{"id":18833,"date":"2025-10-09T16:07:01","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T20:07:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/?p=18833"},"modified":"2025-10-09T16:07:01","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T20:07:01","slug":"wilmu-hosts-conference-on-disrupting-human-trafficking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/2025\/10\/09\/wilmu-hosts-conference-on-disrupting-human-trafficking\/","title":{"rendered":"WilmU Hosts Conference on Disrupting Human Trafficking"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.kadence-column18833_48a262-82 > .kt-inside-inner-col{padding-right:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-bottom:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-left:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);}.kadence-column18833_48a262-82 > .kt-inside-inner-col,.kadence-column18833_48a262-82 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-left-radius:0px;}.kadence-column18833_48a262-82 > .kt-inside-inner-col{column-gap:var(--global-kb-gap-sm, 1rem);}.kadence-column18833_48a262-82 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}.kadence-column18833_48a262-82 > .kt-inside-inner-col > .aligncenter{width:100%;}.kadence-column18833_48a262-82 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{opacity:0.3;}.kadence-column18833_48a262-82{position:relative;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kadence-column18833_48a262-82 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}@media all and (max-width: 991px){.kadence-column18833_48a262-82 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column18833_48a262-82\"><div class=\"kt-inside-inner-col\">\n<p>In August, Wilmington University hosted Disrupting Human Trafficking: Driving Change!, an in-person conference that brought together experts, practitioners, and survivors to examine strategies for prevention, awareness and recovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keynote speaker <strong>Rachel Fischer<\/strong>, a registered nurse, consultant, and survivor of human trafficking, shared her story in Trafficking Through the Lens of Lived Experience. Fischer, who has helped recover missing children and collaborated with nonprofits worldwide, urged attendees to focus on victim-centered outcomes and systemic change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Breakout sessions explored trafficking through multiple lenses. WilmU faculty <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wilmu.edu\/directory\/business\/james-fraley.aspx\">Dr. James Fraley<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wilmu.edu\/directory\/business\/Robert-Passarelli.aspx\">Robert Passarelli<\/a><\/strong> and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wilmu.edu\/directory\/business\/Darry-Santry.aspx\">Darryl Santry<\/a><\/strong> presented \u201cRecognizing Human Trafficking in Digital Spaces,\u201d a workshop showing how traffickers use social media, gaming and technology to groom victims. Participants learned to spot warning signs online and apply prevention strategies across healthcare, education, law enforcement and social services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/wildcats.athletics.wilmu.edu\/sports\/mbkb\/coaches\/DanBurke?view=bio\">Dan Burke<\/a><\/strong>, WilmU\u2019s head basketball coach, examined how the power dynamic between young athletes and authority figures \u2014 coaches, administrators and recruiters \u2014 can create opportunities for grooming, exploitation and abuse. Burke also shared examples of best practices, including policies and safeguards used at WilmU, to protect athletes while fostering a safe and supportive sports culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>WilmU will continue the conversation with an upcoming webinar on nature therapy in trauma recovery and the intersection of forced marriage and trafficking.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In August, Wilmington University hosted Disrupting Human Trafficking: Driving Change!, an in-person conference that brought together experts, practitioners, and survivors to examine strategies for prevention,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":18836,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[280,406,14,15],"class_list":["post-18833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-college-of-social-behavioral-science","tag-human-trafficking-education-and-awareness","tag-wilmington-university","tag-wilmu"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":68,"label":"EVENTS"}],"post_tag":[{"value":280,"label":"College of Social &amp; Behavioral Science"},{"value":406,"label":"human trafficking education and awareness"},{"value":14,"label":"Wilmington University"},{"value":15,"label":"WilmU"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/academic-news-Disrupting-Human-Trafficking-480x480.jpg",480,480,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Mckayla Imperatrice","author_link":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/author\/mckayla\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":68,"name":"EVENTS","slug":"events","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":625,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":45,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":68,"category_count":45,"category_description":"","cat_name":"EVENTS","category_nicename":"events","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":280,"name":"College of Social &amp; Behavioral Science","slug":"college-of-social-behavioral-science","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":837,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":15,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":406,"name":"human trafficking education and awareness","slug":"human-trafficking-education-and-awareness","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":963,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":3,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":14,"name":"Wilmington University","slug":"wilmington-university","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":571,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":357,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":15,"name":"WilmU","slug":"wilmu","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":572,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":291,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18833"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18833\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18837,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18833\/revisions\/18837"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}