Training

Our skilled trainers, many of whom are survivor leaders, offer introductory and advanced trainings about the sex industry and its devastating impact. For service providers, law enforcement, and youth-serving professionals, trainings aim to increase victim identification, improve provider response to exploited youth, and build a well-trained safety net for the most marginalized youth. 

My Life My Choice provides strategic consultation and technical assistance to organizations looking to develop or sustain practices and policies which support CSEC prevention and/or survivor-led programming, such as our Survivor Mentor Model. We have opportunities available to fit any size program at any stage of their CSEC response.

We offer a variety of engagement opportunities for learning that aim to build informed and engaged communities as they work to understand and/or address CSEC, both within Massachusetts and across the country. This includes, but is not limited to, lunch and learns, keynote speeches, conference presentations, staff meeting presentations, tabling, and more.

One-day Foundational Training

Every day, young people are deceived, manipulated, coerced, and forced into the commercial sex industry. This multibillion dollar industry is inherently harmful, and systematically targets the most vulnerable in our communities. Our full-day introductory training gives service providers, law enforcement, and youth-serving professionals the tools needed to better understand, identify, respond, and ultimately, better serve victims of the commercial sexual exploitation of children.

One-day Intermediate Clinical Training

This training gives providers tools to develop trauma informed clinical programming for exploited youth and provides a space to practice utilizing skills learned through role play, group discussion and small group work. The one-day advanced clinical training is designed for mental health professionals, program-based clinicians, child welfare workers, community-based therapists, in home therapy teams and private practice clinicians that are serving youth who have been commercially sexually exploited.

Two-day Facilitator Certification Training

Become a Certified Facilitator for the My Life My Choice Prevention Curriculum, an evaluated and nationally‐acclaimed exploitation prevention curriculum aimed at changing adolescent girls' perceptions of the commercial sex industry, building self-esteem and personal empowerment. Participants learn to run psycho-educational groups with vulnerable girls in a variety of settings to prevent exploitation and/or re-victimization. It is the first comprehensive, survivor-led curriculum in the US and has been used in 36 states. It is both gender specific and gender responsive. 

Six-week Online Advanced Training

This is the first and only intensive online course designed specifically for congregate care settings seeking to create a safer and more engaging environment for girls who have been, or are at risk of, commercial sexual exploitation. This highly interactive course is comprised of six 75-minute live sessions with an expert trainer, and up to 60 minutes of asynchronous content/assignments between live sessions. Participants share current practices and experiences among providers from across the country. They will hear from young people impacted by CSEC, as well as experts in the fields of congregate care, CSEC, and law enforcement. It is a holistic training experience fostering lasting programmatic change.

Ten-week Online Advanced Clinical Training

This brand new 10-week online certificate program is designed for mental health care providers working with youth and young adults who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation (CSE). When treating survivors of CSE, it is critical to treat the whole person including the traumas that happened prior to exploitation. Participants will learn and explore traditional and non-traditional approaches for working with survivors of CSE. Through live sessions and powerful asynchronous content, this course features an impressive array of leaders in the field including CSE experts with lived experience and leading mental health care practitioners, including those who identify as both.

One-Day Training

Today’s young people were born and raised in the digital age. Ninety-five percent of teens have a smartphone or access to one, and vulnerable youth who are most at risk off-line are likely to be at greater risk online. This brand new one-day training takes a deep dive into the intersection of technology and exploitation. Designed for youth-serving professionals, this training will provide tools to familiarize themselves with the technology youth use daily and will help participants better understand, identify, respond to, and ultimately, better serve those at greatest risk of commercial sexual exploitation. This training was created in collaboration with the Children’s Advocacy Center of Bristol County.

One-day Training in collaboration with Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts

The extreme trauma commercially sexually exploited youth experience can impact their ability to build healthy relationships and exercise their bodily autonomy within intimate relationships. My Life My Choice and Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts have combined their expertise in commercial sexual exploitation of children and sexuality education to create an evidence-, trauma-, and survivor-informed one-day training. Designed to help a wide range of youth service providers use intentional and inclusive language to begin conversations with young people about sex and sexuality that reflects the realities of their lives.