Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month, and her campaign is
showing up for victims in Denver as they are opening
the doors to a new safe house next week.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
The exact location of the house will not be disclosed
to protect the privacy of the twelve women who will
be living there. The safe house aims to focus on
short term stabilization. Her campaign founder and CEO, Britney Higgs,
joining us now in the ka Comma Spirit Health Hotline
to discuss Brittany, Welcome to Colorado's Morning News. But before
we talk about some of the specifics of the house,
(00:29):
can you tell us how pervasive in what data you
have regarding human trafficking here in Colorado.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Absolutely, thanks so much for having me you guys, this
is a huge issue in the state of Colorado. Colorado
is actually ranked as the tenth in the nation for
the number of human trafficking cases, So this is something
that is happening right here.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Brittany explained a little bit to us of what her
campaign does, not just with this safe house, but with
your overall organization's mission.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Right. So, there is an estimated forty million victims worldwide,
and that is a huge number, right, and we are
thinking that that's an estimated three hundred thousand victims that
are right here in the United States right now in
the nation, there is only an estimated sixteen hundred beds
that are specifically four sex trafficking survivors. And it shows
(01:21):
that eighty percent of victims will go back to their
trafficker if they do not have a place to go.
So we have a huge gap to phil and that
is what we were doing here in Denver. Her campaign
actually started in Buildings, Montana. We saw the need there.
We opened a safe house program and then an emergency
shelter there. And in twenty twenty one, when we opened
(01:43):
that program, we saw that eighty three percent of the
survivors that we served were stabilizing and they were entering
into a long term program, so they were exiting the
trafficking and actually stepping back into a future and stepping
back into economic independence. So we are so excited to
expand this service to Denver to help come alongside of
(02:05):
the victims here.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Brittany, what is the age of the average victim? Is
it only young young women or is it women of
all persuasions, ages and the like.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
That's a great question. We always say that trafficking actually
doesn't have a face, meaning it could be anyone. We
have served women. Our average age is actually thirty five,
but we've served women that are in their teens all
the way up to I think the oldest survivor that
we had in our program was sixty five years old.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Brittany, you mentioned a little bit there, but tell us
about the pealing process and how this works, because it
really sounds like housing is one that can be difficult
for people to find but such crucial part for them
to have.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Absolutely, there is a huge housing crisis specifically for this demographic.
But at our program, we really focus on stabilization. So
how are we coming alongside the person comprehensive looking at body, mind,
spirit that we have created a program that is evidence based.
It's been shown across the nation the different modalities that
(03:10):
we use to help these women really come out of
that crisis mode and start to make informed choices for
their future. We have clinical social workers on staff that
are going through a stabilization program with them. We also
incorporate functional and integrative health, so we have neurofeedback, IB nutrition,
all the stuff to just help them stabilize and make
(03:33):
a choice for what they want to do in their future.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Brittany, you talk about it sounds like the wrap around
care that you offer. But correct me if I'm wrong.
Are they allowed to stay for about eight weeks? And
after that do you follow up with them or do
you place them somewhere else? Or there is this where
the family gets involved and they come and take their
loved one to make sure that they're safe and not
part of this process.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Yes, all of the above. So what's unique about here
in Denver is we are part of the continuum of
care the same campus, so there is actually a long
term care program that's a two year program that we
partner with. So as soon as our survivors are stabilized,
they've gone through that eight week intensive recovery program, then
we can send them right across the campus to this
(04:16):
long term program. We also are part of a couple
different alliances of anti human trafficking shelters across the nation.
Long term programs are the most common programs out there.
So around week three, what we do is we sit
down with the survivors in our program and we start
to ask them, where do you want to go, what
are your dreams? How can we help you? Then we
start to curate the right programs across the nation. We
(04:40):
facilitate interviews with the survivor so that they can make
a choice of where they would like to go next.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Brittany provide all the important information that listeners need to
know if is there an application process for the safe
house and where they should go if they are a
survivor looking for some assistance.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Absolutely, we partner with hotlines specifically for trafficking, so you
can look up Rescue America's hotline or safe House Project.
A lot of our referrals come from there. They do
a phenomenal job of just coming alongside of the survivor
in that crisis situation and getting the right information to
get them to us. They also help to pay for
(05:19):
transportation from point A to point B, so that's who
we partner with for most of our referrals. We also
do partner with law enforcement officials and other first responders
that may come in contact with a survivor and need
somewhere for her to go.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Her campaign founder and see you know it's Britney Higgs.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Thanks Brittany, thanks so much you guys for having me.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
You're welcome and if you or anyone you know is
dealing with human trafficking. You can call twenty four to
seven the National Hotline at eight eight eight three seven
three seven eight eight eight
January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month, and her campaign is
showing up for victims in Denver as they are opening
the doors to a new safe house next week.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
The exact location of the house will not be disclosed
to protect the privacy of the twelve women who will
be living there. The safe house aims to focus on
short term stabilization. Her campaign founder and CEO, Britney Higgs,
joining us now in the ka Comma Spirit Health Hotline
to discuss Brittany, Welcome to Colorado's Morning News. But before
we talk about some of the specifics of the house,
(00:29):
can you tell us how pervasive in what data you
have regarding human trafficking here in Colorado.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Absolutely, thanks so much for having me you guys, this
is a huge issue in the state of Colorado. Colorado
is actually ranked as the tenth in the nation for
the number of human trafficking cases, So this is something
that is happening right here.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Brittany explained a little bit to us of what her
campaign does, not just with this safe house, but with
your overall organization's mission.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Right. So, there is an estimated forty million victims worldwide,
and that is a huge number, right, and we are
thinking that that's an estimated three hundred thousand victims that
are right here in the United States right now in
the nation, there is only an estimated sixteen hundred beds
that are specifically four sex trafficking survivors. And it shows
(01:21):
that eighty percent of victims will go back to their
trafficker if they do not have a place to go.
So we have a huge gap to phil and that
is what we were doing here in Denver. Her campaign
actually started in Buildings, Montana. We saw the need there.
We opened a safe house program and then an emergency
shelter there. And in twenty twenty one, when we opened
(01:43):
that program, we saw that eighty three percent of the
survivors that we served were stabilizing and they were entering
into a long term program, so they were exiting the
trafficking and actually stepping back into a future and stepping
back into economic independence. So we are so excited to
expand this service to Denver to help come alongside of
(02:05):
the victims here.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Brittany, what is the age of the average victim? Is
it only young young women or is it women of
all persuasions, ages and the like.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
That's a great question. We always say that trafficking actually
doesn't have a face, meaning it could be anyone. We
have served women. Our average age is actually thirty five,
but we've served women that are in their teens all
the way up to I think the oldest survivor that
we had in our program was sixty five years old.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Brittany, you mentioned a little bit there, but tell us
about the pealing process and how this works, because it
really sounds like housing is one that can be difficult
for people to find but such crucial part for them
to have.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Absolutely, there is a huge housing crisis specifically for this demographic.
But at our program, we really focus on stabilization. So
how are we coming alongside the person comprehensive looking at body, mind,
spirit that we have created a program that is evidence based.
It's been shown across the nation the different modalities that
(03:10):
we use to help these women really come out of
that crisis mode and start to make informed choices for
their future. We have clinical social workers on staff that
are going through a stabilization program with them. We also
incorporate functional and integrative health, so we have neurofeedback, IB nutrition,
all the stuff to just help them stabilize and make
(03:33):
a choice for what they want to do in their future.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Brittany, you talk about it sounds like the wrap around
care that you offer. But correct me if I'm wrong.
Are they allowed to stay for about eight weeks? And
after that do you follow up with them or do
you place them somewhere else? Or there is this where
the family gets involved and they come and take their
loved one to make sure that they're safe and not
part of this process.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Yes, all of the above. So what's unique about here
in Denver is we are part of the continuum of
care the same campus, so there is actually a long
term care program that's a two year program that we
partner with. So as soon as our survivors are stabilized,
they've gone through that eight week intensive recovery program, then
we can send them right across the campus to this
(04:16):
long term program. We also are part of a couple
different alliances of anti human trafficking shelters across the nation.
Long term programs are the most common programs out there.
So around week three, what we do is we sit
down with the survivors in our program and we start
to ask them, where do you want to go, what
are your dreams? How can we help you? Then we
start to curate the right programs across the nation. We
(04:40):
facilitate interviews with the survivor so that they can make
a choice of where they would like to go next.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Brittany provide all the important information that listeners need to
know if is there an application process for the safe
house and where they should go if they are a
survivor looking for some assistance.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Absolutely, we partner with hotlines specifically for trafficking, so you
can look up Rescue America's hotline or safe House Project.
A lot of our referrals come from there. They do
a phenomenal job of just coming alongside of the survivor
in that crisis situation and getting the right information to
get them to us. They also help to pay for
(05:19):
transportation from point A to point B, so that's who
we partner with for most of our referrals. We also
do partner with law enforcement officials and other first responders
that may come in contact with a survivor and need
somewhere for her to go.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Her campaign founder and see you know it's Britney Higgs.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Thanks Brittany, thanks so much you guys for having me.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
You're welcome and if you or anyone you know is
dealing with human trafficking. You can call twenty four to
seven the National Hotline at eight eight eight three seven
three seven eight eight eight
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