Empowering the Frontlines: SMU Hosts Training Program with Human Trafficking Education Initiative
Studies have shown that over 80% of people who experience human trafficking interact with healthcare institutions while they鈥檙e being trafficked. However, only about 30% of healthcare workers report feeling prepared to address human trafficking in a clinical setting.
These statistics were top of mind for the SMU faculty and staff who initiated SMU鈥檚 Human Trafficking Education Initiative in 2022. On March 27, 2024, SMU鈥檚 Ethnic Health Institute in collaboration with the College of Nursing led its fourth training to teach current and future healthcare workers how to recognize signs of both sexual and labor trafficking among patients and provide trauma-informed care to survivors.
Roughly 90 students, staff, faculty, and community members attended this spring鈥檚 training, held on SMU鈥檚 Oakland campus. The 4-hour long training featured a presentation from MISSSEY, a local survivor-led nonprofit organization supporting youth of color impacted by trafficking. Participants listened to a series of case studies based on real stories of patients experiencing trafficking, followed by a powerful speech by Vincent Ray Williams, a survivor of trafficking and founder of the . Attendees also learned from an expert panel comprised of Leah Kimble-Price, the Executive Director of , Vincent Ray Williams, and SMU鈥檚 very own nursing faculty member Dr. Shelitha Campbell who leads , an organization raising awareness about trafficking of girls in the Oakland area.
This training is part of SMU鈥檚 larger trafficking initiative which is supported by a $500,000 grant from the Department of Justice. SMU鈥檚 trafficking initiative is housed under the Center for Community Engagement (CCE) and Ethnic Health Institute (EHI). Members of the initiative include College of Nursing faculty Sarah Koster, Shelitha Campbell, and Jeneva Gularte-Rinaldo alongside CCE and EHI staff Sam Alavi-Irvine and Tavi Baker.
The group is planning additional trainings sessions on this topic later in the year. If you would like to learn more about the initiative, contact Sam Alavi-Irvine at salavi@samuelmerritt.edu
