National Survivor Network

The National Survivor Network is happy to announce that we have a new Survivor Leadership Program Manager who has joined us! Please help us welcome Rebekah Layton MA! Rebekah brings over a decade of experience and has been a NSN member and worked in various capacities within the network. Here are some words from Rebekah: "I am so excited and honored to announce that I have accepted the offer to step into the role of Survivor Leadership Program Manager.??I want to take a second to thank Chris Ash for everything they have done to lead the NSN and build our collective vision and who has co-created a space and community I never thought possible. It is my goal that we continue the legacy of those before me who have invested their into the NSN and our collective work."

Misogynoir (Bailey, 2008) against Black women is increasing with VP Harris’ presumptive nomination. Non-Black people must interrupt misogynoir yet unskilled allyship harms Black people. This panel discusses: -interrupting misogynoir -"flight & freeze" nervous system reaction to racism -receiving feedback & course correcting Panelists: Dr. Jade Singleton is a distinguished advisor in strategic culture transformation and founder of Sarah Jane Academy?, dedicated to fostering inclusive, innovative organizational cultures. She co-founded IKONI Collective, enhancing work wellness for Black women professionals. A former senior consultant at NASA, she led diversity initiatives, earning NASA’s highest Government Achievement Award. Dr. Singleton has advised Amazon, John Hancock, Uber, and the UN. With a master’s from Gonzaga University and a Doctorate from George Fox University, her research on workplace gaslighting is acclaimed. Teaching remains her greatest joy. L C De Shay is a genderqueer IBCLC, Doula, and public health analyst, specializing in reproductive psychosociology. They have worked in diverse fields including Midwifery & Pediatric clinics as a provider, in academia as a perinatal health instructor, project editor, and health journalism. LC helps healthcare technology companies address sexual and family health, manage social media & tech content, and conducts diversity health impact evaluation. Jaya Mallik, M. Ed. ?? ???? is a DEIB practitioner & educator, who centers community engagement, data-informed insights, & empowering others to lead & innovate.?Prior to Jaya Mallik Coaching & Consulting, Jaya led DEI efforts at Meta, Amazon, and Tandem Diabetes Care with a focus on the tech industry. Her Active Allies program shifts the bystander mindset & into authentic allyship. Learn more at https://lnkd.in/gmQpxey2. Jasmin Pierre is a Mental Health Advocate, creator of the Minority Mental Health App "The Safe Place," Peer Support Specialist, Motivational Speaker, and author of "A Fight Worth Finishing." She fights for the rights of those suffering from depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. Access the Safe Place App at https://lnkd.in/geMKFZgu. Jasmin also created the training "Art Exposing Psych Racism," which highlights misogynoir against Black women artists, athletes, & everyday women impacted by systemic racism in psychiatry, health care, and police violence. Jen Self, phd licsw, Queer JEDI is the CEO/Founder of Brick 13, a Critical Equity Educational Consulting and Coaching, LLC and an Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of Washington School of Social Work who has coached, educated, & developed leaders from non-profits, government, and corporate. Dr. Self is a gender outlaw committed to intersectional racial & gender justice work, community building, advocating for pro-femme spaces, radical truth telling, & even on a good day, continually shaking off the teachings of White supremacy. Registration below.

Dear Friends of the NSN, I started as the Survivor Leadership Program Manager back in December of 2021, charged with relaunching the NSN as a values-based network. From the beginning, I remained committed to a vision for collective leadership - beginning with a collective process for revising and clarifying the values. Almost three years later, we continue to make a significant impact on the landscape of the anti-trafficking sector, and established ourselves as thought leaders emphasizing genuine community organizing and collective power-building. We have a creative structure for shared decision-making through our working groups and are genuinely modeling collective power-sharing through our intentional internal processes. We have created (or are about to launch) meaningful peer-sharing spaces for BIPOC members, members who are researchers, members doing local/state policy, and members consulting with organizations on improving their survivor engagement. I might be the one you hear from often but this work is truly collective, and I have loved every moment of it. When I came to this position, I hoped to lay a solid foundation for both the network and whoever steps into management after me, and what an impactful foundation we’ve laid! This fall, I’ll be leaving my current position at the NSN to pursue other opportunities. I will be excited to see what our current members and new manager dream up together, and look forward to continued membership as a member of the NSN and future collaborations as a partner in this work. In solidarity, Chris P.S. Know someone who would make a great Survivor Leadership Program Manager for the NSN? Forward them this job posting: https://lnkd.in/e25n8WXD

MEET OUR GUESTS! We are honored to welcome some of the most impactful leaders in the gender-based violence moment for our upcoming Prevention Listening Session. From voices behind the historic first-ever National Plan to End Gender-Based Violence, to women in charge of implementation, champions at the federal level, and advocates pushing this work forward, our guests represent the force behind preventing and ending violence in the U.S. Don’t miss your chance to hear from them directly about the future of prevention and have your voice heard in their future actions. Spots are filling up fast! Register at: https://lnkd.in/gNcYHhip

Were you incarcerated in a #NewYork State prison and released between 2021 and today? Help Vera improve vocational training and employment outcomes by taking this anonymous survey: https://bit.ly/3SlPUdX

Women who benefit from white privilege, I can’t believe it’s still necessary to say this, but I’m saying it again with the hope that, this time, you will listen. Your attempt to silence the anger of women of the Global Majority and/or Muslim women is oppressive. If you continue to turn away from the anger that’s directed at us, you’ll never learn what it—and those who express it—has to teach you. Here’s some homework if you’re willing to do it. If not, why not? Please read and reflect on Audre Lorde’s classic essay “The Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism.” The essay brilliantly diagnoses White woman’s refusal to face Black women’s anger, which Lorde sees as clarifying and liberating. Lorde famously asks, “What woman here is so enamored of her own oppression that she cannot see her heelprint upon another woman’s face?? What woman’s terms of oppression have become precious and necessary to her as a ticket into the fold of the righteous, away from the cold winds of self-scrutiny?” ---- ??I'm a DEIB consultant, speaker, and educator passionate about building communities where everyone can thrive. ?? I talk about courageous conversations, connecting across difference, navigating conflict, and inclusive leadership. ??If you found this post insightful, please share to expand the conversation. ?? Follow me and tap the bell on my profile to subscribe to my content.

"Community organizations are often (understandably) underequipped to address the everyday interpersonal and structural conflicts we encounter while trying to do the transformational work we set out to do. Too often, these conflicts are avoided until they reach the point of crisis because organizations don’t have clear protocols for how to address them." I'm revisiting this workbook, 'Creating Conflict Infrastructure within low capacity and un(der)funded organizations' by the incomparable luna nicole (substack here https://lnkd.in/eH4AS4NG) after some recent experiences as a consultant and freelance facilitator and learning partner. I'm sharing it with you because I've been seeing a lot of established groups asking for one-off or short-term facilitation support (e.g. workshops for focussed discussion about planning or strategy) that have no agreements, protocols, culture or practice in place for friction, disagreement, or misalignment. I'm sure I'm alone in this. Being an occasional presence in a group's life as a facilitator is fraught with relational pitfalls. There is no time to build relationships and the relationships between group members are usually a total mystery until you experience everyone together. There are a lot of assumptions on both sides- facilitators are magical beings coming in to sort everything out in 2 days, groups are in a fit state to make decisions together. I'm sharing this for facilitators who, like me, do not do mediation. It can be a useful tool to help you set boundaries around your work (e.g. articulating to a client a minimum level of organisational protocol for conflict, agreeing extra time for discrete protocol setting for your sessions, borrowing intervention tactics, finding good language, etc) I'm also sharing this for people who commission facilitation support. Please consider your group's foundations and grounding before looking for facilitators. We are a broad church and being able to openly and clearly articulate the condition of a group might help you find the right person faster. I'm always looking for facilitator peer-support (in my fantasy world there is such a thing as a facilitator supervisor- does this exist?!). Contact me if you want to share practice and counsel.

Clearly, there are times when survivors need to stay in spaces because it is their only source of financial security, which raises issues about how compensating survivors for their time (while essential) will not remedy the exploitation of capitalism. That said, when we continue showing up in movement and professional spaces while in active crisis, we run the risk of immense harm to ourselves, to others, and to our communities. "There is a time in our lives when our work can be for others and there is a time in our lives when we must focus our work on ourselves, and recognizing the triggers are becoming unmanageable before harming others or 'burning our bridges' is an essential part of leadership development." Read more at our NSN-at-a-Glance document in our resource library. https://lnkd.in/eZkDqDSt

Thrilled to be partnering anew with Chris Ash, Andrea Lorenz, Sabra Boyd, and Ethan Levine on this project to understand survivors' experiences with media engagement. Survivors are the most important sources journalists can talk with to understand the issue of trafficking, but many report negative experiences when they engage with media. In our survey, many survivors who had shared their stories publicly experienced consent violations related to their choices around if and when to share their story publicly. Read the preliminary findings here.

?FREE ZOOM TRAINING! TOMORROW, JUNE 20TH, 12 - 3 PM? ??? BREAKING BARRIERS: ADDRESSING DISABILITY & HUMAN TRAFFICKING OF YOUNG PEOPLE, Presented by Helen Stiver Helen Stiver has a Bachelor’s Degree in Human Services from Columbia College, Missouri, and a Certificate in Interpreting from Golden West College. She has worked in the nonprofit sector for twenty years, focusing on helping people with disabilities. Helen is an expert, trainer, and consultant in the anti-human trafficking sector. As a person with a disability, she is passionate about raising awareness of the needs of trafficking survivors with disabilities and educating providers about the connection between disability and human trafficking. Training Objectives: ?? Understanding of accessibility Laws in the United States disability rights and ableism ?? Overview of disability categories ?? Best practices for interacting with a young person with a disability ?? Basic overview of cognitive disabilities ?? The intersection of disability and human trafficking ?? Vulnerabilities specific to young people with disabilities ?? National Human Trafficking and Disabilities Working Group (NHTDWG) ?? Looking forward – how we can develop interventions for at-risk youth with disabilities ??REGISTER NOW: LEARN.CASTLA.ORG/CSEC-HT #CSEC #CastLA #Zoom #FreeTraining #ProfessionalDevelopment #DisabilitiesRights #HumanTrafficking #ContinuingEducation #SocialServices #ServiceProviders??????