Stephanie

That is the most heartbreaking part of our legal system as it stands.

You have real victims being courageous enough to come forward and then nothing can be done.

And you're like, well, then what's even the point of being courageous?

John was never brought to justice, but that didn't stop Amber from moving forward with her life.

Today, it's been 20 years since she was raped.

And when I hit that 20-year anniversary, it was very like, whew, I'm where I wanted to be.

She did finally get married to a man she trusts.

They have two sons, and she has a great career.

I've been working with survivors kind of as a direct result of what I've been through.

She supports victims of sex trafficking and sexual exploitation, especially in creating longer-term safety plans.

The statistics tell us that 80% of survivors of either trafficking or exploitation will be re-victimized within a year if they don't have restorative help alongside them.

So that isn't just like rescue and hope for the best or recover and hope for the best.

You really do have to walk alongside them and really giving them the tools they need to identify safe and unsafe people to understand trauma and how that affects us day in and day out.

Assisting other survivors has helped Ember on her own journey.

I've been able to bear witness to so many other amazing stories that have been healing for me and helpful for me too.

She encourages other survivors to reach out to trained professionals for this kind of help.

No one has to hold this pain alone.

The instinct is to hide, is to run away from anyone who can observe that pain.

And in reality, you need to lean in and you need to show what is happening.

You need to reveal and drag it into the light so it doesn't keep thriving in the darkness.