Training
Courage Worldwide is committed to educating communities around the world as to the nature, effects, and impact of this crime against children.
Over 50,000 people have attended a Courage Worldwide awareness or training event. Attendees have included members of Congress, state lawmakers, foreign government leaders, educators, mental health professionals, law enforcement officers, health care and social workers, church leaders, and juvenile justice personnel.
Over 1,500 individuals have completed Courage Worldwide’s Certified Training event, an extensive three day, trauma-focused training course. This Certified Training is held three to four times a year throughout the United States. Courses are taught by recognized experts in the field of child sex trafficking and complex trauma who have extensive knowledge and, more importantly, years of experience in serving and working with this population. These experts include local and national mental health professionals, law enforcement experts, faith based leaders, and direct services providers. In addition to the experts, survivors speak of their own experiences and unique journey of healing.
The Certified Training course is a rigorous and intensive three day event broken down into eight hour sessions for law enforcement, law makers, health & human services providers, mental health professionals, individuals, members of the faith based community, and organizations desiring an in-depth look into the crime of child sex trafficking, its impact upon the community, its victims, their complex trauma, and subsequent unique needs for restoration and rehabilitation. The courses can be taken individually but it is recommended to attend them consecutively.
Anyone wanting to work or volunteer at any Courage House must complete the entire Certified Training course in addition to completing a background check before an interview can be scheduled.
Courage Worldwide also customizes training events for organizations and presents on their work with victims as well as outcomes documented at Courage House. To book a speaker for your next event or to inquire in regard to a customized training, email training@courageworldwide.org.
Course Descriptions
Training Course 101: A Foundational Look at Sex Trafficking
Course Description
Course 101 will discuss the ways trafficking, specifically sex trafficking of our children, has rapidly grown in our society and nation. It will examine the systematic nature of sex trafficking, the criminal mindset, and the grooming of victims. The course unravels foundational belief systems that have allowed sex trafficking to become extremely prevalent not only in our own backyard but around the world.
Topics will include: the sexualization of America’s children; how the internet, pornography, and social media plays a role in this crime; poverty mindsets; and the normalization of sexual crimes. This session ends providing tangible ways each individual can be an active part of the solution in their community and in this world.
Training Course 201: A Macro-Level Understanding of the Crime called Sex Trafficking and a Micro View of the Physical, Mental, Emotional & Spiritual Impact on its Victims
Prerequisite: Training 101
Course Description
Course 201 begins with an overview of current U.S. Federal policies and laws—identifying gaps and where the U.S. is trending and progressing state to state with regard to victim prevention, protection, and prosecution. The course will identify how juvenile justice and child welfare are structured and how minor victims of sex trafficking are classified under these two systems. There will be a discussion of the systematic gaps and how these provide challenges for victims needing services after rescue.
The course will conclude with an in-depth session regarding the complex trauma victim’s experience, the symptoms experienced, the impact on their brain and behavior, and the emotional and physiological effects of this trauma. Common diagnoses (such as PTSD and DID) will be examined alongside the difficulties and challenges this population experiences with learning and reintegrating into the community. Topics of trauma bonding, criminal mindsets, and the long-term intensive therapeutic process required (including ineffective therapeutic modalities and delivery systems) will be addressed.
Training Course 301: Guidelines for Working Directly with Victims of Sex Trafficking
Prerequisite: Training 101 and 201
Course Description
Course 301 details common scenarios in serving and working with this vulnerable, highly traumatized population. Topics addressed include but are not limited to communicating with and interviewing this population, establishing healthy boundaries, and setting appropriate expectations and outcomes of this population. There will also be a discussion of defining and documenting success with this population as well as a testimony by a survivor. This course dedicates time to recommended self-care practices for those serving and working with this population who can experience secondary trauma.
Day three concludes with a menu of breakout sessions attendees can choose from specific to their interest and/or profession. These breakouts are customized for specific regions. Topics not covered in the course descriptions above can be requested by the host. Breakouts can range from and/or be specific to law enforcement, volunteers, policy, mental health, and/or faith based topics with regard to the prevention, protection, or prosecution of sex trafficking and its victims.