Volunteering at the Safe Center: Assisting Trafficking Victims in Reclaiming their Lives

Presenter: Delaney Ensor, Biology, Global Public Health Scholars

I volunteered at the University of Maryland SAFE Center for my practicum project. The Safe Center works to assist human trafficking survivors to reclaim and heal their lives in many aspects. They provide support for those experiencing trauma with medical services, legal support, assistance applying for and searching for jobs, and create safety plans for those in unsafe situations. I volunteered in my free time with anything the center needed, which was often research-based help. Examples of my volunteering services included assisting the SAFE Center in finding potential internet services that fit their needs/budget as well as finding a potential contract for a rental laptop program between the SAFE center and their clients. I worked virtually from January of 2021 through March of 2021. The SAFE Center is a very well-rounded approach to assisting trafficking victims in need, so the help I was provided was changing often depending on the needs of a client and the needs of a constantly evolving nonprofit.

4 Comments

Dhara Patel

May 05, 2021

This is a really important topic to do your practicum on! What is another service that you believe the Safe Center should provide to trafficking victims that it currently does not offer and why?

delaney4141

May 06, 2021

Replying to

The SAFE Center actually does a great job of trying to meet all of the needs of the clients and even have mental health, legal, and other services. One service that I think they could provide would be informal classes or lessons to help teach clients English as a second language. Many of the clients speak Spanish only, which can make it a lot harder to place them in jobs. A free service through the SAFE Center to help get them started on learning English would be a great tool to help them succeed!

claudia.s.bosques

May 05, 2021

This seems like a great volunteering opportunity! I am taking a human trafficking class this semester and I have been learning about how MD is a human trafficking hot spot. Do volunteers ever work directly with trafficking victims?

delaney4141

May 06, 2021

Replying to

I think it depends on the focus of your volunteering. Since I was online and mainly doing research to find clients jobs, keeping their personal information private would make sense. But there are definitely opportunities to work directly with clients- my supervisor actually just reached out to a group of volunteers to see if anyone would like to work directly with a client over Zoom. There are also volunteers that work in the mental health sector of the SAFE Center so they might work with clients more directly than the economic empowerment team.