Becoming a Policy Advocate 101, April 2023

April 27, 2023 @ 4:00PM — 5:30PM Eastern Time (US & Canada)

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Becoming a Policy Advocate 101

Advocacy is defined as the act or process of supporting a cause or proposal. As survivor advocates, we have an important voice within the anti-trafficking movement. Yet the world of policy can be intimidating to navigate, leaving it void of lived experience expertise. Information and tools to help survivors and their allies conduct effective advocacy are found here to advance our shared mission, preventing human trafficking and helping survivors who have experienced trafficking. Learn how to craft a strong advocacy message and to effectively communicate to the public and legislators how policy can be shaped to support our work and goals. This introductory session will go over the key components of advocacy work and how to contact legislators at the local, state and federal levels and be clear and concise in your message to advance policy work or regulations.

China Darrington has two parts to her trafficking story. First as a very young child, she experienced trafficking at the hands of a relative of a school age friend. This chapter ended with the arrest and imprisonment of her trafficker. But with limited understanding of what she had experienced, or the ability to properly process that experience, she found herself in adolescence being drawn back into the trafficking world. From 14 - 32 she lived in that world and the overlapping experience of complex trauma and substance use disorders. She became a parent during this time and was strongly motivated to change her behavior and minimize risk but she had no idea how to actually get out of that life. A second crisis pregnancy drew attention to her addiction and she was connected with a women-specific, trauma-informed treatment center when they began to pull back the layers of her experience and uncovered her trafficking experiences. This intervention allowed her to change her people, places and things and she was able to successfully transition out of that trafficking world and into this new one. She embraced this change and learned new skills and began to practice what was needed to stabilize and recover from her experiences. She developed a passion for helping others be able to do the same. She became a passionate advocate for recovery and change and for programs which would allow more trafficking survivors to exit and change, in order to thrive. She's been a peer mentor, an advocate for the survivor experience, has run recovery programs and is now the Director of Advocacy and Public Policy for a peer-driven recovery support service organization. She has raised awareness and advocated for survivor-led change at the local, state and national level.

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