Category: Hadas

My summer practicum flew by and as we’re all getting ready for in person classes soon, I find myself reflecting on my practicum work. I’m working with the North Carolina Against Sexual Assault (NCCASA) on creating a toolkit on preventing and detecting human trafficking on college and university campuses. While I still have a long way to go in finalizing my writing, converting it to a final toolkit, and presenting to key stakeholders, I feel like I have learned a lot in the anti-human trafficking sector. Working with NCCASA has strengthened my passion for the type of work I want to pursue. It is enraging to see on the news and in personal connections the pervasiveness of sexual violence. Before beginning my practicum, my anger was my motivation to work in the reproductive and sexual health justice field. After meeting with anti-human trafficking specialists, program implementation managers, and my preceptor weekly, I’m inspired by the type of work they do in such a compassionate manner. It is eye opening to experience working with individuals that care so deeply about the communities they work with and the anti-sexual violence movement. I feel hopeful when I see all that NCCASA does, and after reflecting, I realize that hope has been my motivation the last month or so – admittingly, a feeling I haven’t felt in a long time.

I’ve learned a lot about human trafficking in North Carolina and on how to engage universities in creating prevention and response strategies. I was able to assess survivor and student needs and propose strategies and programs for key stakeholders to adopt or adapt for their campus communities. My preceptor and I also highlighted the importance of working with communities who are disproportionately affected.

I only have two more weeks of my practicum left and I still feel like there is a lot to do in a short amount of time. While I work to ensure my deliverables are complete in a comprehensive way, I’ve been taking advantage of working online and have been able to travel safely. I visited my friend in New York City for a couple of weeks and we then took some time to wind down and work from home in upstate New York on a beautiful farm. While I miss working in person, I’m glad that I was able to travel around and visit good friends this summer.

Reading through my peers’ blogs, I feel proud and impressed! I am excited to get back into the groove in person this time and hear about everyone’s experiences this summer. Here’s to meeting everyone face to face soon!

-Hadas

For my summer practicum, I am working with the North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault (NCCASA) to create and present a toolkit on how to detect and prevent human trafficking on college and university campuses.

I have always been interested in the anti-sexual violence movement, starting at UNC Asheville where I went to undergrad. I was able to work with the Center for Diversity Education in creating a presentation on the importance of bodily autonomy on college campuses. This experience catapulted my passion for sexual and reproductive health justice which is what I’m most interested in focusing on professionally at Gillings and after graduating. However, I have never worked in the anti-human trafficking field, so I was nervous that the onboarding experience would be way too overwhelming to turn into a toolkit in such a short amount of time. During my first two weeks, I spent most of my days conducting literature reviews, watching recordings of presentations, and meeting with my preceptor to talk through the several pages of resources. While it was (and still is sometimes) overwhelming familiarizing myself with the history and language, I enjoyed talking through this new material with my preceptor. The anti-human trafficking movement is a very politicized movement and there are disagreements on how to address human trafficking between different types of organizations. For example, sometimes right-wing anti-human trafficking organizations focus on criminalizing sex work, while public health based anti-human trafficking organizations (like NCCASA) understand that victim blaming is harmful and rather focus on outer-layer solutions and prevention models that are more helpful for survivors and community members.

As you can imagine, the topic is emotionally difficult to read about, so self-care is discussed quite frequently at NCCASA. It is really refreshing to experience an organization that takes self-care and mindfulness seriously. I am looking forward to gaining experience working with an organization I admire so much and having these very difficult, and necessary, conversations.

I was also apprehensive of working from home this summer on a project that would benefit to work hands on with other people in NCCASA. I want to make sure that this toolkit acts as a useful resource for NCCASA and other stakeholders, and not just something to check off for a grade at the end of the summer. My preceptor has been so supportive and easy to talk to that I feel really lucky to be able to work with them as they continuously check in to make sure I am getting the most out of my practicum experience, which in turn is helping motivate me to do the work. They have also been really great at making sure I get to meet with important anti-human trafficking advocates who work at NCCASA. While I would love to work in person and directly with the community, I am really grateful to still be able to meet people who work in a field that I find extremely important. Hopefully I get to meet them in person next time!

While working from home has its challenges, I am able to spend time getting ready for my move to Chapel Hill in July (finally!), work outside, and enjoy new coffee shops with friends which has been fun now that I am fully vaccinated!

I have also been able to take this as an opportunity to dog sit which is the best way to spend work breaks 🙂

Looking forward to continue truly connecting with this work and with the anti-human trafficking community.

Hadas