Ending Human Trafficking

Dr. Sandra Morgan and Dave Stachowiak talk to Dr. Michael Hanna about how addiction is actually a brain disease and that treating addiction is a very complicated task that involves the mind, body, and soul.

Key Points

Resources

Are you enjoying the show?

If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to subscribe or rate the podcast on iTunes by clicking here. Click here for FAQs about podcasts and how to subscribe.

Haven’t been receiving our newsletter? Visit our homepage to join today.

Contact us with questions, comments, or suggestions at [email protected].

Transcript

Dave: [00:00:00] You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number 166, The Science of Addiction with Dr. Michael Hanna.

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: [00:00:33] And my name is Sandie Morgan.

Dave: [00:00:36] 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, just about every episode we do try to zero in on all those, and sometimes a specific one. And I have a feeling today studying the issues and learning more about especially addiction, is going to be key as far as a big takeaway from this conversation.

Sandie: [00:00:58] Well I’m excited to have as our guest, my colleague from Vanguard University, Dr. Michael Hanna. And he teaches at Vanguard neurobiology and he was a neurobiology lab teacher at UCI, he was adjunct faculty at Mount San Antonio Community College and Los Angeles Trade Technical College before he came to Vanguard. And he has a lot of experience in substance abuse, neurological disorders, developmental disorders. And he is also involved in tutoring and college prep programs for high school youth in Orange County. So, he’s absolutely our kind of guy. I sat down with him and had a conversation, and all the things that I want to read now, I am just so thrilled. Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast, Michael.

Michael: [00:01:57] Thank you very much for having me.

Sandie: [00:01:59] So let’s start off with our first question. What is an addiction?

Michael: [00:02:06] One of the ways I like addressing addiction is by C’s because unfortunately a lot of times we use that term addiction so lightly. You know I’m addicted to ice cream, I’m addicted to candy, but I think five C’s kind of comprise what real addiction is. And one of them is a loss of control, this inability to stop whenever you want to. And most people that are actually addicts, will tell you I really do want to stop but I just can’t. So that’s one of them. You know this compulsive drug use that’s kind of the second thing that I think of. And then a big one is continued use, despite negative consequences. People even though they know that it’s just harming their lives and it’s just causing all of these problems, and they logically notice stuff, they continue to use this. And then the last one that I think of is this strong craving for these drugs. And you know some that are just almost impossible or very difficult to overcome these cravings. So that’s kind of the way that I think of addiction, as this loss of control and the continued use despite negative consequences.

Sandie: [00:03:17] So let me make sure I’ve got all five Cs. The first one is a loss of control. What was the second one?

Michael: [00:03:26] Compulsive drug use.

Sandie: [00:03:29] So compulsive kind of means that I can’t stop myself.

Michael: [00:03:34] Right. It’s almost like I got to do it almost every day, or you know depending on obviously different types of drugs. You know I can’t go to sleep without thinking about when my next hit is. So, this constant need for it. So, the loss of control can be just even the amount of it, but the compulsive use is almost like an everyday thing that I’m thinking of.

Sandie: [00:03:55] And then the next one is continued use. And then the last one was craving so I think I didn’t get the fourth one written down.

Michael: [00:04:06] Oh the consequences was the fifth one, negative consequences.

Sandie: [00:04:07] Yeah. And that’s the part where when I’m logically trying to talk to a friend or someone that I’m concerned about, and I use my logic “well here the consequences” and I think that I’m being very convincing and then they don’t stop. So, logic isn’t very effective in addictions.

Michael: [00:04:33] No not at all. And they will tell you. If you talk to several addicts they will tell you, “I really want to stop and I know this is messing up my life.” And they logically know, you don’t have to convince them at all that it’s bad for them, they know that already. I would say a lot of times they’re the ones that actually want to stop. So, you don’t have to try to convince them that it’s bad for you, I think that’s beating a dead horse. They already know that.

Sandie: [00:05:02] So what do I need to know about what happens in your brain that is related to this addiction process?

Michael: [00:05:10] You know I think that’s one of the biggest misconceptions that it’s all about willpower, that people can just stop whenever they want. But addiction is a brain disease. Often times I make that analogy. Let’s say, someone who’s been eating really bad all their life, all their life they had junk food, and so now they have a heart condition, they have an enlarged heart. And now as a result of this damaged organ, this enlarged heart, they have high blood pressure. Right? Now imagine if you go to someone that has high blood pressure, and then you go to them and you tell them, “how dare you have high blood pressure, lower your blood pressure.” You know, go ahead, do it now. I mean we laugh at that because that’s just ridiculous. You would never go to someone that has high blood pressure and tell them you know just lower it. Because what it is, it’s a symptom of a dysfunctional organ, and that organ is the heart.

Dr. Sandra Morgan and Dave Stachowiak discuss the relationship between substance abuse and human trafficking. They also talk about drug use among youths and the best way to prevent. They wrap up by discussing the 2018 Ensure Justice conference and explain its focus on preventing substance abuse.

Key Points

Resources

Are you enjoying the show?

If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to subscribe or rate the podcast on iTunes by clicking here. Click here for FAQs about podcasts and how to subscribe.

Haven’t been receiving our newsletter? Visit our homepage to join today.

Contact us with questions, comments, or suggestions at [email protected].

Transcript

Dave: [00:00:00] You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number 165, The Intersection of Substance Abuse and Human Trafficking.

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: [00:00:34] 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, so many of us have been hearing about substance abuse, and so many of the issues here within the states and within North America around substance abuse. And there’s just so many ways this plays out in our society right now. And of course, I guess I shouldn’t say of course but I don’t think it’s going to be a surprise, that there’s a link to human trafficking as well too. And I think we’re going to spend some time really exploring that in today’s conversation.

Sandie: [00:01:11] So the intersection between substance abuse and human trafficking is becoming a highly discussed topic now. With the media attention to the opioid crisis, we know that overdose as a cause of death has overtaken car crashes for young people. And that was a huge transition last year when the 2016 stats came in. And now we begin to see how it plays out in so many other areas. For me personally, it became a huge commitment to start planning Ensure Justice 2018. Back in January 2017, I was in the Orange County We Can Coalition meeting, and Dr. Anne Light read some information that they had pulled from some of their strategic planning as they reviewed what were the risk factors for child abuse in Orange County. And the number one thing they identified is a family member with an addiction, with a substance abuse issue. And for me that was like click, dominoes Falling. Because it’s kind of like reading a book where you get to a page and if you choose this page then you go on and you see the next part of the story or if you go over here you’ll see this and this. And so, when she said that because in the We Can coalition we’re trying to work to end child abuse and neglect. And those of you who have been listening for a long time to Ending Human Trafficking, you know that prevention of child abuse is a huge piece of ending the commercial sexual exploitation of children. Because if a child is abused, if a child is neglected there are so many repercussions. And we see then that they become more vulnerable to being recruited. They become more likely to run away from the violence or they’re taken out of the home for a very good reason because they need to be safe and they don’t like being taken out of the home, and so they run away from the security there. And it’s always important for listeners to understand that our group homes for youth are safe, no one can get in and harm our children. But they are not secure, that children these young people 14 or 15 years old can run away and we cannot restrain them. So, what are the issues around substance abuse and human trafficking? That’s what we want to talk about.

Dave: [00:04:03] It’s reminding me Sandie of the conversation we’ve had many times on the show, and you and I personally too, of the connections between some of the real challenges we have in our society and human trafficking. And homelessness is one that comes up to my mind too, and we think about child abuse and homelessness and some of these other factors, that on their face we don’t think about in the same lens. At least I didn’t use to with human trafficking and they are often the starting point for the risk factors that then lead to human trafficking. So, like you’ve always been saying prevention and how can we really look at some of the core, maybe it’s not fair to say the exact word cause, but things that really do influence someone getting in the situation that ends up being human trafficking.

Sandie: [00:04:51] Well and if you think about a child who’s experiencing a lot of abuse, they’re suffering, and they’re looking for some kind of relief. And one of their friends offers them something and they begin to use that to self-medicate for the pain in their lives. It’s emotional pain, there may be also a physical pain but that begins an addiction journey that when it’s discovered everybody says, “well why did this happen to this kid? Why did he do that? Why did he make such poor decisions?” And people don’t look back to find out that there was a place where that could have been changed. And so, we’re back in that book, choosing another ending. And this child has an addiction issue that started because of something else in his life. And we’re going to at Ensure Justice talk about addiction, and the brain, and the science of the brain. And it’s absolutely important for parents to understand that kids experimenting at a young age, they’re actually more vulnerable to long-term addiction, the earlier they start trying drugs. So, you start down that chapter and you have a whole different scenario. And my concern for parents is that they feel like our house is safe, and so my kids are safe. But they need to be able to understand the trends out there, the way social media drives attention and opportunity creates opportunities. So, one of the workshops that we have at Ensure Justice, we’re pulling in an expert from our Orange County Department of Education, and Steven Lambert is going to do a professional workshop for educators and social workers. But he’s also really passionate about equipping parents. And he sat in my office and we talked about the parents, and how do we connect with them? And we’re going to work on doing the same thing in Spanish. You know we’ve been doing a lot more in Spanish for our Spanish speaking community that we really appreciate. This is a good moment to say that besides having the Spanish workshops track and Spanish translation for the...

Dr. Sandra Morgan and Dave Stachowiak discuss the power of the #SilenceisNotSpiritual movement and the best ways to implement changes in our own communities.

Key Points

Resources

Are you enjoying the show?

If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to subscribe or rate the podcast on iTunes by clicking here. Click here for FAQs about podcasts and how to subscribe.

Haven’t been receiving our newsletter? Visit our homepage to join today.

Contact us with questions, comments, or suggestions at [email protected].

Transcript

Dave: [00:00:00] You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number 163, #SilenceIsNotSpiritual: Breaking the Silence on Violence Against Women and Girls.

Production Credits: [00:00:12] Produced by Innovate Learning, maximizing human potential.

Dave: [00:00:32] Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. My name is Dave Stachowiak.

Sandie: [00:00:37] And my name is Sandie Morgan.

Dave: [00:00:40] 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 certainly couldn’t not say something about this topic, with everything that’s been going on in the media and in the news over the last five or six months. There’s so much happening, there’s so much conversation going on. We’re at the very beginning of a revolution which has needed to happen. And yet there is so much complexity here. And yet today we’re going to try and tackle one piece of this. And one way that one organization is responding. And I think that there will be some takeaways for all of us on how we can think about this differently, especially here in the New Year.

Sandie: [00:01:25] I’ve heard someone say this is a defining moment in history. Here in the news, we see it felt like for a few weeks like there was a sexual harassment revelation every single week and someone lost their jobs. And how do we respond to that? And one of the things that a group of my close friends began to look at is how do we as women respond in a context that we’re part of our churches. And so, it isn’t about alienating ourselves from media, or even pointing fingers at men who are bad, and things like that, but really taking the opportunity with this attention to look at issues that surround violence against women and girls. And this is really important from the Ending Human Trafficking perspective because we know that when we look at prevention models, many of the girls who end up in being trafficked had an experience either with sexual abuse as a child with sexual assault that left them in a vulnerable position, and may have run away or found themselves in a place where they were much more recruitable or even abducted. Manage all of those things, you can you can go back and listen to some of those podcasts.

Sandie: [00:02:52] But how do we be proactive now? And so, this group has launched #SilenceIsNotSpiritual. And the first time I heard the hashtag idea, I thought oh that sounds like Sin by Silence. And Sin by Silence is the name of a documentary that Vanguard alum, Olivia Klaus Morrogh, created based on our beloved founder’s research, Dr. Elizabeth Leonard’s, on convicted survivors women who had been battered and ended up in prison because their husbands died in an altercation at their hand. And so, the idea that breaking that silence is part of the key to ending violence, this was an echo of that. And I wanted to pursue that, so I said yes, I’ll sign and I’m like the fourth signature or so on this. Now it has almost 5000 signatures when I looked yesterday. And the idea is that this has gone beyond awareness. We push things out, you’ve got Twitter stuff, you retweet the things you like, I push things out on Facebook. But this means that you actually have to go to the site and sign it. So, it’s real engagement. We’re not measuring how many hits; how many people saw it. I mean the first day I posted it, it had 470 views. That doesn’t matter. That does not matter. We watch things happen, we’re bystanders. This is about getting involved during a defining moment in history. And we want people to go to the website and sign that they’re standing with women and standing up for women. Those are the two actions statements.

Dave: [00:04:54] As people are listening to this episode, I know one of the calls to action we’ll have is to go visit the website, Sandie. When you do sign what is it you’re committing to, what is the organization really trying to do in order to effect change?

Sandie: [00:05:06] Well want to go beyond the #MeToo or even the #ChurchToo. And we don’t want to be out there saying oh who’s doing this wrong. We want to look in our own community and Vanguard is a private Christian university. The leaders that launched this are women who are in leadership and in the Evangelical church world. And so, we want to take responsibility in our own context. We want to look at what’s happening in our churches. One of the things that they were very intentional about was doing their research through research communities that are part of the churches like they use LifeWay Research. They did a poll a survey, LifeWay Research did, of a thousand pastors. And discovered that 74 percent knew about violence against women but they had very unrealistic expectations about if it was present in their own churches.

Dave: [00:06:12] Interesting.

Sandie: [00:06:13] And so how do you move forward and create space to stand up for women, if you think it doesn’t exist in your church. And so, we have to break that silence. That’s why its silence is not spiritual, being a voice, and how many times have you heard me say Proverbs 31:8 says, “Be a voice for those who have no voice, ensure justice for those being crushed.” And that’s really the premise for me signing this. It isn’t an option for me. I want to sign this. I want to support a movement that calls us to reflect in our own community, in our own backyard.

Dave: [00:06:55] Well and you think one of the challenges with the current defining moment revolution whatever term we want to use that’s ...

Jenny McGee from Starfish Projects shares about why it’s so important to build sustainable businesses and teach women high-level job skills. She explains how Starfish Projects exists to help women experience freedom, establish independence, and develop careers.

Key Points

Resources

Are you enjoying the show?

If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to subscribe or rate the podcast on iTunes by clicking here. Click here for FAQs about podcasts and how to subscribe.

Haven’t been receiving our newsletter? Visit our homepage to join today.

Contact us with questions, comments, or suggestions at [email protected].

Transcript

Dave: [00:00:00] You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number 162, Jenny McGee Explains the Starfish Business Model for Serving Survivors.

Production Credits: [00:00:12] Produced by Innovate Learning, maximizing human potential.

Dave: [00:00:32] 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. The podcast is produced out of the Global Center for Women and Justice here at Vanguard University. And Sandie, it is a special month here in January 2018 when we’re airing the show.

Sandie: [00:00:58] I am always excited when January rolls around and it’s not because I get a new calendar, it’s because it is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. And this month we are on a roll, we’re doing a podcast every week. And Dave, thank you so much for the extra support so we can do this to celebrate January for prevention.

Dave: [00:01:20] The pleasure is mine and I’m so glad we have yet another expert here today who’s going to give us another perspective in a particular demonstrating a sustainable business model that goes beyond rescue. And we are pleased to welcome Jenny McGee to the show today. She is the executive director and founder of Starfish Project, a social enterprise dedicated to restoring hope to trafficked and exploited women and girls. She has worked and lived in Asia with her family for over 15 years and has been helping women experience freedom, establish independence, and develop careers. Jenny, we’re so glad to welcome you today.

Jenny: [00:01:57] Yeah thank you for having me, I’m happy to be here.

Sandie: [00:02:00] Well I was privileged to meet you in person a couple times this last year. And each time I met with you I was more impressed with the excellent business model that you have. Being at Vanguard I have lots of young students and alumni who want to go out and do something meaningful, and I want them all to learn how you have done it because you’ve used a holistic care program that really does take into account the whole rescue aspect of helping women out of this. But at the same time, you’re working towards a long hard goal that is going to sustain the women and also your business models. So, do you want to tell us a little bit about what Starfish is?

Jenny: [00:02:56] Yes so like you said, I’ve lived in Asia for 15 years and started an organization, and it’s really about three things helping women experience freedom, establish independence, and develop careers. So, at Starfish Project we have outreach teams to go out into the red-light areas, visit the women and girls there. And that’s all ages, we see girls as young as 12 years old, up to women who are in their 60s working in the brothels. And so, we just visit them regularly, share with them, see whatever we can do to help them, and then really offer them an opportunity to come out of the brothels. And so, women can come into our shelters, and this is where they establish independence piece really comes, and they can join our shelters. And we try to get them living independently within two years and then they can work at our jewelry company, where we hire the women. But we really see that as sort of a platform for the girls to learn a lot of different skills. And so, we have some vocational training there, where we do an assessment when the women first come in. And some of them can’t read or write when they first come to us, and so we start with basic literacy class. We try to give them really transferable skills as soon as we can and so all of the girls eventually go through our computer programs, where they learn a Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and they get a certification from Microsoft Corporation. And so, the women going to that program, eventually if they finish all four, they become Microsoft Office specialists.

Sandie: [00:04:32] OK so back up just a little bit. You go out into the brothels, so you don’t take like a team of people with black ops experience to knock down the doors and rescue the women?

Jenny: [00:04:46] No, actually one of our teams is led by a woman who has come out of the brothels herself. And so, she adds a lot of wisdom and support to us, but we’re just regular people who go into the shops. And what I found is, you know a lot of girls have been tricked themselves by their own family members, their own relatives. So, it takes a lot to build trust with them. You know, we don’t just walk in and they immediately want to come out of the brothels. A lot of them are used to their lives there. I mean sometimes it can take years of building support with them, building a relationship with them, and building that trust that they believe that we have a better job for them and that they can really trust us to come with us.

Sandie: [00:05:34] Can you off the top of your head, tell us how many times you might have Met the same girl before she agrees that she wants to come to Starfish?

Jenny: [00:05:43] Yes. It’s interesting we’ve had girls that we met, and the first time they say please help me I can’t survive this place. And then we’ve had other girls where we met them, and one girl in particularly we lost contact with her, and five years later she contacted us and said do you still have a job for me. So, some of them it can take many years, and sometimes it’s just the situation where they’re finally in a place where they realize you know I deserve more or I want more. Sometimes that takes a lot of time for them to reach that place themselves.

Sandie: [00:06:19] So when they come out, they know that you’re going to train them for a vocation?

Jenny: [00:06:26] Yeah. We talk with them a lot about our training programs. And a lot of the girls come to us not as much because they want another job, but they’re thinking long-term about their future and ...

Dr. Sandra Morgan and Dave Stachowiak talk to Brandon Stiver about how having his own family totally changed his perspective on caring for orphan children and why family-based care is so much better than orphanage-based care.

Key Points

“It is the belief of Kingdom Families in accordance with Tanzanian policy as well as scripture that family-based care is the highest standard of care for a child. We believe that every child has a right to be raised in a family.”

—Brandon Stiver

Resources

Are you enjoying the show?

If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to subscribe or rate the podcast on iTunes by clicking here. Click here for FAQs about podcasts and how to subscribe.

Haven’t been receiving our newsletter? Visit our homepage to join today.

Contact us with questions, comments, or suggestions at [email protected]

Transcript

Dave: [00:00:00] You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number 161, Orphan Care in Tanzania with Brandon Stiver.

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: [00:00:34] 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, so glad to be back with you here in the new year. And today a conversation I know that will be yet another lens that is so important for us to know about on elements that relate to human trafficking. And I know Brandon is going to really provide a lot of perspective on care for children. And we talk a lot about children on this podcast of course, but Brandon is going to I know bring us a new perspective. He is an alum of Vanguard University, where the Global Center for Women and Justice of course here is based. And Brandon Stiver grew up on the central coast of California and has been working in orphan care in Tanzania since 2010. Originally working at a Christian orphanage for a couple of years, Brandon realized that even the best of institutions fall dramatically short of meeting the child’s deepest and most intimate needs. Brandon’s deepest desire for Kingdom Families is to continue seeing orphaned, vulnerable and abandoned children restored to God’s first construct, the family. Brandon lives in Moshi, Tanzania with his wife Melissa and their three children. Brandon, we’re so glad to welcome you to the show.

Brandon: [00:01:58] Thanks it’s really great to be on.

Sandie: [00:02:00] It was especially exciting for me to have him visit Vanguard this fall, and speak to my commercially sexually exploited class. And I think one of the things I noticed about him first when he turned on his slides and started presenting. And of course, my students are focused on prevention and globally when we look at issues of slavery and human trafficking, children are some of the most marginalized. So when he started his slides the first thing I noticed is that there were no pictures of him surrounded by smiling orphans. And I thought Brandon, I’m so proud you’re a Vanguard alum, thank you for coming on our own human trafficking show.

Brandon: [00:02:44] Thank you, Dr. Morgan.

Sandie: [00:02:46] Now in your bio it talks about how you started and you responded to the passion and the compassion really for children in places where there are not a lot of resources and we all know that following the AIDS crisis in Africa, caring for children became a huge issue. So how did you make the shift from working at an orphanage to developing a family-based solution?

Brandon: [00:03:13] Yeah so it is really interesting kind of looking back at the breadth of what we’ve been engaged in for almost a decade now. When I first moved to Tanzania my focus was, I literally felt God calling me to go run an orphanage in Africa. So, I kind of went with that idea of what things were going to be like and started to pursue that. And I worked with some really great people, and they really love the kids, and there was good funding. But when we started to kind of recognize, you know a couple of years in, that there really wasn’t anything done for the kids to make it into families. That it was kind of like you know the kids are going to come in, and this is where they’re going to remain. So just different things were changing in our own families during that time, my wife Melissa and I got pregnant. We started to walk this parenthood journey which really teaches you a lot as well. And I started to recognize wow this really is God’s plan, it’s for a husband and wife to have kids. And that was kind of the impetus that compelled us toward starting Kingdom Families, which we started in 2014. So, you know the first four years of us being engaged in Tanzania, we were doing institutional care and working with the church in other ways. But it was really that understanding of what family is that compelled us towards pursuing family-based options.

Sandie: [00:04:45] So I love your website because I’m all about personally partnering public-private with our institution Vanguard University and our government. So on your website, one of the statements I copied and pasted because I liked it so much, is “it is the belief of Kingdom Families, in accordance with Tanzanian policy as well as scripture, that family-based care is the highest standard of care for a child. We believe that every child has a right to be raised in a family.” I love that, the highest standard of care. And we want the best possible care for our children. So, what is Tanzanian policy and how do you implement that?

Brandon: [00:05:31] Yes. So, there’s actually this gap, unfortunately, which you see in a lot of the developing countries. You can have it might be UNICEF, or maybe other NGOs, it could be just copying and ...

Dr. Sandra Morgan and Dave Stachowiak talk to Panagiotis Papadimitriou to discuss the important work he is doing at UNODC. They discuss the legal database and research he is conducting. They also talk about the difference between human trafficking and migrant smuggling and why it is so critical to understand the distinction.

Key Points

Resources

Are you enjoying the show?

If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to subscribe or rate the podcast on iTunes by clicking here. Click here for FAQs about podcasts and how to subscribe.

Haven’t been receiving our newsletter? Visit our homepage to join today.

Contact us with questions, comments, or suggestions at [email protected].

Transcript

Dave: [00:00:00] You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number 160, The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Production Credits: [00:00:08] 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. Sandie, one of the great benefits that I’ve gotten just on a purely selfish level over the years of being a cohost on the show with you is learning so many things about the world, organizations that you’ve partnered with Sandie, and so much about this issue. And one of the institutions that I’ve learned a little bit about in that time is the United Nations. And I’m really excited today to be able to learn more about a part of the United Nations I’m very unaware of and I think our audience will learn a lot too. And today’s guest comes from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and his name is Panagiotis Papadimitriou. Panagiotis is a Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice officer working in the human trafficking and migrant smuggling section of the Organized Crime Branch of the division of treaty affairs under the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime headquarters. He joined Sandie in Athens, Greece for the conference on human trafficking during the Greece summer study abroad. And Sandie, that was this past summer wasn’t it.

Sandie: [00:01:51] That’s right. And we’ve been invited back. So welcome to the show. We’ll dispense with formalities and we’re just going to call you Takis because you’ve become a great friend and we have learned so much from you since meeting you in Greece this last summer.

Panagiotis: [00:02:09] Thank you very much, Sandie. I have to say I’m very glad to be here with you and talk to you. And actually, it was a great pleasure for me to join you in Athens. And I have to tell you that I have learned an equal lot if not more than you did through my participation there.

Sandie: [00:02:29] You are very kind. First of all, though, let’s tell our listeners about what the UNODC actually is and why combating human trafficking is situated in that office in Vienna.

Panagiotis: [00:02:44] Well you know this is first of all the department of the Secretariat of the United Nations and is actually the department that is mandated by the member states to deal with issues related to drugs and crime countering gangs, drug crime, preventing drug abuse and criminality, and helping states implementing the different international instruments and relating to drugs and crime. Now my section, the team I’m working with is actually the section of UNODC which is specifically dealing with the international instruments on trafficking in persons and the smuggling of migrants. That is the United Nations protocol to prevent, suppress, and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children. And the United Nations protocol against the smuggling of migrants by land, sea, and air which are both supplementing the Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime. So UNODC is I would say the guardian of international instruments, which means that we are responsible to assist states in implementing them. And when it comes to trafficking, to take all the measures that is necessary to criminalize trafficking in persons, in accordance with international definition agreed in the protocol, to protect the victims of trafficking, to prevent trafficking, and also to partner among them, among the states, but also with other people in the civil society or international organizations. Because you know very well, that trafficking in persons is a multifaceted phenomenon where it requires a holistic response to be addressed. So, this is the role for UNODC and trafficking, mainly supporting states also coordinating with other agencies. And I would say a great deal of our work in developing studies and doing research into human trafficking.

Sandie: [00:05:19] And that’s a really interesting place to start because when I went on the UNODC website and looked for a human trafficking, I began to discover so many resources that would help me in the classroom where I’m teaching on human trafficking. We also have had an anti-human trafficking certificate. And so, it’s been easy for me to find examples of case law, legislation, those sorts of things because your office produces the human trafficking knowledge portal. And when you say knowledge portal and I click on that, it’s not one or two articles, it is an entire bibliography database included there. So, can you tell me how you developed that knowledge base and how it’s maintained so that I know that it’s up to date.

Panagiotis: [00:06:19] Well, first of all to keep it up to date is our responsibility. Right? As UNODC we are really doing our best to do that. So, the anti-trafficking knowledge portal is essentially a database of legislation on the one hand and on occasion the jurisprudence on the other hand. Anti-trafficking legislation is provided to us mainly by member states that are requested officially to do so but also through research that we are conducting and the results of which are validated of course with the member states. Case law equally comes from experts that we have been working with in different jurisdictions and consists mainly on judgements and decisions of the courts of first instance, the second instance, or Supreme Courts that are publicly available. I have to say we are very proud of that because a couple of months ago we have reached the threshold of one hundred states. So, we have the case l...

Dr. Sandra Morgan and Dave Stachowiak talk to Dr. Ron Chambers about the importance of teaching physicians proper patient care systems for trafficking victims in order to build better medical homes.

Key Points

“The physician education, training, and development of a human trafficking victim medical home developed at the Dignity Health Family Medicine Residency Program has been conceptualized and implemented with incredible success.  We hope to spread the concept to residencies clinics throughout the country and standardize human trafficking victim and survivor care in physician education and training across the country. It is a viable solution with the potential to synergistically provide widespread healthcare that coincides with training the physicians of tomorrow to recognize and treat this vulnerable patient population.”

Resources

Are you enjoying the show?

If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to subscribe or rate the podcast on iTunes by clicking here. Click here for FAQs about podcasts and how to subscribe.

Haven’t been receiving our newsletter? Visit our homepage to join today.

Contact us with questions, comments, or suggestions at [email protected].

Transcript

Dave: [00:00:00] You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number 159, What is a Medical Home? An interview with Dr. Ron Chambers.

Production Credits: [00:00:10] Produced by Innovate Learning, maximizing human potential.

Dave: [00:00:34] Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. My name is Dave Stachowiak.

Sandie: [00:00:39] And my name is Sandie Morgan.

Dave: [00:00:41] 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, each episode we work to bring something that’s most relevant to our listening community or to bring a guest that will really help us to expand our knowledge. And today is no different. I’m excited

Sandie: [00:01:05] I am too, Dr. Ron Chambers is a program director DIO at Family Medicine Residency Program Chair and his work at Mercy Family Health Center and Mercy Human Trafficking Clinic is to me just very cutting edge and it’s emerging best practice. So, we want to welcome Dr. Chambers to Ending Human Trafficking.

Ron: [00:01:30] Well, thank you for having me.

Sandie: [00:01:32] OK so one of the quotes that I have from you that was kind of a catalyst that made me want to go and see what you were doing, so I actually went and visited Dr. Chambers in Sacramento when I was up there for the California Sociological Association conference. And he said, “the physician education, training, and development of a human trafficking victim medical home developed at the Dignity Health Family Medicine Residency program has been conceptualized and implemented with incredible success. We hope to spread the concept to residencies clinics throughout the country and standardize human trafficking victim and survivor care in physician education and training across the country. It is a viable solution with the potential to synergistically provide widespread health care that coincides with training the physicians of tomorrow to recognize and treat this vulnerable patient population.” And so, can you expand on that? That inspired me so much.

Ron: [00:02:47] Oh well thank you, Sandra. I do think the idea is a viable construct for providing care to this patient population. I became involved with work with human trafficking victims and survivors a few years back after Dignity Health the hospital system I worked for launched an initiative to take on the issue of human trafficking. And they have spent millions of dollars and we’ve spent thousands of hours training the workforce throughout the 43 hospitals in our system and creating a system-wide effort where the hospitals and the personnel working within the hospitals have been trained on human trafficking and to have an approach to patient care that is victim-centered and trauma-informed and survivor lead with Holly Gibbs being the program director for the system. I feel very fortunate that we were involved early on in that initiative and helped write the protocols and be a part of the work that was being done. But what was interesting pretty early on is we recognized that when we were identifying patients when we are identifying victims within the hospital setting we were dealing with people that of course had in days, weeks, months, years, even decades of trauma and abuse. And the protocols themselves were very effective at enabling us to help these patients get removed from trafficking situations and connected with the resources, and law enforcement, and safe houses, and case management services. But there really was an ongoing need for longitudinal medical care. And so that’s what we really focused on addressing at least at Mercy Family Health Center And within our residency program was creating a system within the clinic that could meet the needs of this patient population not just in the first 24 hours or first week but over the course of years and their lifetimes. It really has made enormous success for perspective over the last eight to 10 months since the beginning of the new year January 1st. We’ve seen approximately 110 new trafficking victims within our center.

Sandie: [00:05:07] Wow.

Ron: [00:05:07] And I think our average number is average across the board on there is about four to five clinic visits per patient. So that’s four to five hundred office visits within our center. And I really believe that putting this within the residency education makes sense.

Sandie: [00:05:28] When I read that quote the first time I was reading something online, I had just learned about what you were doing. And I come from a medical background although I haven’t been active in acute care, our listeners know I’m a nurse. But I was really excited about the idea of a medical home and it was really embarrassing when I arrived to visit you and realized that I didn’t even understand what a medical home was. And the more I thought about it, after learning so much from you in just that hour that I spent there, the concept of a home of always knowing you can go back there. That’s part of the success with developing relationships with victims and survivors because they can always come back. That you’re now using technical terminology longitudinal care or services and expa...

Dr. Sandra Morgan and Dave Stachowiak talk about TAG, which stands for “Think, Act, Grow.” TAG is a “multi-sector approach that challenges organizations and professionals to improve adolescent health through a strengths-based, positive youth development approach that emphasizes youth engagement.”

Key Points

Resources

2018 Ensure Justice Conference

Click here to register!

Are you enjoying the show?

If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to subscribe or rate the podcast on iTunes by clicking here. Click here for FAQs about podcasts and how to subscribe.

Haven’t been receiving our newsletter? Visit our homepage to join today.

Contact us with questions, comments, or suggestions at [email protected].

Transcript

Dave: [00:00:00] You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number 158, Health and Human Services: TAG Think Act Grow.

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, make a difference in ending human trafficking, and not duplicate the things other people are doing right, Sandie.

Sandie: [00:00:50] That’s right.

Dave: [00:00:52] We talk a lot on this show about the desire that all of us have to help and to serve. And in particular around the challenges of this issue the willingness that so many people have Sandie who hears about the dangers and horrors and awful stories around human trafficking to jump in right away and help. And one of the messages we’ve had is a consistent story over the last few years, story is maybe not the right word, but is to educate all of us on the fact that before we jump in with both feet and work to help one of the best ways we can help is often aligning with the resources, agencies, organizations that are already doing things. That rather than us reinventing the wheel, we can support in a very strategic way and I believe that today’s conversation Sandie we’re going to really jump into that again as a reminder for us through a different lens.

Sandie: [00:01:53] Absolutely. And I have to tell you that when I discovered TAG, I really looked at myself first. Why did I not go to the Health and Human services adolescent page? They have so many resources. And here we are thinking that we’re out here on our own fighting human trafficking and trying to build kids who are able to have the kind of developmental assets that make them more resilient. And how do we empower kids to say no to some of the lures that we’ve talked about on this show that lead to the commercial sexual exploitation of our children and even labor trafficking like we mentioned in the latest episode on homeless youth? And eight percent are lured into labor trafficking. So, when I discovered their TAG initiative, I just dove in with both feet and I recognized some of the markers for what we’ve already identified our best practices in doing prevention with young people.

Dave: [00:03:08] And just to take the 35,000-foot level view here for a moment Sandie so there are a number of government agencies that support awareness and prevention on human trafficking. The State Department probably is the most apparent one that we’ve talked about on the show. For those who aren’t aware, how does Health and Human Services interact with and coordinate with some of those other government agencies?

Sandie: [00:03:33] Health and Human Services at a national level, they have different offices. They actually have an office on human trafficking and one of our Orange County friends that we’ve interviewed here when she was the Nets director for Salvation Army in Orange County, Sherry Harris, actually works there and is developing technical assistance tools to train communities on human trafficking. But Health and Human Services does so much more than that. And they’re of course as their name says health they are looking at health and wellness from a physical, psychological, emotional issue and they want to be able to prepare the community and the responsible leaders to address those issues. So, providing tools and resources, they are a funding agency and people apply for grants that are best practice evidence-based efforts to extend those. And the adolescent office has a lot of work that they’ve done on resilience. They’ve done work on drug abuse and teens, other addictions, the brain, and addiction. They have toolkits. And one of the things that’s pretty interesting from my perspective is they haven’t labeled anything with human trafficking or any of the very sensational stories of what happens to marginalize kids sometimes. So, their tools are very accessible for everyday people and in fact in this particular initiative they talk about the call to action to improve adolescent health because you know if you’re stronger you’re going to have more resilience and resistance to illness and disease and other environmental aspects of your life. So, the Think Act Grow, TAG, is described on their webpage as “a multi-sector approach, challenging organizations and professionals to improve adolescent health through a strengths-based positive youth development approach that emphasizes youth engagement.” Now we back in episode number 109, we did an episode on Prevention-Saving Up for a Rainy Day. Because we looked at how using developmental assets actually prepare you for when the big storms come so that you can overcome. And so, this is a little less complicated. I don’t know if y...

Jessica Springer joins Dr. Sandie Morgan and Dave Stachowiak to talk about dual-jurisdiction children (part of the criminal justice system and the dependency system like foster homes) and how judges aren’t able to make good decisions if they don’t know the child’s full background. They also talk about current and upcoming human trafficking bills in California.

Key Points

Resources

Are you enjoying the show?

If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to subscribe or rate the podcast on iTunes by clicking here. Click here for FAQs about podcasts and how to subscribe.

Haven’t been receiving our newsletter? Visit our homepage to join today.

Contact us with questions, comments, or suggestions at [email protected].

Transcript

Dave: [00:00:00] You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number 157, Using Your Expertise as a Volunteer – An Interview with Attorney Jessica Springer.

Production Credits: [00:00:11] Produced by Innovate Learning, maximizing human potential.

Dave: [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.

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, I’m glad to be back with you. Many times, when we get together for these conversations, you have someone in mind as a guest who is just fabulous on expertise. And today is no different, and in our pre-conversation before this interview, I can just tell there is so much we’re going to learn. So, I’m really excited to be able to introduce Jessica Springer to our audience. She is a graduate of California State University Fullerton Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts degrees in both psychology and criminal justice. She obtained her Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Diego School of Law, and during law school, she worked at the San Diego district attorney’s office and later started her own family practice here in Orange County. She is a member of the worker’s compensation section of the State Bar in the Orange County Bar Association. She is bilingual in English and Farsi and is very active in her community serving as a member of the Orange County Bar’s Community Outreach Committee. She’s a busy lawyer with a profound interest in children’s rights, is a member of the Orange County CSEC Steering Committee and is the chair of the Orange County Association’s Human Trafficking Task Force. Jessica, we’re so glad to welcome you to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast.

Jessica: [00:02:05] Thank you, I’m happy to be here.

Sandie: [00:02:07] I’m excited to interview you today Jessica because when I first met you it was because you were volunteering at a summit that we were helping judge Maria Hernandez do. And since then we’ve become good friends. I love to have younger professionals in my life that mentor me as I have the opportunity to speak into your life. So, it’s just a real honor to have a colleague and a friend on the podcast.

Jessica: [00:02:39] Thank you, Dr. Morgan. I think you’re giving me way too much credit, to be honest. I really look up to people like you who kind of paved the way for the younger generation. So, I’m just happy to be here and thank you so much for having me.

Sandie: [00:02:52] So tell a little bit about how you got involved in combating human trafficking. So, the way I got involved was actually a little bit strange. My focus in law school was actually on the dual jurisdiction population. And what that is, I’ll explain that a little bit, when a child gets involved in both the criminal justice system and the dependency system in California. So, they’re either part of the foster system as a dependent, meaning they don’t have a home or a family, and then they also are committing crimes whether it’s a status offense because of their age. So, for examples like smoking, or curfew, or truancy or they actually commit a crime that would be a crime as an adult like burglary or you know robbery or something. So, I was really interested in that population. I did a white paper on it and as I graduated, I started looking for volunteer opportunities, I saw and learned that the majority of the kids that are involved in human trafficking come from this dual jurisdiction population. So, it was only natural for me to say wow this is a big issue for the population that I want to serve. And that’s kind of how I got involved.

Sandie: [00:04:04] Oh I love that story. That’s great. And one of the things that I’ve watched in seeing how you engage the community is you don’t only go to human trafficking events, but you support educating the community about family violence because that’s often the root of kids becoming dual jurisdiction. Right?

Jessica: [00:04:26] That is absolutely correct. I hate to throw out statistics, so I’m just going to say the majority, but we all know that the majority of these young adults and children that get involved in human trafficking have some form of sexual violence, sexual abuse, physical abuse, mental abuse and it usually starts when their children and in the home. So, you’re absolutely correct. It starts as a family unit, and we’ve got to keep that strong in order to prevent not only the crime of human trafficking but also the vulnerability of the kids in that population.

Sandie: [00:05:00] Well and besides doing things on the front line. Well like with the O.C. Bar Associations Human Trafficking Taskforce you also are working from the other side of things as a youth mentor and in the Orangewood Children’s Center, they’re an independent living program. So, you are really a great example of somebody who is approaching this from a very holistic expert position. So, let’s jump into telling us about the O.C. Bar Association antihuman trafficking task force.

Jessica: [00:05:35] Sure. It is actually a new task force, we began it this year. And basically, what it is, is I got a whole bunch of judges and lawyers in Orange County to commit some of their free time, which we all...