled her by threatening to kill her and her family if she tried to escape. Fortunately, her grueling imprisonment ended on March 12, 2003, when an observant and courageous bystander took action, alerting the police and ultimately leading to her safe return to her family. Elizabeth triumphantly testified before her captors and the world about the very private nightmare she suffered during her abduction, which led to their convictions. Through this traumatic experience, Elizabeth has become an advocate for change related to child abduction, recovery programs, and national legislation. Elizabeth has helped promote the international AMBER Alert system, the Adam Walsh Child Protection & Safety Act and other safety legislation to help prevent abductions. She is the founder of the Elizabeth Smart Foundation, an organization dedicated to bringing hope and ending the victimization and exploitation of sexual assault through prevention, recovery, and advocacy.
Key Points
Having conversations with your children when they are young about protecting themself in a dangerous situation. And to continue having those conversations so they practice, learn, and understand how to protect themselves.
Adding “appease” to the fight, flight, freeze response paradigm and understanding that some people will go along with their captor/trafficker to appease them and to deter any threats of harm.
Teaching children about personal boundaries, and as the adult, to validate those boundaries as okay and right.
Bystanders play a pivotal role in protecting women, men, and children and preventing harm if they see something that does not appear right.
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Transcript
Churches need to update child protection policies to include digital and virtual environments with the same rigor as physical spaces, including background checks that examine volunteers' online presence and social media activity.
Youth pastors serve as cultural missionaries within church staffs, helping senior pastors understand emerging technologies, social media platforms, and the realities of youth culture that shape the next generation's spiritual development.
The "talk tech every day" initiative from Ensure Justice emphasizes that digital safety conversations must be ongoing and integrated into daily family life, not reactive responses to scary news articles.
Building cross-generational trust requires two-way mentoring where students teach adults about technology while adults provide wisdom and boundaries, creating healthy churches where both generations learn from each other.
[00:00:00] Brenton Fessler: The youth pastor decided that the best way forward was to actually call her up on stage and have her publicly announce her pregnancy so he could shame her as if behavior modification was gonna be the true path to her healing.
[00:00:15] But
[00:00:15] Delaney: Teenagers aren't hiding their digital lives because they're rebellious. They're hiding because they don't feel safe talking. What trusted adults do next can change everything. In this episode, you'll hear why talk tech every day matters. How to set guardrails without shame and what to do when a teen says, I can't tell my parents.
[00:00:35] Hi, I'm Delaney. I'm a student here at Vanguard University and I help produce this show. Today, Sandie Talks with Dr. Brenton Fessler. He's the lead pastor of Refuge OC in Orange County with years of youth ministry experience and mentoring youth leaders focused on digital safety and trust building with teens.
[00:00:54] Now here's their conversation.
[00:00:57]
[00:01:03] Sandie Morgan: Reverend Dr. Brenton Fessler, welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking Podcast.
[00:01:10] Brenton Fessler: Thank you, Sandie. It is so good to be with you and I'm delighted. I hope I can add to the conversation, but I'm really honored to be here.
[00:01:18] Sandie Morgan: This isn't the way I usually do this, Brenton. But you read the article that they published in Influence Magazine under the youth pastor column, and the concern is digital safety for our kids.
[00:01:35] So when you read that, did you have a question? Wow. If I could talk to Dr. Sandie Morgan. This is what I'd ask her.
[00:01:45] Brenton Fessler: Ooh, that's a good point. No, I was captivated by the research right off the bat, mainly because in addition to being a pastor that obviously oversees a youth team that interacts with students in junior high and high school. I've got three teenagers in my house. One is about to turn 20 in just a few months.
[00:02:02] But I care about this issue deeply because my wife, Rachel, and I are always thinking about where are they being exposed? And you said, so I just highlighted a few things from the article about how they're forming their identity in this online atmosphere in ways that parents don't fully understand or grasp the impact of that.
[00:02:23] And I was blown away.
[00:02:25] Sandie Morgan: It's difficult for parents to really, truly comprehend because we're not living in that context and we're all in the same house. Yet our challenges are very different. So, and for listeners, I'm gonna put a link to the article in the winter issue of Influence Magazine. So you'll be able to read this and maybe it'll raise some questions and.
[00:02:57] I would recommend is you don't necessarily ask me because this is a foreign language for me as well. but talk to your teenagers. We've got to have daily, a couple years ago at Ensure Justice, what everybody was saying by the end of Saturday is talk tech. Every day. Not once a week, not when somebody reads a scary article, but talk tech every day.
[00:03:29] Kids, you need to make sure your parents understand. You need to make sure your grandparents, wow, Brenton. If you wanna be concerned, go back and listen to the podcast I did about pig butchering, which is how AI is being used to fraudulently steal from your grandmother
[00:03:56] and so grandkids you can have a trade-off day where grandkids, teach grandparents how to be safe online.
[00:04:06] Brenton Fessler: Right. Oh, so true. So true. It's a scary world. And even as a parent, I think about the moments where we first dropped our kids off at school when they were in preschool, and we trusted them to this world that we no longer controlled. And it's the same way, even as teenagers, we give them these devices and in a lot of ways, they ...
Training is essential for leaders, staff, pastors, volunteers, and teachers to recognize grooming signs like expensive gift-giving, requests for secrecy, and isolating language such as “your parents don’t understand you, but I do.”
Clear boundaries and policies are crucial, including no one-on-one supervision between adults and children, with swift consequences when policies aren’t followed to prevent grooming opportunities.
Children need to be empowered to say no even to trusted adults, with parents and leaders respecting their boundaries and teaching them about “tricky people” rather than just strangers.
Trauma-informed communities must stop asking “what’s wrong with you?” and instead listen without judgment, sitting with broken people without requiring them to change or behave in prescribed ways to receive care.
Parents should be vigilant about adults in their children’s lives, knowing what interactions look like and requiring that any adult who wants to be friends with their child must be friends with the parent first.
Breaking the cycle requires communities that believe victims, provide someone to stand up for those who can’t yet stand up for themselves, and create new family structures when biological families fail to protect.
[00:00:00] Sandie Morgan: Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking Podcast here at Vanguard University’s Global Center for Women and Justice in Orange County, California. I’m Dr. Sandie Morgan, and this is the show where we empower you to study the issues, be a voice, and make a difference in ending human trafficking. Today I’m joined by Dr.
[00:00:22] Beth Lorance. She’s an adjunct professor at Vanguard and former director of Vanguard’s Counseling Center. Beth earned her PsyD in clinical psychology and is also a licensed minister. Today we’ll discover how a high school coach gave one of his players expensive gifts, things her mother had refused to buy.
[00:00:49] The mom posted online asking what to do, not realizing she was witnessing grooming behavior. This same pattern creates vulnerabilities that traffickers exploit, and it’s happening in trusted spaces throughout your community. Now here’s our interview.
[00:01:11] Well, Dr. Beth Lorance, I am so excited to have you on the Ending Human Trafficking podcast today.
[00:01:20] Beth Lorance: I am excited to be here.
[00:01:21] Sandie Morgan: We were just chatting before I hit the record button, and we have known each other for two decades.
[00:01:28] Beth Lorance: It’s been a long time.
[00:01:30] Sandie Morgan: and what a deep friendship and collegiality, as I was pursuing my PhD and you were pursuing your PsyD and clinical psychology
[00:01:44] and, changing off, I taught family violence. Now you teach family violence and I’m a guest in your class, and
[00:01:54] Beth Lorance: I know. It’s wonderful.
[00:01:56] Sandie Morgan: love it, the collegiality and just tossing things back and forth as we work together to make things better for our kids.
[00:02:07] So we’re gonna talk today about the link between family violence and human trafficking.
[00:02:14] And I know in my world that many of the victims of human trafficking that we’ve served right here in Orange County, California started with some kind of childhood trauma,
[00:02:31] and that often happened in a family context,
[00:02:35] so I would like to start with talking about how you help your students unpack the complex dynamics of abuse and how that might contribute to fostering vulnerabilities that then traffickers exploit.
[00:02:59] Beth Lorance: Yeah. really when we look at family violence, what we see is that it creates all of these vulnerabilities in a person’s life. And if they don’t find healing from those vulnerabilities, if they don’t come to recognize them, if they don’t come to get over them, get over is not the right terminology, but to, um, move beyond them,
[00:03:21] then they can be exploited later on in life. And we do that in my class as we talk about what family violence does for an individual. And we look at things like, the lessons that abuse teaches a person. And when a person faces trauma or abuse at a young age, they learn these lessons that they’re not enough,
[00:03:42] that love is transactional, that there’s something wrong with them that they can’t overcome. And, no matter what the type of abuse is, if it’s sexual abuse or emotional abuse, neglect or physical abuse, they begin to learn these lessons. And it’s more than just a, like a lesson you would learn in school.
[00:04:03] If the trauma happens at a young age, it begins to rewire your brain chemistry and it really becomes embedded in how you see the world and how you, interact with people around you. How you experience, love. You begin to confuse danger with love or attention. it will impair a person’s decision making.
[00:04:25] It will increase their fear response. And all of that is because of this trauma that they experienced in their family at a young age or even at a middle age, like a adoles...
Dave [00:00:00] You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number 264, How Are All the Children?
Production Credits [00:00:08] Produced by Innovate Learning, maximizing human potential.
Dave [00:00:29] Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. My name is Dave Stachowiak.
Sandie [00:00:34] And my name is Sandie Morgan.
Dave [00:00:37] And this is the show where we empower you to study the issues, be a voice, and make a difference in ending human trafficking. Sandie, in our last episode, we talked to Stephan Lambert about all of the current issues with substance abuse going on with kids and teens right now. It’s a fascinating and difficult conversation, but such an important one. I hope folks will go revisit if they haven’t already heard it. And it’s a great lead-in to today’s conversation, isn’t it? How are all the children?
Sandie [00:01:11] Oh my goodness. Yeah. The timing couldn’t have been better, really. And back at Vanguard, our students are back in person and it’s a very different environment, and anxiety and stress responses are different. But I was inspired by a school superintendent from Long Beach a few months ago who mentioned there is an African greeting that says, How are the children? And I thought, that’s pretty interesting. So I dug into it and spent a few hours on the internet reading and discovered that there is a Maasai warrior greeting. And the key here, Dave, is warrior. The key word. And I think sometimes we think the frontline in human trafficking is raiding brothels. But over and over again, I come back to prevention and that starts in childhood. So these warriors greet each other and Maasai warriors are very tall and very strong, and they look intimidating. And so when they greet each other with how are all the children, the correct response if you’re protecting your village is all the children are fine. So Dave, you’re a Maasai warrior. I’m a Maasai warrior. How are all the children, Dave?
Dave [00:02:53] All the children are fine. Or, are they not are?
Sandie [00:02:58] Ah, and I was telling this story at Priceless and Judge Maria Hernandez and Judge Joanne Motoike, who have worked with our children CSEC survivors for years, both said at the same time, all the children are not fine. And that’s why I believe that we need to reframe prevention as the front line. And if you start thinking about what that looks like, we aren’t going to have the number of victims further on down the road if we do prevention. Look what happened when America decided enough with lung cancer and they got on track for prevention to stop smoking? Did we end smoking? We did not. But did we reduce smoking? I haven’t been to a restaurant where they allow smoking in a really long time, and it wasn’t in California. So you can have impact with prevention. We just have to think about what that looks like. So when I started thinking about this Maasai warrior greeting, it energized me to be just a little stronger in my approach to prevention. I want to see myself as a prevention warrior.
Dave [00:04:33] When you think about that distinction between doing what you were doing before and being a prevention warrior, what’s different about your thinking or actions that you’re now taking?
Sandie [00:04:46] Well, I think I want to begin to frame the front line in terms of the battles that are going on. So for instance, right here in Orange Cou...
Dave [00:00:00] You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number 263, Substance Use Prevention in Schools with Stephan Lambert.
Production Credits [00:00:10] Produced by Innovate Learning, maximizing human potential.
Dave [00:00:30] Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. My name is Dave Stachowiak.
Sandie [00:00:36] And my name is Sandie Morgan.
Dave [00:00:39] And this is the show where we empower you to study the issues, be a voice, and make a difference in ending human trafficking. Sandie, we’ve had so many conversations over the years about partnership, and of course, schools have come up in these conversations often. Today, I’m so glad for us to be able to welcome an expert that will help us to look at this issue through the lens of school. And of course, some of the current things that are happening right now that’ll help us all to be better educated and to be able to take the next steps. I’m so pleased to welcome Stephan Lambert to the show today. He is the prevention coordinator at the Orange County Department of Education. His 14 years of experience and substance abuse prevention, positive youth development, family and community engagement and developmental asset building. In his role at OCDE, he supports schools and districts with training and technical assistance around alcohol, tobacco and other drug prevention. Stephan, we’re so glad to have you on the show.
Stephan [00:01:37] Thank you. So glad to be here.
Sandie [00:01:39] Well, I’m excited to have this conversation. Every time I have the opportunity to learn from you I walk away shocked, sometimes a little overwhelmed, but definitely better equipped to deal with what our kids are facing and how I can help other parents know exactly what to do. So I thought of you recently because I’ve read yet another story in our Orange County newspaper of a fentanyl overdose death. Can you describe what’s happening with this very disturbing trend and why it’s happening?
Stephan
Transcription
Dave [00:00:00] You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast, this is episode number 262 Human-centered design with Shauntina Sorrells.
Production Credits [00:00:10] Produced by Innovate Learning, maximizing human potential.
Dave [00:00:30] Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. My name is Dave Stachowiak.
Sandie [00:00:36] And my name is Sandie Morgan.
Dave [00:00:39] And this is the show where we empower you to study the issues, be a voice, and make a difference in ending human trafficking. Today, we’re so glad to introduce to you a local partner, someone who’s just a wonderful voice, an expert in helping us all to move forward on ending human trafficking. I’m so pleased to introduce to you, Dr. Shauntina Sorrells. She is the Chief Program Officer at Orangewood Foundation, a transitional age youth serving organization here in Orange County, California. Shauntina completed her doctorate in social work at USC. She holds a master’s degree in social work from Cal State University of Long Beach and obtained her bachelor’s in psychology from Vanguard University. Shauntina also serves as a professor for her alma mater, Vanguard and Walla Walla University. Courses she enjoys teaching include program development, social psychology, child and adolescent development, community psychology, treating addictions and couples, and domestic violence. Shauntina has worked with families, youth and foster care, individuals in crisis, and organizations seeking innovation and change. Her expertise is in programs that provide community based programing to change the social norms that challenge systemic issues facing underserved populations. Shauntina is certified in trauma informed care training and has been a trainer of trauma informed practices for the Orange County Probation Department, the O.C. Juvenile Court, public defender’s office, and other youth serving agencies. She’s been asked to sit as a former foster youth voice for Orange County Department of Education and Social Services. Shauntina, what a pleasure to have you on the show. Welcome.
Shauntina [00:02:17] It’s an honor to be here today with you both.
Sandie [00:02:20] Well, and Shuanitna and I just had lunch together with 250 other people last month, and she was representing Orangewood, our Diamond awardee, at Priceless because of their amazing programing that covers the spectrum of ending human trafficking from prevention to aftercare. And so I am so delighted to have you on Ending Human Trafficking today.
Shauntina [00:02:50] I cannot believe that I’m here, but I am so excited to be here talking about human-centered design with you today, Sandie.
Sandie [00:02:57] I’m really excited about this because it’s such a massive topic. And when I first heard the term human-centered design, I just went down all kinds of rabbit holes. And when I talk to you and we really reviewed how the programing is designed in your work, it seemed like a really good model to help people get a better handle on this. So it’s a massive topic. But everybody, we have an expert here to walk us through the process. So let’s start with defining human-centered design.
Shauntina [00:03:39] Sure. I think, you know, human-centered design is something that once I start talking about it, you’ll go, ah, it totally makes sense. But it can definitely be one of those phrases that can kind of send you going, wait, what am I doing and how am I doing this? So human-centered design really is, in my opinion, a thought process. It’s a way of thinking about a problem and then a solution. In the formal world of human-centered design, we kind of think o...
Dave [00:00:00] You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number 261, Legal Advocacy with Sarah Byrne.
Production Credits [00:00:09] Produced by Innovate Learning, maximizing human potential.
Dave [00:00:30] Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. My name is Dave Stachowiak
Sandie [00:00:35] And my name is Sandie Morgan.
Dave [00:00:38] And this is the show where we empower you to study the issues, be a voice, and make a difference in ending human trafficking. If you’ve been listening for any length of time, you know one of the things that we love to do on the show is to be able to bring in the voice of partners and experts who can help us to understand more of the complexity around trafficking and also, most importantly, help us to take the first steps to end it. I’m so glad to welcome today Sarah Byrne to the show. She is an attorney in North Carolina who has been representing trafficking survivors for years. She understands trauma and carefully provides legal services to help her clients. Sarah is now leading the National Survivor Law Collective, where she helps lawyers at law firms from all over the country provide pro-bono services to survivors. Sarah has had years of experience representing survivors of sex and labor trafficking and is nationally recognized for her work in combatting human trafficking. Sarah is a frequent conference speaker and advocate for legislative change in support of trafficking victims. She’s a founding member of the National Survivor Law Collective, a national network of trauma informed lawyers providing legal aid to survivors representing MVA as a participating member. Sarah works with the United Nations Finance Against Slavery and Trafficking Fast Initiative to increase survivor access to financial services and guide banks on the Survivor Inclusion Initiative. Sarah, so glad to welcome you to the show.
Sarah [00:02:05] Thank you for having me.
Sandie [00:02:07] I was very excited when Ambassador John Cotton Richmond reached out to me and said, I want to introduce you to someone, and I always know that’s going to be an exciting conversation. And within a few days, Sarah and I had connected, and I’m sure we’re not going to be able to cover our entire conversation in one podcast. So welcome, Sarah.
Sarah [00:02:32] Thank you.
Sandie [00:02:33] We often hear folks with lofty, aspirational goals for restorative justice. I can still remember where I was when I heard that term. And I became really committed to finding restorative justice for survivors. But along the way, the path to restorative justice seemed to be filled with lots of challenges, lots of barriers. It was windy and it’s not easy. But you said something that stopped me in my tracks when we first talked. You said, I couldn’t find it, so I built it. Tell us about that experience.
Sarah [00:03:24] Oh, well, thank you for that kind of question, Dr. Morgan. So this was around 2012, 2013, and sort of alongside with a lot of the world, I was becoming more informed about human trafficking and its prevalence in my community in particular. And my law firm has a long history of providing pro-bono legal representation to various populations, and we had, and still have, a very strong domestic violence...
Dave [00:00:00] You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast, this is episode number 260 Labor Trafficking Outreach with Rachel Parker.
Production Credits [00:00:09] Produced by Innovate Learning, maximizing human potential.
Dave [00:00:29] Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. My name is Dave Stachowiak.
Sandie [00:00:35] And my name is Sandie Morgan.
Dave [00:00:38] And this is the show where we empower you to study the issues, be a voice, and make a difference in ending human trafficking. Today, Sandie, so glad that we have an expert with us to really look at labor trafficking outreach in more detail. I’m so glad to welcome to the show today Rachel Parker. She has led World Relief Triad’s anti-human trafficking program for 10 years. She has a master’s in international studies from East Carolina University. Rachel coordinates and supervises outreach and direct services for survivors of both labor and sex trafficking, as well as supervising the coordination of the Triad Labor Trafficking Task Force, the Guilford Minor Trafficking Response Team, and the Triad Rapid Response Team to support victim identification and effective responses across Guilford, Forsyth and Davidson counties. We’re so glad to welcome you to the show, Rachel.
Rachel [00:01:32] Thanks so much for having me. I really appreciate it.
Sandie [00:01:35] I’m really excited to have this conversation today, Rachel. I think in recent days I’ve talked to so many victim service providers who were surprised when they learned from the survivors that they weren’t looking for someone to rescue them. They didn’t even know that anyone was looking for them. They didn’t identify as a victim, and they often were a little concerned when people approached them that they might get in trouble or lose their job, all kinds of other things. So learning to do outreach to identify victims of labor trafficking is a little different than identifying victims of sex trafficking. And that might be one of the issues we need to be addressing to improve our record of identifying labor trafficking. So tell us what you do on the Triad Task Force and Rapid Response Team.
Rachel [00:02:47] Yeah. So our Triad Rapid Response Team actually formed in 2009, and I’ve been facilitating it or supervising the facilitation since 2012. The name says it all. It’s a rapid response. So when identification occurs and emergency services are needed, we are looking to provide those rapid services across multi counties because of course, safety, security, maybe shelters are full, all of those different things to coordinate through. And so that allows us by having a multidisciplinary team that’s collaborative to respond. However, just kind of giving you guys back history a little bit. When we looked back through our data that we collected, we were really responding to primarily sex trafficking victims and from that the members, we assessed our members and our stakeholders, that were required and vital to a rapid response. And they were around law enforcement, spice narcotics units, child and sex adult crime units, and also the domestic violence and sexual assault shelters. So we really wanted to address what we were feeling was a gap in the identification of labor trafficking because we were receiving referrals from immigration attorneys and from various community sources, but not being able to really engage from our emergency service providers about labor trafficking sit...
Dave [00:00:00] You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number 259, Which Screening Tool Should I Use with Dr. Corey Rood.
Production Credits [00:00:10] Produced by Innovate Learning, maximizing human potential.
Dave [00:00:30] Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. My name is Dave Stachowiak.
Sandie [00:00:36] And my name is Sandie Morgan.
Dave [00:00:38] And this is the show where we empower you to study the issues, be a voice, and make a difference in ending human trafficking. Today Sandie, I’m so glad for us to be able to have an expert on the show who’s going to help us to learn even more about looking at this through the lens of children. So many complex situations, of course, that emerge. And I’m so grateful for the experts that take their time to teach us. I’m pleased to introduce to you Dr. Corey Rood. He is a medical director of child abuse pediatrics with the Department of Pediatrics at the University of California, Irvine, the Cast Medical Clinic, and the Child Abuse and Prevention Team at Miller Children’s and Women’s Hospital in Long Beach, California. He is an assistant professor of pediatrics with the UC Irvine School of Medicine. As a child abuse pediatrician, his work focuses on the diagnosis, care and management of potentially abused and neglected children. His clinical and research interests and expertise include commercially sexually exploited children (CSEC), including human trafficking, both international and domestic. His research endeavors include recent studies on sexting and online sexual solicitation, exposure among adolescents with suspected sexual abuse, and human trafficking screening of adolescent patients. Corey, such a pleasure to have you on the show. Thanks for taking the time to be here.
Corey [00:01:59] Yeah, thanks for having me, Dave and Sandie. It’s exciting to be able to talk about this topic and to be on the podcast.
Sandie [00:02:05] Maybe we’re going to have to have you another time because I do want to talk about your research on sexting and online solicitation. But today our subject is screening tools. I think this is this is an area where there are a lot of people who could be using screening tools, but they aren’t either because they’re not available or it never occurred to them that it fit their particular environment. So let’s start off with what is a screening tool?
Corey [00:02:37] Yeah, that a great question. And I agree with you that many people are interested and I often get asked about screening tools and just understanding what a screening tool is can help answer a lot of those questions. So a screening tool, even outside of the medical s...
David [00:00:00] You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number 258, Missing Children and the Overlap with Child Trafficking with Elizabeth Smart.
Production Credits [00:00:11] Produced by Innovate Learning, maximizing human potential.
David [00:00:31] Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. My name is Dave Stachowiak.
Sandie [00:00:37] And my name is Sandie Morgan.
David [00:00:39] And this is the show where we empower you to study the issues, be a voice, and make a difference in ending human trafficking. Sandie, one of the things that I have been so grateful for over the years of being involved with you and the show and the Global Center for Women and Justice is just the wonderful connections and opportunities to coordinate with so many other leaders in the space. And today, absolutely, what a privilege we have to talk to someone who’s very much a leader, not only in her work, but also through her own lived experience. I’m so glad to introduce to you Elizabeth Smart. The abduction of Elizabeth was one of the most followed child abduction cases of our time. She was abducted from her home at the age of 14 on the night of June 5th, 2002. For the next nine months, her captors controlled her by threatening to kill her and her family if she tried to escape. Fortunately, her grueling imprisonment ended on March 12th, 2003, when an observant and courageous bystander took action alerting the police and ultimately leading to her safe return to her family. Elizabeth triumphantly testified before her captors and the world about the very private nightmare she had suffered during her abduction, which led to their convictions. Through this traumatic experience, she’s become an advocate for change related to child abduction, recovery programs, and national legislation. Elizabeth has helped promote the international AMBER Alert system, the Adam Walsh Child Protection & Safety Act, and other safety legislation to help prevent abductions. She is the founder of the Elizabeth Smart Foundation, an organization dedicated to bringing hope and ending the victimization and exploitation of sexual assault through prevention, recovery, and advocacy. Elizabeth, thank you so much for your work and what a pleasure to have you here on the show.
Elizabeth [00:02:25] Well, thank you so much for having me. It’s an absolute honor to be with you today.
Sandie [00:02:29] So, Elizabeth, tell us a little bit about your kids. As we were signing on, you had just transitioned from kid care to professional advocate.
Elizabeth [00:02:41] My children are the best part of my life–the most exhausting part of my l...
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