Training & Education
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Knowledge is power, and education is LCHT’s way of building strength behind the anti-human trafficking movement. Our staff spends approximately 100 hours annually on training and educating and has shared its knowledge with nearly 10,000 individuals. In particular, LCHT has established a niche within existing anti-human trafficking efforts, training “first-responders” who encounter victims and survivors of trafficking.
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The ORR Project
The Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking has played an integral role in the implementation the Office of Refugee Resettlement regional grant to conduct outreach in Colorado. Since February 2008, LCHT has provided training and educational sessions on the issue of human trafficking for law enforcement personnel, service providers, community members, and other potential first responders across Colorado. To date, over 2,500 individuals have attended educational sessions and received training materials free of charge. Specific training initiatives include:
- Health Care and Human Trafficking Train-the-Trainer Institute: In early October 2009, LCHT, in conjunction with the Colorado Collaborative, will conduct a 1.5-day Train-the-Trainer Institute on the health needs of human trafficking survivors and statewide and regional coordination of human trafficking victim services. LCHT staff, interns, and volunteers as well as staff and volunteers from other members of the Colorado Collaborative will organize and staff this event. More information can be found below.
- Youth Education and Prevention Efforts: LCHT has provided and continues to provide training and educational sessions to youth through the development and facilitation of discussions around human trafficking, risk factors and resources. To date, 1,576 youth (under the age of 18) have received training under this initiative.
- Residential Treatment Center Staff and Counselor Trainings: LCHT has provided and continues to provide training and educational sessions for staff and counselors at Residential Treatment Centers. To date, 91 individuals have received training under this initiative.
Task Force Collaboration: LCHT is a key member of the Colorado Network to End Human Trafficking (CoNEHT), which aims to create a network of comprehensive support services (including legal and medical) for human trafficking victims in Colorado, and endeavors to provide compassionate care and advocacy, and increase public awareness. CoNEHT was founded in 2005 under an Office of Victims of Crime Federal Grant (#2005-VT-BX-K001 from the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice). LCHT staff and interns have worked in conjunction with other members of CoNEHT to provide training sessions, community awareness events and research regarding human trafficking.
Long-term Higher Education Survivor Resources: LCHT is working in partnership with Metropolitan State College’s Institute for Women’s Studies and Services to develop educational protocols for campus services. LCHT’s goal is to train at least five departments on responding to survivor needs.
Health Care Train-the-Trainer
The Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking, in collaboration with several local organizations, has facilitated Train-the-Trainer sessions with health care providers. These sessions have served as a means of raising awareness and offering resources to men and women in ideal positions to identify victims of human trafficking; educating healthcare providers as to the health needs of survivors of human trafficking; and coordinating statewide and regional human trafficking victim services. Included in this group are: social workers, nurses, physicians, public health professionals, county and state health departments, prevention health educations, faculty from medical schools, and administrators in both rural and urban communities with the rationale that these men and women conduct intakes and assessments of patients’ needs and concerns, as well as provide guidelines and protocols for serving clients. Following these trainings, participants have the capacity to conduct their own trainings on human trafficking to other health care providers in their respective communities.
Residential Treatment Centers (RTC)
In order to continue to reach and serve vulnerable populations, The Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking and local partners offer trainings to both youth and staff at local residential treatment centers (RTCs). Victims of commercial sexual exploitation and labor trafficking have been identified in RTCs throughout the country. To date, LCHT has successfully trained 91 staff members and more than 50 youth at Colorado RTCs. Out staff trainings are designed to educate staff and counselors about the issue of human trafficking, the impacts it can have on youth, and resources to provide more comprehensive care to victims. Youth-orientated trainings are designed to empower youth to prevent potential trafficking situations though education and provide information about available resources for victims.
Specific information for staff trainings:
- Human Trafficking 101 (an overview of the crime)
- How human trafficking has affected, or could affect youth at your RTC
- What RTC staff and counselors can do to help you who have been affected by human trafficking
- An overview of resources available in Colorado for victims
- Ways to combat human trafficking
Specific information for youth trainings:
- Human Trafficking 101 (an overview of the crime)
- Sexual exploitation
- Pimp control
- The glamorization of pimp culture
- An overview of resources available in Colorado for victims
- Ways to combat human trafficking