Does your organization respect, honor, and value stories? There is a trend to place successful non-profit clients on a pedestal and ask them to share their story for the world, encouraging them to be the voice of their specific dilemma. While the movement to listen to and hear the voices of survivors and vulnerable populations is admirable and necessary, the execution of the goal has been difficult. In the movement of rushing towards the authentic, honest voice of survivors, this session calls for organizations to pause and allow clients to achieve true safety and adequate training that will give them the ability to thrive in this work. In this session, participants will be challenged to think through the vulnerabilities their clients have faced in the past and question if their organization is exacerbating the vulnerability by asking their clients to share their stories too quickly. Stories carry a sacred place in our society and the way we present them, the way we encourage the storyteller, reflects on our organizations. Participants will be asked to consider: 1) Does their organization have a timeline in place before a client can become an advocate? 2) Do they provide sufficient training around safety in storytelling? and 3) Are the stories they share reinforcing false narrative by editing or are they challenging their audience to understand trafficking in an honest way? Attendees will be given a list of resources that help in this area and suggestions on how to update their protocols to protect clients turned advocates.
Trigger Warning: This presentation contains information (written, spoken, or visual) that may be triggering or (re)traumatizing to attendees.
Miriam Cobb is founder and director at Empty Frames Initiative, a non-profit dedicated to empowering orphaned and vulnerable youth as they transition out of state care. Miriam served on the NCCAHT BOD in 2019 and helped with JusticeU's NC Specific CSEC Prevention curriculum in 2021 as a subject-matter expert.