196 – Rachel Thomas: Ending the Game

Dr. Sandie Morgan and Dave Stachowiak are joined by Rachel Thomas to discuss psychological coercion. Rachel is a personal survivor of human trafficking and has extensive experience teaching, training, curriculum writing, public speaking, and mentoring.  She is the director of Sowers Education Group and lead author of Ending The Game: An Intervention Curriculum for Survivors of Sex Trafficking. Key Points Psychological coercion is manipulating someone's behaviors, beliefs, and personhood in a way that's against their own best interest. S.T.R.E.A.M. of influence stands for survival, trafficker, recruiter, environment, media Coercion in sex trafficking is exploiting past vulnerabilities and negative experiences. Supporter training allows professionals and family members, alike, to understand the psychological coercion process. Umbrella beliefs of those in "the game" are 1) it's better to get paid for sex than to do it for free, 2) squares, people outside of the game, are losers, 3) this is as good as my life will get, so I should make the most out of it. Resources Ending the Game Sowers Education Group Are you enjoying the show? If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to subscribe or rate the podcast on iTunes by clicking here. Click here for FAQs about podcasts and how to subscribe. Haven’t been receiving our newsletter? Visit our homepage to join today. Contact us with questions, comments, or suggestions at [email protected]. Transcript Dave [00:00:00] You're listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number 196 - Rachel Thomas: Ending the Game. Production Credits [00:00:09] Produced by Innovate Learning, maximizing human potential. Dave [00:00:30] Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. My name is Dave Stachowiak. Sandie [00:00:35] And my name is Sandie Morgan. Dave [00:00:37] And this is the show where we empower you to study the issues, be a voice, and make a difference in ending human trafficking. And today we have with us an important voice in the human trafficking conversation, a survivor. And as we've had many times, Sandie, another perspective from a survivor in our conversation. And I'm really pleased to welcome to the show today, Rachel Thomas. Rachel is a former music video model and sex trafficking survivor. She is now a dynamic educator who speaks from the heart and aims at the head with a Master's in Education from UCLA and over 12 years of experience in teaching and mentoring. Rachel founded Sowers Education Group to sow seeds of Sex Trafficking Awareness and survivor empowerment. Rachel was a junior at Emory University where she unknowingly met a trafficker, a professional and well-spoken "modeling agent". He had business cards and a portfolio of contracts with beautiful models of all ethnicities. He groomed her with high-quality all-expense paid photo shoots and legitimate modeling work in various music videos and magazines. Then after he had collected a W9 form from Rachel, including her parent's address and Social Security number their relationship became dangerous. He began forcing her to have sex with buyers, threatening to kill her and her family if she didn't obey. He became physically and psychologically abusive, ushering Rachel into the dark world of sex slavery. Thankfully, the police and FBI were eventually able to help Rachel and the traffickers dozens of other victims to escape this devastating situation. As Rachel continues to overcome and understand her experience she is turning a mess into a message that will spread prevention and empower victims. Sandie, I'm so glad we get to welcome Rachel to the show today. Sandie [00:02:32] Hi Rachel. Rachel [00:02:34] Hi. Sandie [00:02:35] We are so glad to have you. I've known you for a number of years now and what I really appreciate about you is your slow, methodical, professional approach to education.

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