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Human Trafficking: Understanding the Issues
February 15 @ 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm EST
As of May 11, 2023, this live webinar is approved by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) in accordance with Texas Occupations Code and meets all required HHSC Human Trafficking Training Standards.
Human Trafficking is a $150 billion criminal industry and has continued to increase over the past few years. This course is designed to awaken the dental community to the possibility of human trafficking involving patients seeking care in a dental facility. Many clues may be evident and exhibited by a patient or even by the perpetrator who may be accompanying the victim. Many children have been brought to the USA by traffickers and the likely event of seeing these victims in your office is going to increase. When a victim cannot perform their duties for a trafficker because of pain or trauma-related injury, the person will be brought to a facility for evaluation. Unless the healthcare professional is aware of the signs, the opportunity to assist the victims may not be recognized.
Communication with the victim is key in gaining trust and understanding the issues involved in each circumstance. Certain tactics used by a perpetrator may result in head and neck injury to a victim and are visible to the dental professional during a thorough exam. These tissue findings, injuries will be discussed as items that will get your attention. The protocol for reporting human trafficking will be presented with excellent handouts for the participant on dental findings and seeking help for a victim. Many states are now requiring a course in this subject matter and all dental personnel should be aware of human trafficking clues, how to communicate with the patient, assist in seeking help for the victim and recognizing abuse.
What is Sextortion? It is a form of Cyber Sexual Harassment or Revenge Porn. The sharing of private sexually explicit self-images has become a frequent practice with both the young and adult populations. Learn the way you can protect yourself and children from this online issue.
This live webinar is an approved Texas HHS Human Trafficking Course for Health Care Practitioners
Course Objectives
At the completion of this course the participants should be able to:
- Identify the verbal, physical and dental clues that indicate a patient may be a trafficking victim or a perpetrator.
- Learn the ways you can protect yourself and children against sextortion.
- Become knowledgeable in ways that a health professional can assist a victim and obtain help.
- Enhance your communication skills in approaching a human trafficking victim-learn what to say and what not to say.
- Learn the key organizations available to assist in reporting a possible trafficking victim and become familiar with local/state organizations that are available to the healthcare provider.
- Identify key factors in making your office a trauma-informed office.
- Become familiar with the techniques of force, fraud and coercion used by traffickers and the control mechanisms that continue to promote and exploit victims globally.
- Learn what you as a healthcare provider can do to stop these atrocious crimes against victims from human traffickers, drug cartels and human smugglers.
- List the key professions involved in the subsets of both labor and sex trafficking.
- Become comfortable with key communication factors in approaching a human trafficking victim in conversation.
- Understand the characteristics of individuals who become targets for perpetrators.
