Training and Education Plan: Important Update!
There has been an update to the 2021-2022 Training and Education due to the announcement of the 2021 Human Trafficking Summit date. The Summit is a crucial aspect of maintaining relationships throughout the state, and it is important to us that team members are able to participate without the conflict of training activities.
To accommodate Human Trafficking Summit participation, we have shifted the dates for the mandatory Survivor Mentor Cohort Training to October 7th and 8th. Please make any needed adjustments to your calendars. The training and education plan has been updated in SharePoint to the most current version (which should read “Revised 7/14/2021”) in the footer, and can be found here.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact Lauren!
Open Doors Weekly Update Emails Now Available on Voices for Florida Website
To make it easier to find previous versions of these weekly update emails, the Voices Communication Team has added them to our website. To access the web version of these emails, click “Secure Login” in the top right side of the navigation menu and input the password “Survivorcentered”.
This is a new feature as of July 2021, and we will continue to post each weekly email in this area of our website. If you have any questions or encounter difficulties accessing this section of the website, please contact Tiffany.
Open Doors Outreach Network Highlighted on Tallahassee Local News
Open Doors Statewide Director Robyn Metcalf and Whole Child Leon Board Member Shonda Knight were featured on WXTL to discuss sex trafficking prevention and announce the new partnership with Whole Child Leon to bring Open Doors Outreach Network services in the Big Bend region. Click to watch
In the second story, Robyn shares more information the Open Doors Outreach Network’s services to help meet the needs of sex trafficked children and young adults across the state. Click to watch
Open Doors Team Members and Dr. Brook Parker-Bello Featured in the DCF Child Protection Summit
Sept 7-10, 2021
The annual DCF Child Protection Summit is the largest child welfare event in Florida. The Department anticipates the convening of more than 3,000 child welfare professionals and related partners, including attorneys, case managers, child advocates, child protective investigators and more. Please note, there are registration fees to attend the summit. Click to learn more about the event. We are so excited to see Open Doors team members and leadership from our Network Providers presenting at this conference!
Presentations Featuring Open Doors Team Members and Leadership:
Workshop B (8:30 AM-9:45 AM) on September 9th: Harnessing Lived Experience Partners to Create Compassionate, Professional Service
Speakers: Micheala Denny from Voices for Florida, Chanel Dione from Delores Barr Weaver Policy Center, and Kim Squires from More Too Life
In this workshop, presenters will focus on how they have harnessed their personal lived experience with complex trauma to help children and young adults impacted by commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking. The audience will be apprised of best practices when building relationships with other professionals who have lived experience, with a focus on remaining trauma-informed and sensitive not only to the needs of the client, but also to the lived experience expert they are partnered with. Finally, the presenters will make recommendations on how human service providers can enhance their relationship with lived experience experts.
Workshop E (4:15 PM-5:30 PM) on September 9th: Tech For Good: A Key to Direct Victim Services and Prevention
Hosted by Brook Parker-Bello, CEO of More Too Life
When we consider the issues of poverty, abuse, and addiction all somehow related to collateral damages of or root cause to human trafficking we can imagine a glimpse to that future. It will be filled with technology that far surpasses VR Goggles of which less than 3% of the world’s population owns; it will be one of the key functions of how we relate to, provide services for, and treat various types of abuse. Human trafficking and its prevention. Technology, to the traumatized and abused, often has extremely negative memories and experiences attached to it. But “Tech for Good” is on the rise, and projects and programming that ignites and connects youth with its incorporation.
Webinar This Week: The Impact of Victim Blaming on Survivors of Sex Trafficking
Wednesday July 21st 10:00 – 11:30 AM
The July webinar in the Voices Perspectives series will focus on victim blaming. Survivors of sex trafficking often encounter barriers to healing and justice because of social and systematic biases that perpetuate blame on those that have been victimized. This session will explore the concept of victim blaming and ways allied professionals can work alongside survivors to shift the focus to holding perpetrators responsible.
Featured speakers include Vicky Basra, President and CEO of Delores Bar Weaver Policy Center; Michaela Denny, Education and Training Director of Voices for Florida; and Lindsay Smith Open Doors Survivor-Mentor of More Too Life. To register, please click here.
Hoyt’s Tool of the Week
Literature Recommendation: Pushout by Monique Morris
This book explains how American systems, particularly the education system, consistently fail Black girls. Black girls and young people of color are at disproportionate risk of CSEC in large part due to the systems that criminalize, overlook, and create barriers for them.
Upcoming Webinars
Successful Community Engagement, Starting the Conversation about DMST Awareness on Wednesday, July 21st, at 2:00-3:30 pm EST
Hosted by the Shared Hope International Training Center
This webinar will discuss how to effectively raise awareness in your community about domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST) with an emphasis on responsible messaging. Our goal is to empower attendees with the tools and talking points to begin having conversations in your communities about awareness and prevention. Free to participate.
Working with LGBTQ+ Survivors of Human Trafficking on August 19th at 2:00-3:30 pm EST
Hosted by the Freedom Network USA Training Institute
This webinar will provide attendees with an overview of best practices when working with LGBTQ+ survivors. Presenters will cover outreach, wrap-around services, and case management, housing, and immigration services specifically available to LGBTQ+ survivors. Free to participate.
Language Access and Housing Services on August 5th at 3:00- 4:30 pm EST
Hosted by the Freedom Network USA Training Institute
This webinar will provide an overview of creating and implementing a successful language access plan for housing programs. The presenters will discuss the importance of cultural humility when serving survivors who identify as limited English proficiency, deaf or hard of hearing, and/or disabled survivors. Attendees will receive practical examples of how housing programs have implemented and maintained internal policies of language access and service accessibility. Free to participate.
