196 – Rachel Thomas: Ending the Game

This episode is brought to you by Vanguard University and the Global Center for Women and Justice, who offer an incredible anti-human trafficking certificate. Whether you're a frontline responder, a social worker, in the ministry, a healthcare provider, or simply a community member who wants to help, this program is built for you. Head over to gcwj.org/ahtc to take the next step and apply today. ---Dr. Sandie Morgan and Dave Stachowiak are joined by Rachel Thomas to discuss psychological coercion. Rachel is a personal survivor of human trafficking and has extensive experience teaching, training, curriculum writing, public speaking, and mentoring.  She is the director of Sowers Education Group and lead author of Ending The Game: An Intervention Curriculum for Survivors of Sex Trafficking. Key Points Psychological coercion is manipulating someone’s behaviors, beliefs, and personhood in a way that’s against their own best interest. S.T.R.E.A.M. of influence stands for survival, trafficker, recruiter, environment, media Coercion in sex trafficking is exploiting past vulnerabilities and negative experiences. Supporter training allows professionals and family members, alike, to understand the psychological coercion process. Umbrella beliefs of those in “the game” are 1) it’s better to get paid for sex than to do it for free, 2) squares, people outside of the game, are losers, 3) this is as good as my life will get, so I should make the most out of it. Resources Ending the Game Sowers Education Group Are you enjoying the show? If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to subscribe or rate the podcast on iTunes by clicking here. Click here for FAQs about podcasts and how to subscribe. Haven’t been receiving our newsletter? Visit our homepage to join today. Contact us with questions, comments, or suggestions at [email protected]. Transcript Dave [00:00:00] You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number 196 – Rachel Thomas: Ending the Game. Production Credits [00:00:09] Produced by Innovate Learning, maximizing human potential. Dave [00:00:30] Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. My name is Dave Stachowiak. Sandie [00:00:35] And my name is Sandie Morgan. Dave [00:00:37] And this is the show where we empower you to study the issues, be a voice, and make a difference in ending human trafficking. And today we have with us an important voice in the human trafficking conversation, a survivor. And as we’ve had many times, Sandie, another perspective from a survivor in our conversation. And I’m really pleased to welcome to the show today, Rachel Thomas. Rachel is a former music video model and sex trafficking survivor. She is now a dynamic educator who speaks from the heart and aims at the head with a Master’s in Education from UCLA and over 12 years of experience in teaching and mentoring. Rachel founded Sowers Education Group to sow seeds of Sex Trafficking Awareness and survivor empowerment. Rachel was a junior at Emory University where she unknowingly met a trafficker, a professional and well-spoken “modeling agent”. He had business cards and a portfolio of contracts with beautiful models of all ethnicities. He groomed her with high-quality all-expense paid photo shoots and legitimate modeling work in various music videos and magazines. Then after he had collected a W9 form from Rachel, including her parent’s address and Social Security number their relationship became dangerous. He began forcing her to have sex with buyers, threatening to kill her and her family if she didn’t obey. He became physically and psychologically abusive, ushering Rachel into the dark world of sex slavery. Thankfully, the police and FBI were eventually able to help Rachel and the traffickers dozens of other victims to escape this devastating situation. As Rachel continues to overcome and understand her experience she is turning a mess into a message that will spread prevention and empower victims. Sandie, I’m so glad we get to welcome Rachel to the show today. Sandie [00:02:32] Hi Rachel. Rachel [00:02:34] Hi. Sandie [00:02:35] We are so glad to have you. I’ve known you for a number of years now and what I really appreciate about you is your slow, methodical, professional approach to education. And I suppose that’s not surprising considering you have a masters from UCLA. So thank you so much for agreeing to be on the Ending Human Trafficking podcast today. Rachel [00:03:00] Thank you. Thank you both for all that you do and for spreading these important messages. I’m really honored to be on today. Sandie [00:03:07] So let’s start out, can you just give us an overview of this curriculum, Ending the Game? Rachel [00:03:14] Sure, so Ending the Game is an intervention curriculum for victims of commercial sexual exploitation. And really it is the curriculum that I needed and that so many other victims need on our road to survivorhood, when we’re trying to take two feet firmly out of the game, or the life, and walk in a new direction. So it’s a cycle educational curriculum that teaches about the psychological coercion that lures people into sex trafficking and then how to break those bonds. Sandie [00:03:49] So where is the Ending the Game curriculum being used? Rachel [00:03:54] So we actually it’s our five year anniversary this year, it’s very exciting. So we are in over 100 facilities, we’re in 23 states, and we have we met the 500 mark for trained facilitators. Sandie [00:04:09] Wow. Rachel [00:04:09] Yeah, we’re all over, and we’re growing. And it’s all through word of mouth because survivors, you know, attest that it works and it’s helpful. And it’s kind of been a missing link in helping someone on the road to recovery because we can take someone out physically and you know give them shelter, and food, and get them medical attention, and cover a lot of the bases. But psychologically, mentally you know if they’re still entrapped in that thinking, in that lifestyle they will find their way back. Sandie