Meet Me At the Shore: Tracking the Tide of Posttraumatic Growth After Human Trafficking and Trauma K Thomas, a trained trauma therapist and a survivor of sexual and relationship violence. K will weave their personal and professional journey through the challenges of healing, finding appropriate care, and the constant ebb and flow of posttraumatic growth. Working with North County Lifeline’s Project LIFE, K has provided trauma therapy, reprocessing, case management, and emergency response to survivors of sex and labor trafficking and exploitation. K will share personal and professional experiences of posttraumatic growth and experiences of their work with survivors of human trafficking and exploitation and practical tips of how to meet clients at the shore of resiliency. Survivors of human trafficking and exploitation are no stranger to the reality that healing from trauma is a lifelong process. Many survivors of human trafficking have experienced severe psychology, financial, physical, and sexual violence with long lasting mental, physical, legal, and financial impacts. Some folks might even ask if it’s possible to heal from so much trauma. If you are working to overcome your own traumas or working in the mental health field, you’ve probably heard the phrase “Healing isn’t linear.” Just like nature itself, we move through seasons of growth, death, expansion, and contraction in our healing journeys. We often become discouraged by setbacks, triggers, and obstacles to obtain care. We become overwhelmed by the dance floor of trauma, caught up in the constant movement, high energy, and lack of center. But what if stepped off the dance floor and onto the balcony? What if we viewed our journey as constant exploration of self instead of a task to complete?