Oregon Human Trafficking Vignettes Project
Roadmaps: Understanding Sex Trafficking Through Survivors’ Stories (“Roadmaps”) is based on “In Her Shoes/In Their Shoes,” a program developed and owned by Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence (WSCADV) in Seattle, Washington (www.wscadv.org).
PHS collaborated with Oregon Department of Justice Trafficking Response and Intervention Program (TRIP) on a community intervention to respond to human trafficking. The TRIP team worked with survivors, advocates, and service providers to compile their stories. PHS in turn helped design story cards, station cards, and a facilitator’s guide (together known as “Roadmaps”) to engage community members in a learning activity.
Roadmaps is being used by trained service providers to increase awareness of sex trafficking in their communities. The activity, which includes a simulation and debrief, allows people to experience some of the barriers and abuse that trafficking survivors face. It also helps people better understand some of the circumstances and needs that traffickers exploit.
Goals of Roadmaps are to:
• Increase awareness of sex trafficking
• Show that sex trafficking can happen in any community
• Highlight vulnerabilities that traffickers exploit
• Expose barriers that survivors face
• Increase empathy for survivors of sex trafficking
Roadmaps is helping to change attitudes toward survivors. It is also inspiring people to take action.