Presenter: Morgan Lennon, Chemical Engineering, Global Public Health Scholars
I will complete my practicum by volunteering at the University of Maryland SAFE Center. This is an organization that offers a variety of services to survivors of human trafficking. Services available to survivors include clinical, legal, and financial support in addition to other programs that can help survivors heal and reclaim their lives. While working at the SAFE Center, I will be involved in a wide range of tasks that help the center help better serve clients. This will include general administrative work, organizing and managing the food bank/clothing donations, designing a survey to be taken by survivors, and organizing advocacy campaigns on campus.
Hello Morgan, I really enjoyed reading about your project, it sounds like the work you did was really important and I think its great that you are spreading awareness not just about UMD’s Safe Center, but also about human trafficking in general. I know that in your future efforts sections you mentioned how you plan to increase awareness and empower survivors, how do you plan to do this and do you have any recommendations for how other people can get involved in doing this as well?
Dear Morgan,
Your project focused on an extremely difficult topic and you did a great job explaining the work and the continued need. You mentioned that a part of your job was to make sure that all products you offered to clients were "trauma informed" and I would like to know more about what that means. It is an interesting side to such organizations I had not thought about previously, with them needing to offer products which would ensure clients are not forced to recall trauma during these events. What were some of the specific things you looked for to get them cleared? Did you specifically tailor items to specific groups of clients or were all products offered to different…
Great presentation, Morgan! It was really inspiring to hear about your experiences at the UMD Safe Center. I was wondering if there have been successful interventions that have been implemented by the University in order to benefit the survivors of human trafficking? If yes, how did these interventions address the needs of the at-risk population? If not, how will the future efforts include the implementation of a successful intervention?
I really enjoyed the topic of your poster and presentation, it was very powerful. One of the things that you listed as a challenge was specialized training. Did you personally receive training, and if so, what was it like? I know that it is important to be trained on how to handle situations faced with survivors, as they can be deeply traumatized. What did you take away from your time spent at the SAFE center, and how will it impact you?