411 on My Research Project

As part of my graduate studies in Social Work and Public Health at UNC, I am required to complete an internship to get hands-on experience in my field. So, this summer I have been interning with IJM in their aftercare department and have been traveling back and forth between my home in Chapel Hill and IJM headquarters in Washington, DC. I have the opportunity to work with one of my UNC Social Work professors to design and carry out a research project looking at how IJM and a partner aftercare organization provide services to survivors of sex trafficking. This is a wonderful opportunity because there is so little information out there about how to do this kind of work. More and more is being understood about the prevalence and consequences of sex trafficking, but little is known about how to best serve those who have experienced this abuse. There are many, many organizations around the world doing incredible work to serve people who have experienced trafficking, but not much research has been conducted on the topic.

For my project, I will be interviewing aftercare staff from IJM and another organization that serves survivors of sex trafficking. I’ll be asking them questions about how they do their work, what works well, what hasn’t worked well, what kinds of barriers might be in place to providing all the services that are needed, and in what areas they think aftercare services need to grow and improve. Then, I will work with my professor to analyze all the information, write it up into an article, and have it published in an academic journal. This will also serve as a program evaluation for IJM, to assist them in strategic planning for aftercare. We also hope that this project will help us to identify other future areas of research, that can provide even richer information about how to best serve survivors of sex trafficking.

(The picture is the view from my room at the flat where I'm staying.)