As part of trauma-informed advocacy for victims of violence, many times, survivors must be met where they are—whether they are living with ongoing abuse and where the focus would be on harm reduction and safer daily living, or whether they are preparing a safer escape plan. Whichever the scenario, a “meet them where they are” approach emphasizes practical, survivor-driven choices, tailored to each moment and circumstance, with documentation that supports autonomy and informed decision-making.

This workshop centers on helping victims and survivors build safety plans for the life they are living today, using decision trees and careful documentation while working or living in rural spaces.

The presenter will teach attendees on how to apply decision trees to identify options, assess risks, and choose steps that enhance safety without presuming immediate separation. The presenter will also explore how to balance harm reduction with proactive planning, recognizing that safety needs and goals change over time. Furthermore, the workshop will cover essential components of protective strategies, including orders of protection, considerations for children, and planning for pets, ensuring a holistic approach to safety.

Anchored in self-determination and self-efficacy, the workshop will highlight how survivors define safety for themselves and determine the pace and direction of their plans. By combining practical planning tools with survivor-centered documentation, attendees will be provided actionable skills to support ongoing safety, resilience, and empowerment in the life survivors are living now—and in potential steps toward safer futures.

Domestic violence and sexual assault cases in rural communities present unique challenges for allied professionals. Limited resources, geographic isolation, confidentiality concerns, and gaps in service availability can create opportunities for offenders to manipulate victims and evade accountability. These vulnerabilities are often compounded when agencies operate in silos, communication breaks down, or professionals lack a shared understanding of effective response strategies.

This interactive session explores how offenders exploit the realities of rural environments to maintain power and control, undermine investigations, and discourage victim participation. Through real-world case examples, the presenter will examine how coordination challenges, limited resources, and systemic gaps impact investigations, prosecutions, victim safety, and offender accountability.

Attendees will be taught practical investigative techniques, multidisciplinary strategies, and promising practices designed to strengthen collaboration, maximize limited resources, and reduce opportunities for offender manipulation. The attendees will also be provided with tools to improve case outcomes, enhance partnerships, and support a coordinated response that prioritizes victim safety and offender accountability in rural communities.

Human trafficking investigations are complex operations conducted by local, federal, and international task forces to rescue victims and lead them to resources, disrupt criminal systems, and prosecute offenders. Many times, trafficking investigations encounter jurisdictional policies, protocols, and practices that may act counterintuitively to victim advocacy and prosecutorial initiatives.

This workshop provides law enforcement, social services, healthcare and medical professionals, community organizations, and others who are likely to encounter a human trafficking victim with a comprehensive framework for a collaborative response to human trafficking investigations. Illustrating a multidisciplinary team (MDT) approach, the presenter will describe how an MDT enhances victim-centered strategies while improving case outcomes through cross-sector cooperation.

This presenter will reinforce the importance of information-sharing protocols, ethical considerations, and cultural competence as well as emphasize the importance of breaking silos between agencies, fostering trust, and enhancing coordinated responses to effectively dismantle trafficking networks while prioritizing survivor safety and well-being.

By the end of this workshop, the goal is for attendees to be equipped with the tools and strategies necessary for a cohesive, victim-centered, and legally sound response to human trafficking investigations.

Sexual assault cases are highly complex and require an expansive investigative toolkit to yield optimal results that lead to justice for victims and accountability for offenders. Tools such as DNA evidence, consensual phone calls, jail call monitoring, forensic and victim interviews, suspect interrogations, and even apology letters can strengthen case development and prosecution.

This workshop is designed to provide law enforcement professionals with practical strategies for conducting thorough, victim-centered sexual assault investigations that strengthen case outcomes and support successful prosecution. Attendees will be taught how to move beyond relying solely on victim disclosures by developing corroborative evidence, identifying behavioral indicators, and utilizing investigative techniques that build a comprehensive case.

Topics will include case preparation, evidence collection, suspect interviewing, digital evidence analysis, witness corroboration, timeline development, and the strategic use of admissions and behavioral evidence. The workshop will also highlight common investigative challenges, including delayed disclosures, victim recantation, lack of physical evidence, and offender manipulation tactics. Attendees will also be offered the opportunity to gain practical tools to assess credibility, identify investigative opportunities, and develop legally sound investigative strategies.

Drawing on real-world case experience from Special Victims Unit investigators, this workshop will emphasize professionalism, persistence, and evidence-driven decision-making. Attendees will be provided with actionable techniques to strengthen investigations, improve case integrity, and enhance their ability to pursue accountability in sexual assault cases while maintaining a trauma-informed approach to victims and witnesses.

This workshop will provide a practical, field-tested framework for building and sustaining MDTs in rural and frontier jurisdictions.

Drawing on real-world rural case studies, attendees will be taught how to bring together law enforcement, prosecutors, victim advocates, courts, healthcare, and community partners to coordinate a response that improves victim safety while strengthening offender accountability.

Policing gender-based crimes create unique challenges within in small towns. Manpower to cover large areas of land can delay response times and access to services is often limited. Smaller staff, restricted budgets, and lack of specialized training all contribute to these challenges. Moreover, rural jurisdictions are also characteristic of working in silos where collaborations, the sharing of resources, and accessing databases and networks for cross-referencing are also constrained.

This workshop explores the challenges that are faced by law enforcement, prosecution and the courts in rural communities where resources are often fewer and far between. Through case studies, collaborative discussion, and practical strategies, the presenter will highlight innovative approaches to improving interagency coordination, strengthening accountability, supporting victims, and enhancing public safety in rural jurisdictions.

In coastal resort towns like Atlantic City, seasonal tourism brings a unique surge in complex sexual assault cases. Among the most challenging are incidents occurring under the guise of “vacation sex” or casual holiday hookups. In these environments, perpetrators frequently exploit lowered inhibitions to orchestrate drug-facilitated sexual assaults (DFSA) and exert lethal control through non-fatal strangulation.

This workshop utilizes a comprehensive case study of a patient who survived a vacation-related rape and strangulation. The presenter will dismantle the defense of “consensual rough sex” by breaking down the precise clinical steps of the forensic exam.

Attendees will be taught advanced techniques to identify, document, and photograph subtle strangulation injuries and how to differentiate consent from coercion by correlating physical trauma with mechanisms of control. Finally, the presenter will address the unique challenges of DFSA time-sensitive toxicological collection, trauma-informed interviewing of acutely intoxicated or out-of-state patients, and the multi-jurisdictional coordination required when a survivor returns home post-exam.

Atlantic City poses unique challenges for detectives due to its casino industry, tourism economy, transient population, and constant influx of visitors from across the country. Human traffickers routinely exploit these factors, using social media, dating applications, transportation networks, and hotel environments to recruit, transport, and exploit vulnerable victims.

This presenters of this case study will examine a real-world human trafficking case that began when a victim from Louisiana was recruited through a social media platform, transported through multiple states, and brought to Atlantic City for commercial sexual exploitation. The case study will follow the investigation from the initial victim disclosure through surveillance review, digital evidence collection, victim interviews, corroboration, and arrest.

Additionally, the case study will highlight investigative strategies for identifying trafficking indicators, working with victims who may not initially self-identify as trafficking victims, leveraging casino & hotel surveillance systems, and building prosecutable cases using digital evidence & corroboration. Particular attention will be given to the challenges faced by law enforcement agencies in shore & tourism communities where victims, suspects, and witnesses frequently reside outside the jurisdiction.

Attendees will also be provided with practical tools for recognizing trafficking operations, strengthening investigations, and collaborating with multidisciplinary partners to identify victims and hold traffickers accountable.

Report writing is one of the most fundamental – yet most impactful – responsibilities in law enforcement. A well-written report is often the single greatest tool first responders and practitioners have to create meaningful change in communities and in the lives of those they serve. For crimes against persons, accuracy and attention to detail can determine whether an investigation succeeds and whether offenders are held accountable.

This interactive and conversational workshop will focus specifically on report writing for sexual violence cases. Through guided discussion and practical exercises, attendees will be taught how to document with accuracy, clarity, and sensitivity—building reports that support thorough investigations, withstand scrutiny, and honor the voices of victims.

Every domestic violence call has the potential to escalate, and the decision to seize a firearm can mean the difference between prevention and tragedy. This dilemma is one that both victim and law enforcement encounter wherein gun possession by DV offenders poses a high lethality risk for each group.

This workshop will offer a detailed, real-world look at law enforcement’s authority to enforce federal and state gun prohibitions—highlighting recent legislation, court rulings, and agency practices. The presenter will examine the legal framework, including Fourth Amendment concerns and civil liability risks tied to both seizing and not seizing weapons. The workshop will also include discussion of civil liability risks, both from improper seizures and from failures to act, along with proven practices that improve safety outcomes.

With a focus on real case examples and national data on domestic homicides, mass shootings, and officer fatalities, the presenter will address the practical and legal complexities of firearm seizure. Attendees will be provided the opportunity to gain a clear understanding of how to act decisively and legally—without putting their agency or community at risk.

Designed for seasoned professionals, this workshop will go beyond theory, equipping attendees with actionable tools to make high-stakes decisions that protect lives—and careers in rural communities.

EMS providers can be the first responders, and possibly only responders, on a 911 call. They are not only exposed to the living situations of victims but often gain their trust immediately and can obtain information disclosed to them that the victim may not disclose to law enforcement for a variety of reasons. When EMS recognizes the signs of human trafficking, or suspects based on the situation, they often do not know how or where to report. In Alameda County, the fire department and EMS agency worked together to develop a policy and streamlined reporting system to Northern CA Regional Intelligence Center (NCRIC) that has seen an increase in reported cases.

The presenter of this workshop will review the process of implementing a reporting system, use cases to discuss the successes, and highlight how law enforcement agencies, fire departments, and EMS agencies can work together to improve processes for identification and reporting of suspected human trafficking cases.

The presenter will also describe the experience of Alameda County in implementing an inter-agency reporting process and review cases that have been reported through this new process–from initial EMS providers on scene, to reporting to the EMS Human trafficking liaison, to information being shared to the Regional Intelligence agency. Additionally, the presenter will describe how identification of human trafficking cases in the community takes an inter-agency approach and illustrate how EMS providers are a key component of that dynamic.

Lethality Assessment Protocols help officers identify intimate partner violence victims at high risk and connect them to advocacy before violence escalates. In rural and midsized communities, implementation is rarely as simple as adding a checklist to a report. Officers administer screens during chaotic calls, victims may be overwhelmed or reluctant to answer, children may be present, language access may be limited, and advocates must build trust quickly while preserving victim autonomy.

This workshop brings together a researcher, a system-based advocate, and the supervisor of Yakima Police Department’s Special Assault Unit to discuss what LAP implementation looks like in practice. Drawing from Yakima’s multiyear LAP experience and a recent mixed-methods study, presenters will share lessons on officer training, victim participation, advocacy connections, documentation, and high-risk case follow-up.

Additionally, attendees will be given practical strategies for introducing the screen, framing advocacy, responding to refusals, improving documentation, and using LAP data to strengthen coordinated community responses in ways that are applicable to both rural and tourist destinations.

Immigrant women attempting to escape violence and abuse are often confronted with realities such as language barriers, lack of social or institutional networks to fill in the gaps, fear of law enforcement, fear of deportation, and lack of knowledge or persistent distrust related to accessing services.

This interactive case-study workshop will examine the escalation of intimate partner violence involving an immigrant survivor relocated from Mexico to an isolated rural community far from family, social support, transportation, and culturally accessible resources. The presenter will analyze offender tactics, coercive control strategies, victim vulnerability factors, and missed opportunities for intervention as the case unfolds.

Attendees will be taught how to identify how disparities in age, gender, financial resources, language fluency, geographic isolation, immigration status, and access to transportation can be exploited to gain compliance, increase dependency, and entrap victims in abusive relationships. The workshop will also explore how offenders use surveillance, financial control, intimidation, isolation, manipulation, and the presence of children to maintain dominance while appearing outwardly functional and family-oriented.

Strategies will be shared on how to assess lethality indicators, identify the predominant aggressor, evaluate protective and risk factors, and examine critical system responses — including law enforcement decision-making, probable-cause arrest considerations, and opportunities for coordinated intervention that may reduce homicide risk.

The desired effect training within the workshop will culminates in a discussion of a frequently misunderstood danger pattern: when escalating offenders suddenly appear “better” because controlling behaviors decrease. Suited for beginning to advanced attendees.

The goal of an human-centric interview (HCI) training is to develop the knowledge and essential skills required to conduct and document interviews with humans who may have experienced trauma and/or victimization. Development of various types of interviews & interrogations, child forensic interviews, and trauma-informed interviews have all paved the way in which practitioners and service providers seek to understand the human experience of victims, suspects, and witnesses of crime and tragedy. As they continue to learn about human behavior, memory, impact of trauma, neurodiversity, intersectionality, etc., it is necessary to continue to apply advances in knowledge and forge ahead to improve HCI practices.

The presenter of this workshop will illustrate that it is not just trauma or a traumatic experience that needs to be understood but also many other factors that can affect ability and motivation to recall. The presenter will describe the need to seek understanding and connection through an intersectional lens to better comprehend behavior and recall including past experiences, neurodiversity, complex trauma, non-linear memory, polychronic time, environment, and genetics.

Trauma doesn’t just affect emotional wellbeing — it can disrupt sleep, concentration, self-care routines, work performance, and relationships, often in ways that are easy to misread as “just stress” or unrelated to a survivor’s history.

This workshop will explore how occupational therapists can identify the ripple effects of trauma on daily functioning and design interventions that rebuild routine, regulation, and a sense of safety in everyday life.

A key focus of the workshop will be the often-overlooked issue of partner-inflicted brain injury, caused by strangulation, blows to the head, or repeated physical assault. These injuries frequently go undiagnosed, yet can produce symptoms — memory lapses, fatigue, irritability, difficulty concentrating — that mimic or compound PTSD, anxiety, or depression, leading to misattribution and inadequate care.

Attendees will be taught how to employ practical, trauma-informed screening approaches to recognize red flags for brain injury in survivors, when and how to refer for further neurological evaluation, and how to adapt functional interventions accordingly.

Strong responses to domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and other forms of violence are built through shared expectations, meaningful partnerships, and collective action. While Tribal communities bring unique cultural strengths, sovereignty, and community knowledge to this work, many response challenges and opportunities extend across Tribal and non-Tribal systems.

This workshop will explore how Tribal and non-Tribal partners can build on their strengths to create more comprehensive, victim-centered responses.

Through multidisciplinary collaboration, shared accountability, and stronger cross-jurisdictional partnerships, the presenter will illustrate how communities can elevate expectations, strengthen practice, and create systems where every survivor receives the response they deserve.

Human trafficking often hides in plain sight—especially in rural communities situated along major transit routes. Our rural county, located along a key stretch of interstate between New York City and Miami, has become a strategic location for traffickers. In response, forensic nurses joined forces with local law enforcement to proactively identify, intervene, and prevent human trafficking through a comprehensive, community-centered initiative.

This workshop will explore how an interdisciplinary team developed and implemented a trafficking prevention and education program tailored to rural realities.

The presenters will describe how the team conducted targeted outreach and training for first responders, engaged local businesses (hotels, gas stations, and bars/restaurants) to support compliance with state trafficking statutes, and developed trauma-informed protocols that prioritize victim safety and recovery.

Attendees will be provided insight on how forensic nurses can extend their influence beyond the clinical setting to lead county-wide anti-trafficking efforts. Presenters will share implementation strategies, partnership models, and lessons learned that can be adapted in both rural and urban settings facing similar trafficking threats.

Accurate physical assessment documentation in domestic violence homicide cases is vital to establish legal proof of abuse, track the escalation of violence, and overcome forensic challenges in court. Moreover, discovering how a body was injured can help investigators differentiate between consensual altercations, accidents, self-defense, and targeted lethal attacks.

This multidisciplinary workshop is designed to equip law enforcement, forensic nurses, and medicolegal death investigators with the knowledge and practical skills to perform, document, and interpret physical assessments in domestic and intimate partner violence cases—both non-fatal and fatal. Attendees will be taught how to identify injury patterns that reveal mechanism, force, intent, and escalation, while understanding how these findings support investigative timelines and prosecutorial outcomes.

The presenter will emphasize trauma-informed, bias-aware assessments; proper use of forensic photography and body mapping; and clear, objective documentation that stands up in court. The presenter will also share strategies on how to extract probative information from medical records—including imaging, labs, and clinical notes—to corroborate reports and strengthen case narratives.

Using real case examples, the workshop will connect ante-mortem presentations to fatal outcomes, explore the anatomy of asphyxiation and strangulation, and highlight indicators of staging or “rough-sex” defenses. The result will be a practical, evidence-driven framework that bridges medical and investigative disciplines to improve accuracy, accountability, and justice for victims of violence.

Natural disasters, often occurring along coastal regions (hurricanes) or within rural pockets of the country (tornadoes & wildfires) create chaos and vulnerability human traffickers seek to exploit. After Hurricane Harvey, the Department of Health and Human Services began identifying emergency management and disaster responding personnel as uniquely positioned to identify and report trafficking-related suspicious behavior.

This workshop will summarize research on this nexus and through case studies, explore victimization post-Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Harvey, and other natural disasters, and articulate how traffickers may seek to exploit displaced persons as well as the disaster recovery framework.

The “perfect victim” is a myth. As practitioners, this is a known fact. But while every case has its own set of challenges, when it comes to survivors who are labeled based on their sexual behavior or lifestyle—such as being known as a “partier” or perceived as promiscuous, survivors who use substances like drugs or alcohol, survivors with past criminal histories, or survivors who struggle with mental health, biases and societal stigmas are often what trip up first responders and practitioners in an investigation. These survivors fall on the spectrum of “credibility issues” – and challenge us to recognize our own biases.

When elements of a case add layers of complexity, it’s still necessary to work the case to the best of one’s ability. So, how can one identify the best practices and most effective approaches to communicating with survivors whose experiences may be questioned? How can one address these challenges in a way that helps survivors navigate the system and pursue justice?

This workshop is designed to address the most critical challenges in cases where survivors are labeled as “less than credible” and provide strategies for dismantling that defense while treating every survivor with compassionate, human-centric, and survivor centered best practices.

Casinos are hotbeds for anonymity, money laundering, covert transactions, and forced criminality related to both sex and labor trafficking all within an environment fostered by the endless movement of money. Because of these issues, human trafficking task forces are established to improve surveillance, tracking, and other investigative initiatives. Research reveals that having an advocate embedded within a human trafficking task force team and the partnership between the two is highly beneficial. Moreover, it is evidenced that this collaboration can be valuable to successful victim recovery operations and prosecutions.

This workshop will discuss how to successfully and safely conduct operations within the casino setting. The presenter will explain the importance of using casino resources alongside law enforcement teams, and how advocates embedded on the team can lead to successful recoveries.

The presenter also will go in-depth on how to plan and organize successful operations, including victim recoveries, “John Ops”, and the utilization of casinos for successful child exploiter arrests and take downs, within casinos in resort and vacation towns such as Lake Tahoe and Reno, NV.

This workshop will also be beneficial to new investigators, those struggling to be successful on small task forces, and any team wanting to incorporate advocacy.

The origins of the domestic violence movement are rooted in a “get her out and hide her” reaction.  Due to the laws of the times, lack of resources, etc., these grassroots efforts were integral in saving many victims of domestic violence.  But does getting her out and hiding her really lead to healing, safety, and self-sufficiency?

In this workshop, the presenter will discuss the history of shelter services and the Domestic Violence Movement in the U.S. to examine where has the Movement been and how has it impacted where practitioners are. Additionally to be discussed is the reality of the needs of victims of domestic violence and whether shelter services are able to adequately support those needs, barriers to victims seeking safety from an abusive relationship, and questions surrounding whether emergency shelter services should be the go-to recommendation to victims.

Alternative options such as safety planning, long term exit planning, intervention, treatment, and transitional living programs will also be explored.

In 2013, a series of sexual assaults within the Grand Canyon region shook the outdoor community and brought urgent attention to the pervasive issue of violence against women in adventure and outdoor recreation settings. From these crimes, the need to address safety, equity, and accountability within the outdoor industry was warranted.

The presenter of this workshop will explore the complex challenges surrounding violence against women in outdoor activities—from wilderness expeditions to adventure tourism—using the Grand Canyon case as a pivotal starting point. The presenter will also examine how conversations about safety, power dynamics, gender equity, and intersectionality have evolved over time within the outdoor community. Additionally, the workshop will address issues of access and inclusion, highlighting how race, socioeconomic status, ability, and other identities intersect with gender to influence experiences and vulnerabilities in outdoor spaces.

Through a detailed case study approach, attendees will be encouraged to analyze the social, cultural, and systemic factors contributing to these issues, as well as the industry’s responses and ongoing efforts toward change. Moreover, the presenter will offer attendees the opportunity to gain a nuanced understanding of the complications involved in fostering a safe, equitable, and inclusive outdoor environment.