Fifth and Sixth Weeks

Hello!
The past two weeks I've started becoming more involved at my internship: I sat in on meetings with my onsite adviser and the various other groups she is affiliated with and a training for healthcare providers in Gila River. It was really interesting seeing how the office operated and hearing about the projects that are currently going on.
Two projects that are interesting (that readers could get involved with) are the ask me campaign and the starfish bracelets. The ask me campaign is one where participants receive training on what human trafficking is, what some signs are, and how people can prevent or report it. Once this training is completed, the participants are given an ask me bracelet of their own and encouraged to spread the knowledge. The starfish bracelet is more of a fundraiser: the bracelets are made by various people around the office I'm working at and by survivors of sex trafficking. The proceeds from the sales of the bracelets are all put towards a pop-up drop-in center where victims of sex trafficking can receive everything from a shower and a meal to comprehensive medical care to resume building training to connections to other, more permanent, outreach facilities.
I also am involved with two research projects, one that I am working on with other interns and another I am working on alone. The project I am working on alone is looking at current harm reduction measures in sex work and how to use the information available to best help people who are unable or unwilling to leave sex work. I am looking at 29 websites across 25 cities (a few are national) and looking at data about bad dates going back several years. I am then inputting this data into Excel. I should be done capturing the data sometime this week and will then start analysis.
I am really loving going to work and even the casual conversation around the office is incredibly interesting and stimulating.
Thank you so much for reading!
Savannah

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Fourth Week

Hello readers:
Happy International Women's Day!
I had the pleasure of going in this past week and meeting with Dr. Roe-Sepowitz and my fellow interns. Everyone was incredibly passionate about the work we're doing and was super friendly and fun to work with. I also have a better idea of what I'm doing on-site! My research will be mainly focused on human trafficking; I will be reviewing past human trafficking convictions (with the hopes of creating a map showing trends of convictions within the United States) as well as case studies of trafficked individuals (to better understand what trafficked individuals go through). The office I am working in is the Social Work department, so I am also being exposed to studies on other forms of exploitation like porn culture.
The office is incredibly busy, but everyone is more than willing to explain and train you on things (I understand Excel more intimately than I ever have before). It's been amazing so far, and I am very excited to delve into research with them next week!
I got a stack of pamphlets while I was at the office and I'll share some facts from them with you here:
1. According to the pamphlet "Exploring the Impact of the Super Bowl on Sex Trafficking 2015", the sex market has grown since last year (with ad volume up 30.3% and buyer volume up 22% in Phoenix), 65% of the ads were marked as possible victims of sex trafficking and these were more likely to have a non-local area code, and many potential sex buyers are contacting ads from local area codes.
2. Homeless, runaway, throwaway, and youth in foster care are the most vulnerable population of youth at risk for sex trafficking. It is estimated that 1.6 million youth run away in a year, and that many of these kids will trade sex for food, clothing, or (most frequently) shelter.
3. In pamphlets such as "What You Need to Know: Sex Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation, a Training Tool for Mental Health Providers" and "What You Need to Know: Sex Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation, a Training Tool for Child Protective Services", it talks about the importance of trauma-informed care to reduce blame and shame felt by victims. Common mental health indicators of trafficking can include: post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorder, panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, dissociative disorder, major depressive disorder, substance abuse disorder, explosive disorders/violence, and intermittent explosive disorder.
Thank you for reading!
Savannah Lane

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