My Life My Choice Participates in Summit to End Child Sex Trafficking

My Life My Choice was recently represented at the See the Girl summit in Jacksonville, Florida. The summit, hosted by the Delores Barr Weaver Policy Center, focused on child sex trafficking which has reached a “crisis level” in the United States. The event brought together nearly 250 people, including at-risk girls, advocates, and mental health professionals for workshops on counseling, intervention strategies, advocacy and activism, and research practices.

The summit brought together important women in the field including Audrey Morrissey, associate director of My Life My Choice, Lisa Goldblatt Grace, Co-founder of My Life My Choice, and Malika Saada Saar, director of the Rights4Girls project along with at-risk girls and survivors of child prostitution and child rape. 

The My Life My Choice curriculum is now being used in 24 states to help victims of child sex trafficking. My Life My Choice emphasizes the “importance of pairing survivors with young people who are being exploited,” says Morrissey. The is critical to helping young people break the cycle of leaving and returning to exploitation. My Life My Choice gives these young people the opportunity to have a caring relationship with an adult who can offer mentorship based on experience and give them someone to identify with. This is critical to helping young people overcome exploitation. 

The Delores Barr Weaver Policy Center opened in April 2013 to help at-risk girls. The center conducts research, develops programs, and provides training for those who work with at-risk youth. 

Watch Audrey Morrissey talk about her own experiences in this video from Jacksonville’s Action News:

And learn more about what was discussed at the summit here and on the See the Girl blog.

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