I’m headed back to Europe, this time with my colleague Deneen Kelly, a clinical social worker with a lot of experience working with trafficked women in Bangkok. Together we’ll be presenting workshops on self care, trauma & the brain-body connection, boundaries, case management, reproductive health, as well as tailored consultations according to the organization’s needs and building their capacity. We have been working together and synergizing our knowledge to build new material and we are very excited about what we have to offer!

September
18 Depart Bangkok/arrive Berlin
20 Consultation with Pink Door Berlin staff; evening workshop on self care for Alabaster Jar
21-22 Working retreat with Pink Door Berlin
24 Berlin Marathon – I will unfortunately be spectating, not participating as planned.
25 Travel to Oradea, Romania
26-29 Workshops with Abolishion, local community social workers, and local medical community
30 To Chisinau, Moldova

October
1 Moldova Marathon (another marathon I was supposed to be running) Local counter-trafficking organizations have galvanized a human trafficking awareness campaign around the marathon – it will still be exciting to be a part of that event.
2-5 Workshops and tailored consultation with the Moldova Medical Clinic as they seek to increase outreach to trafficked women. We’ll also be hosting a workshop on self-care for other local organizations.
6-15 Some personal time to travel through Hungary and Germany
16-20 European Freedom Network conference in Berlin. I’ll be presenting a talk and leading several more informal  sessions on health and human trafficking.
22 depart Berlin/arrive Bangkok


Bangkok Happenings

Meanwhile, I’ve been presenting workshops on trauma and the brain-body connections and consulting with local organizations to build their capacity to help trafficked people. Last week we (with a local NGO and volunteers) held a red-light district” clinic and saw 54 patients until 1am. It was quite a night and we made some great connections with the women.  Planning continues for a large mental health project with trafficked fishermen which will begin later this year. Another new initiative is in providing health and medical support to foster families hosting children who have been staying in the International Detention Center (which is actually one of the worst jails you can imagine) by helping foster families with medical problems. To learn more about this egregious situation, please read “Two Years with No Moon” by Human Rights Watch.

 

A warm and heartfelt THANK YOU to all of you for your continued interest and support of this life-changing work