Thoughts from a Therapist

            As a therapist who works with children and families, I don’t often see or treat victims of trafficking.  My work focuses mainly on a question that I feel is very important and occasionally overlooked in the push and passion of fighting the existing trafficking that occurs all over the world: “What are the ways to strengthen and empower families and children who may be at risk for trafficking?” 

             In my work, I see families who may have experienced abuse and trauma, sometimes throughout several generations of the family.  As a Marriage and Family Therapist, I am trained to see families as systems with interconnecting pieces, similar to the wheels and springs in a clock.  When I first meet a family who is engaging in treatment with a specific problem, my training prompts me to go deeper and ask questions about the family, exploring other areas of vulnerability which may either add to the existing problem, or create additional ones in the future.  I like to incorporate an important thought by Monica McGoldrick.  “Families comprise people who have shared history and an implied shared future.”  Her thought that families share not only the past, but also the present and the future no matter where each individual goes and what they do, informs the ways I work with families in therapy.  I think it is important to note that when I refer to ‘trauma’, I am referring to anything that could be considered scary or out of the normal for that family.  I am not referring to PTSD (although PTSD can be a part of a family’s challenge) as trauma does not need to become PTSD for it to create distress for a family or it’s individual members.

Some questions I ask and explore include:

•   What are some of the traumas the family has experienced in the past?

•   Things I usually ask about and try to be aware of: witnessing or experiencing domestic violence; a quick or unusual death in the family; sexual abuse (either in the current generation, or past generations); experiencing rape/birth of a child conceived by rape; abortion or early pregnancy loss; the death of a young child; messy and challenging divorce or separation (either current generation or past generations); perceived loss or betrayal of trust within the family (a family member marrying a disapproved of person or leaving the family religion).

•   What are some traumas that they are experiencing currently, whether as a family, or each family member individually?

•   Such as job loss, illness/chronic pain, car accidents          

•   How do past traumas influence the family’s functioning today? 

•   I especially look at trauma that has occurred in past generations and how ways of creating or maintaining relationships and attachments have been influenced by traumas.  For example, a family who has experienced rape in one generation, may hold differing beliefs about the value of sex and intimacy in relationships. 

•   How have past traumas created vulnerabilities in the family which may be, or have been, used by people outside the family system? 

•   I often look at how friends have interacted with the family.  Have those friends ever taken advantage of the family’s openness or generosity?  I look at the family’s relationships outside their family and explore the value of friendship and the role it can play in empowering the family and supporting the family’s recognition of healthy vs. unhealthy relationships. 

•   How do individuals in the family use past traumas to take advantage of other members in the family?

•   In many families I work with, abuse has occurred by a member of the family.  I often see this in the case of childhood sexual abuse. 

•   How can the traumas be used as protective factors and used to create narratives of positive self-worth and strength?

•   I strongly believe that bad things that have happened to people can be used to create strength and empower them.  I strive to support a family in therapy to identify the challenging events and situations they have been through and ways in which these events have supported them in becoming closer as a family and how those events can be rewritten to incorporate strength-based language.  For example, a family who has experienced a house fire could be supported to identify how the event, which is scary in itself, brought them closer together and how the neighborhood/church community stepped forward to help and support that family. 

•   What external people/agencies/organizations can interact with the family in a positive and strength-based way to bolster the family’s internal and external resources making them less vulnerable to exploitation?

•   Does the family have connections to a church or faith community?  Do individuals in the family have their own therapists?  Does the family receive other community supports?

            I believe that a large part of anti-trafficking work should be identifying possible risk factors and ways families have already been exploited or could be exploited, either as individuals or as a whole.  I also believe it is my job as a therapist to support the family in molding those risk factors and traumas into a positive and strength-based narrative.  A strength-based narrative can support them in minimizing and managing future traumas and reducing the vulnerability to be exploited internally and externally.  I firmly believe that although traumas can create vulnerabilities which others can take advantage of, those same vulnerabilities can be used to empower, strengthen, and protect the family.  Anti-trafficking work can often start within the family!

Natalie Glisson

Task Force Member

Marriage & Family Therapist

Riverbend Community Mental Health

Open Letter: Freedom Needs Truth

The New Hampshire Human Trafficking Collaborative Task Force is proud to stand with anti-trafficking leaders across the country to express our concerns about QAnon

As printed in Medium

An open letter to Candidates, the Media, Political Parties, and Policymakers:

As survivors, service providers, human and labor rights advocates, law enforcement officials, researchers and policy experts, we know human trafficking is real. For decades we have worked to raise awareness, enforce the law with a victim-centered approach, identify and aid survivors in their recovery, address underlying root causes, and establish policies to end this horrific crime. Our collective efforts have been aided by champions across the political spectrum. From Senators Sam Brownback and Paul Wellstone to Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, the bipartisan message has been clear:

You don’t score political points on the backs of human trafficking survivors, and you don’t lie about human trafficking to scare voters. We are in this together.

It is with this collective and collaborative history in mind that we say we are alarmed and deeply disturbed by the intentional spread of conspiracy theories and disinformation about sex trafficking aiming to sow fear and division in order to influence the upcoming election. Anybody — political committee, public office holder, candidate, or media outlet — who lends any credibility to QAnon conspiracies related to human trafficking actively harms the fight against human trafficking. Indeed, any political committee, candidate, public office holder or media that does not expressly condemn QAnon and actively debunk the lies should be held accountable.

Instead of actively propagating or silently condoning disinformation that harms trafficking victims and survivors and dismantles years of bipartisan cooperation, we offer the real facts about human trafficking.

The majority of trafficked youth have been abused or neglected, have run away or don’t have stable housing, or are immigrant children fleeing violence in their home countries to seek refuge in the United States. They are the youth that we as a society have failed. They are not abducted by strangers or Hollywood elites — they are abandoned by failing and under-resourced systems. There is not a deep state cabal of Democratic politicians and Hollywood celebrities who traffic children for sex. No major political candidate or party supports or condones pedophilia or human trafficking.

We work on these issues. We would know. Any time we spend engaging these lies necessarily distracts from the real work needed to combat human trafficking, and there is a lot to do:

• We need policies that address systemic vulnerabilities of children to both sex trafficking and forced labor.

• We need more housing, social, legal and employment support for survivors and vulnerable youth.

• We need to invest in fixing the child welfare system, and building compassionate and robust responses so that meaningful support is available for any young person in need.

• We need to invest in better training, strengthen victim-centered investigations, and expand survivor access to alternative forms of justice.

• We need better data, and greater diplomatic engagement so that human trafficking doesn’t get sidelined as a soft issue to be addressed after “real” foreign policy.

• We need an end to discriminatory practices against immigrants and communities of color.

• We need accountability for corporations who can figure out how to maximize profit but not how to protect their workers.

• We need funding and systems change that reflect these needs, not craven political messaging that ignores these realities in service of harmful lies.

As a diverse field, we acknowledge a spectrum of experiences, views, and approaches. We disagree a LOT. On this though, we stand UNITED and we reiterate: Anybody — political committee, candidate, or media outlet — who lends any credibility to QAnon conspiracies related to human trafficking actively harms the fight against human trafficking. This is an issue where Republicans and Democrats have historically put real differences aside in service of a greater truth: Americans stand united against human trafficking.

On behalf of an underfunded and nonpartisan field dedicated to ending this horrific form of exploitation and abuse and helping those who have survived it, we urge you to engage real needs rather than politically motivated and profoundly dangerous narratives that harm the very people who they claim to be speaking for — victims, survivors, children, families and vulnerable communities.

Signed,

3Strands Global Foundation

Advocating Opportunity

Amara Legal Center

Ameinu

American Gateways

Americans for Immigrant Justice

Arizona State University Office of Sex Trafficking Research

ATEST (Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking)

The Avery Center for Research and Services

Coalition Against Trafficking in Women

Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking

Community Legal Aid Society Inc. (CLASI)

Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants

Corporate Accountability Lab

The Exploitation Intervention Project

Foreign Policy for America

The Freedom Fund

Freedom Network USA

Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition, Yale University

Give Way to Freedom

Global Center for Women and Justice Vanguard University

Global Fund to End Modern Slavery

Grace Farms Foundation

HEAL Trafficking

Heartland Alliance

HIAS Pennsylvania

Human Rights First

Human Trafficking Collorative Network

Human Trafficking Institute

The Human Trafficking Legal Center

Humanity United

HumanTraffickingData.org

Institute to Combat Trafficking

International Corporate Accountability Roundtable

International Institute of Buffalo

International Justice Mission

International Organization for Adolescents (IOFA)

International Women’s Media Foundation

Jewish Women International

Justice At Last

Justice in Motion

Lantos Foundation for Human Rights & Justice

Legal Aid Society of Metropolitan Family Services

Liberty Shared

Love146

McCain Institute for International Leadership

Methodist LeBonheur Healthcare — North

Migration that Works

Mosaic Family Services

National Network for Youth

National Organization for Women, Hollywood Chapter

National Survivor Network

New England Coalition Against Trafficking

New Hampshire Human Trafficking Collaborative Task Force

North County Lifeline

North River Law PLLC

North Texas Academic Collaborative on Trafficking

Open Society Foundations

Phoenix Dream Center

Polaris

Preble Street

Project iRISE

Quinnipiac University School of Law Clinic

Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association

Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism

Rights4Girls

Sanctuary for Families

Shared Hope International

Solidarity Center

Stardust Fund

T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights

Tivnu: Building Justice

U.S. Catholic Sisters Against Human Trafficking

Union for Reform Judaism

University of Maryland SAFE Center for Human Trafficking Survivors

Verite

Verity

VIDA Legal Assistance, Inc.

###

For more information or to join the growing list of organizations that have signed this letter, please email FreedomNeedsTruthLetter@gmail.com.

The United Way & Human Trafficking

United Way is committed to fighting for the health, education, and economic mobility of every person in every community. That’s our stated mission. It is very difficult to imagine supporting this mission and at the same time turning a blind eye to human trafficking. On so many levels, human trafficking flies right in the face of every aspect of this mission, in fact. For example, we know from research that the vast majority of health outcomes are a function of social determinants. Much more than doctors, surgeries, or medications, it’s exposure to nurturing and supportive environments which shape later physical and behavioral health. Research has clearly proven that high rates of anxiety, depression, suicide, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and drug addiction can be traced back to traumatic experiences, in particular those experience in younger life. Think of this in light of the fact that 1 in 4 trafficking victims are children. It is hard to imagine anything more traumatic than being trafficked – i.e. being a slave – for sex or labor. Furthermore, we believe that education is the “great equalizer” in society. In too many instances, especially with young people, human trafficking results in being pulled out of school and not graduating from high school. This, in turn, dramatically effects our third focus area, which is economic mobility. A person without an adequate education in our society has virtually no chance of breaking out of poverty.

It's easy to see how human trafficking can effect a person’s health outcomes, their financial stability, and their educational attainment. Even if the population of those who are trafficked in our community is relatively small, for those people who are victims of this terrible crime, the consequences can be so dire that they become an overall drain on the systems limited resources. So, not only is the individual victim effected, but also the overall population is effected as resources become scarcer for addressing needs. Therefore, for United Way, fighting human trafficking isn’t just a moral imperative. Of course, it is the right thing to do. But it is also important since the effects can be so dire, and the data proves this out, especially with research around Adverse Childhood Experiences. We encourage all to stand up with us and be vigilant when it comes to human trafficking. Learn the signs. Be careful not to be an economic enabler. And fight for new policies and effective strategies.

As an international organization with a very local focus, United Way recognizes the following strategies for fighting against human trafficking and modern day slavery:

Five Ways You Can Combat Human Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery

1.   Learn about the red flags (or indicators) of potential human trafficking, and how best to help. Check out these resources from the National Human Trafficking Resource Center.

2.   Raise awareness about human trafficking and encourage your networks to get involved on social media. Use hashtag #endslavery and #LIVEUNITED. 

3.   Volunteer or get involved with a local anti-trafficking organization in your area.

4.   Learn about how your consumer habits may be connected to modern slavery. Whether it's the clothes we wear or the phones we use, products we use daily might be produced with forced or trafficked labor. Use this tool to learn more.

5.   Get involved with United Way's Center on Human Trafficking & Slavery. 

Respectfully submitted,

Mike Apfelberg, United Way of Greater Nashua

Q&A: All About Illicit Massage Businesses (IMBs) with Lovely Lauren

Q: What is an IMB and how do IMBs generally operate?  

A: IMB stands for Illicit Massage Business and is considered a business front used to cover up a human trafficking and/or money laundering criminal organization.  There may be labor trafficking, sex trafficking or both occurring inside of the IMB.  

Q: How do IMBs generally operate?

A: There can be multiple IMBs in one criminal network and may be connected to nail salons, grocery stores and dry cleaners that also operate as business fronts.  Generally speaking, IMBs in the United States are filled with female international victims of human trafficking.  These girls and women are working for very little (or even no) pay and are often forced to perform sexual acts as a part of their job.  They are brought into the US under false pretenses of obtaining a legitimate job position (i.e. nanny, model, housekeeper, esthetician, restaurant worker, etc.), but ultimately, end up in forced sexual labor.  A common lie told to massage therapists from Asian countries is that sexual acts are a normal part of a massage in American culture.

Q: What are the red flags that help community members to identify an IMB?  

A: 

1. Open late, past 8pm. The majority of legitimate salons and massage parlors in the U.S. close around 8pm or earlier. 

2. Obstructed views.  The front windows, if not all of the windows, are completely blacked out or covered by gigantic stock photos, dark trash bags, etc.

3. Out of state vehicles.  There may be various vehicles with out of state license plates consistently parked in front of or behind the IMB. 

4. Getting buzzed in.  “Patrons” who are also called the johns or sex buyers must ring a doorbell to be buzzed into the business during regular daytime business hours.

5. Unlisted.  Business is unlisted on the street sign or billboard’s list of businesses.

6. Too many names.  Business has multiple names online for the same address.

7. Ordering your masseuse.   The business has a covert menu for spa services that include the age, race/ethnicity and other physically identifying features of the massage therapists (i.e: young, cougar, Asian, exotic, etc.).

8. More men than women.  Are the clientele of the spa, massage parlor or salon mostly people who identify as male?  Do you frequently (or only) see males entering and exiting the IMB.

9. Excessively secure.  Presence of an unusually large amount of security cameras and locks onsite of the physical business. This applies to the alleyways and all entrances and exits to the IMB.  

10. Living on the premises. It appears that the massage therapists who work there also reside at the massage parlor or salon. 

Q: As a citizen, what are your next steps if you suspect an IMB in your community?

A: If you suspect an IMB, it is crucial to NEVER approach these businesses or try to shut them down yourself.  As a community member, you are encouraged to report illegal or suspicious activity at massage parlors whenever you notice anything that does not look, seem or feel right.  Trust your instincts and remain observant of the details about these types of businesses from a safe distance. If you suspect an IMB in your community, there are 3 main ways to report: 

    1. Contact Local Law Enforcement: Contact local police department (PD) and ask to speak with the Human Trafficking division of your PD.  If the PD is small and does not have a Human Trafficking division, you may ask to speak to the Domestic abuse division.  

    2. Contact Non-Law Enforcement: You may also report the IMB to the Polaris Project and National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) by calling, texting or even making a report online by clicking this link: https://polarisproject.org and 1-888-373-7888. 

    3. Contact Federal Law Enforcement: You may file a report online or an anonymous tip through U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) by clicking on this link or calling this phone number: https://www.ice.gov/webform/hsi-tip-form and 1-866-347-2423. 

Q: If you are an informed citizen you would like to do more and go a step further, what else can you do? 

A:  As a concerned citizen, you are able to advocate for stricter laws to govern massage therapists and massage parlor businesses.  In addition, you can lobby for more oversight and checks and balances to ensure legal, ethical and upstanding businesses in our communities and neighborhoods.  

Here are some additional resources to learn more about IMBs in the U.S: https://polarisproject.org/massage-parlor-trafficking/

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/02/us/massage-parlors-human-trafficking.html

Lauren Lisembee, MA

Task Force Member

Founder/Director-Written On Your Heart (http://www.woyh.org)

Clinical Mental Health Counselor & Dance/Movement Therapist

My Little Runaway

The Del Shannon 1961 Hit  and Bonnie Raitt's 1977 version of My Little Runaway imprints lyrics with the " why" and " where' of runaways, although the hit tune undoubtedly described romantic notions. (The lyrics will be spinning in your mind with the link ??? )

Several bars of the hit tune are pertinent to Human Trafficking:

"And I wonder, I wa-wa-wa-wa-wonder

Why, why-why-why-why-why

She ran away

And I wonder where she will stay

My little runaway"

Runaways are frequent targets of traffickers, preying on their desperate need for shelter and constant, gnawing hunger. 

The "why" of running away has many roots: domestic abuse, child abuse, poverty, homelessness and witnessing domestic abuse while the lure of escape towards less violence or poverty are tempting. 

The impact of coronavirus (Covid 19), with increased unemployment rates, no traditional schooling outside of the home, mandated social isolation and confinement all contribute to domestic violence involving youths and adults, linking them to vulnerability as targets for predatory human traffickers. 

Runaway youth are easy prey for the smooth talk and promises of a warm place to sleep, especially appealing during NH's winters. Many youths will not think through where they will go long term and desperately they may trade labor or sex to satisfy basic human needs. With a runaway's new isolation from family, teachers, friends or caregivers, there is increased vulnerability to being groomed and controlled by a trafficker.

Traffickers are experienced in attracting victims using various tactics:

Traffickers are clever and intentional, using different tactics to draw people into conversation, build relationships and trust, and ultimately exploit that individual.

• Romantic – cultivating role as partner (boyfriend/girlfriend), partner, protector

• False advertising – misrepresenting terms and conditions of employment, wages, educational opportunities

Who can help spot these likely children, youth and young adults and intervene before they leave home?

With schools closed, teachers, guidance counselors, sports coaches and extra curricular activity advisors are no longer the customary sentries, observing kids' behavior, identifying those at risk and reaching out to offer help and counseling. Due to Covid 19 and only online lessons, the first hand, in- person assessment of teachers, often the best means of observing students' status is no longer the safety net for identifying potential problems and troubled familial relationships. Lacking traditional school, who will step in to be the lookouts and watchdogs to detect troubling signs now? 

Kids' friends and families, relatives and neighbors can be more attentive to signs of rebellion and isolation leading kids /youths to run.  Here are some points to help increase awareness of human trafficking:  

Misidentification: Our preconceived ideas can make it hard to identify trafficking. This can be related to ideas about gender, age, appearance, choice  Victims often do not self-identify/media misrepresentations

Lack of alternatives: Victims of trafficking may not have, or be in possession of, their identification/legal documents. They do not feel they have any options if they left – means to support themselves, a place to live and other needs:

• No access to an income, home, food, money

• No job skills, some haven’t completed their education

• Some believe this is the only thing they’re good at/for

Next time you hear catchy lyrics about runaways, be aware of those children, youth and young adults who may be at risk and reach out a hand and offer to listen.

- Jane L. Hart, Task Force member and Community Volunteer