Center for Combatting Human Trafficking to host conference for National Human Trafficking Awareness Month
The conference, "Dig Deep: Delving into the Complexities of the Anti-Human Trafficking Movement," is part of CCHT's National Human Trafficking Awareness Month events.
Conference keynote speakers include Second Judicial District Court Judge John J. Romero Jr. and Rebecca Bender, nationally recognized expert on domestic sex trafficking. Romero is involved in his community's family violence prevention efforts and was recognized with the 2007 Spirit Advocacy Award. He presides over the Program for the Empowerment of Girls, an intensive multi-agency juvenile probation program for girls who have violence or trauma in their history.
Bender escaped nearly six years of labor and sex trafficking and now provides consulting, training and speaking as a Survivor Leader, working with anti-trafficking groups and government agencies across the country. She founded the Rebecca Bender Initiative, a non-profit that provides trainings to first responders across America, operating the largest and only online academy for survivors of human trafficking.
"This year our learning sessions are more diverse than ever," said Karen Countryman-Roswurm, executive director of CCHT. "Our speakers come from all over the United States and represent a wide variety of personal experiences, professional disciplines and practice paradigms."
The conference will also feature a series of breakout sessions, covering topics from socioeconomic factors that support trafficking, communities of hope, long-term care for survivors and law enforcement in human trafficking.
Conference attendees will learn some of the complexities to addressing human trafficking, including the connection to a larger social justice movement, along with developing an understanding of the unique and varying roles of multidisciplinary professionals involved in the care of victims and survivors.
Registration for the event is $100 through Jan. 13, and $125 after early bird registration ends. The registration fee includes breakfast and lunch.
For more information and to register, go to http://www.wichita.edu/j/?5273, or contact Bailey Patton Brackin, assistant director, WSU Center for Combatting Human Trafficking, at 978-5061 or bailey.patton@wichita.edu.