40. Using your voice can save someone's life with Brittany Dunn, Safe House Project
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SUMMARY
Flaunt Your Fire brand values are front and center as India and Erica welcome Brittany Dunn, chief operating officer of Safe House Project. The organization’s mission to support survivors of human trafficking is especially meaningful to India. As a sexual violence survivor herself, she takes the opportunity and access afforded by FYF’s platform to increase awareness of those causes she holds dear.
Survivors of human trafficking experience multiple traumas. They are forced to operate in plain sight yet invisible to those who could provide safety. Each survivor experiences a unique situation, but their stories share the same refrain: I was seen by many, I was ignored by most, and I was saved by one. Be the one.
In this discussion:
Why it benefits brands to communicate their core values to clients and customers
Safe House Project’s origin story and goals
Factors contributing to the low survivor identification rate in the United States
What trafficking looks like in real-life scenarios
How shifting terminology and attitudes can break the cycle of survivor victimization
How to become “the one” via OnWatch™ Training, a free virtual program that teaches individuals to spot, report, and prevent human trafficking in their communities
If conversations about sexual violence in general and the sexual exploitation of children specifically trigger you, please pause your reading or listening to take care of the material and yourself.
QUOTED
BRITTANY DUNN
“And from that, our mission was born: to fully increase survivor identification above 1%, and to increase safe housing for these kids to really receive the holistic care that they need to not only just survive, but to truly thrive.”
“Education really precedes action.”
“At the end of the day, we all have the ability to help end that cycle of victimization.”
“All of our survivors said, “I was seen by many. I was ignored by most. I was saved by one.”
"You just want [survivors] to be able to feel like the people that are surrounding them in that first little stretch are there to keep them safe and meet their basic needs.”
“Recovery is so much...feeling that loss of family, that loss of education, that loss of personal boundaries. And you're having to help somebody really knit together, or maybe put together for the first time ever, all of those pieces of their world.”
How can we listen to people's trials and walk alongside one another in a really shoulder-to-shoulder way? I think that's when we empower somebody else's path, when we come alongside and are there to catch them when they fall, but also there to celebrate those victories.”
“Try to recognize those who maybe were trapped in an unsafe situation because I think that friendship and trust-building -- it’s a huge part of the survivor journey.”
INDIA JACKSON
“The values are the foundation, and I think it is so important to move from implicit values to explicit values, meaning those values are carried through in everything that you do and it was really obvious to anyone who would encounter your brand to know what your values are.“
“I learned from Brittany that one of the most important ways we can create change in the world of human trafficking and specifically child sex trafficking is by knowing exactly what to look for and knowing how to report it.”
“This is one of those situations where using your voice can literally save someone's life.”
“I think that when we have things that need to be talked about and need to be shared, but there's this resistance or this discomfort, or it's been deemed as taboo, it can prevent getting the information in front of the people who can do the most help and support the most.”
ERICA COURDAE
“I think that there are some opportunities to possibly help some of the people that need it by really acknowledging that these signs and signals can show up anywhere. “
“It’s not an easy thing to think that the things that most of us hope that we can take for granted in that we're safe with family and that, you know, we don't have to worry in that way -- that these children cannot do that.”
“I think it is such an empowering place to remind survivors that they can have access to this when they're ready, whatever that process looks like for them.”
Values And Visibility
We believe that brand values are the foundation upon which everything else is built. Whether you’re a personal brand, an influencer, or a large business, your ethics must move from an implicit idea to explicit conviction. Ideally, people who interact with your business will immediately understand where your values rest. At Flaunt Your Fire, we value connection and view our ability to provide access to others as a privilege. Here we use our microphone to amplify the voices and causes we support.
As a survivor of sexual violence, it’s important to India that she provides amplification of brand visibility and support of causes related to this topic. If conversations about sexual violence in general and the sexual exploitation of children specifically trigger you, please pause your reading or listening to take care of the material and yourself.
Meet Brittany Dunn
As the chief operating officer at Safe House Project, Brittany is on a mission to provide safe spaces for survivors of sex trafficking. But Safe House can’t do it alone. She hopes to engage a network of would-be allies by making it easier for them to spot, report, and prevent human trafficking in their own communities.
“When we launched Safe House Project at the beginning of 2018...it was really in response to the fact that we are seeing the statistics from Health and Human Services, from DOJ that, you know, hundreds of thousands of American children are trafficked each year in the United States,” Brittany says, “but that survivor identification is only at 1%.” Safe House’s mission is to boost survivor identification well above that shockingly low figure, providing holistic, integrative post-trauma care so survivors not only heal but thrive.
COVID Challenges, Supportive Solutions
Like the rest of us, Safe House had earmarked new initiatives for 2020, which the pandemic quickly sidelined. As a result, Brittany says, the team had to adjust goals and revise strategies. “We had to get super creative and innovate what survivor care looks like in America with the lack of resources that we expected to be there.” She and co-founder Christie Wells used the COVID crisis to address two primary issues: what does the future of the human trafficking industry look like, and what could Safe House do to better support and center survivors’ voices?
One of last year’s most notable initiatives was the launch of OnWatch™ Training, a free program created with The Malouf Organization. OnWatch™ empowers individuals through education. Its simple online platform - ten modules, each less than five minutes long - gives allies the tools they need to recognize trafficking where they live, work, and play. OnWatch™ addressed nuances that might otherwise get missed because, as Brittany points out, “the situation isn’t always going to be what it appears.”
The Big Business Of Trafficking
Polite assumptions about what trafficking does or doesn’t look like, coupled with America’s preference for conflict avoidance, has dulled our instincts to what’s happening around us. “I think very often people forget to seek out or kind of identify things that, maybe, don’t quite feel right,” India says.
Brittany shares a painful fact that proves how deeply-woven trafficking is in the fabric of our nation. “Trafficking is really just the evolution of child sexual abuse in America.” It’s also a lucrative commercial endeavor, the cultural implications of which make would-be allies squeamish about acting. Brittany acknowledges their discomfort with an urgent caveat. “I’m not going to say that this is an easy conversation...but if we don’t do it, it just allows these kids to continue to really be burdened by somebody else’s actions.”
Education Precedes Action
Ultimately, avoidance keeps the information from getting in front of the people who can do the most good. India asks Brittany for advice on breaking conversational taboos around sex trafficking. She doesn’t hesitate to respond. “I think one of the best steps that anybody can take is really taking the OnWatch™ Training.” She’s quick to add that the training does not delve into human trafficking’s darker aspects. Instead, it provides detailed scenarios and recommendations to identify potential trafficking situations and ways for individuals to support survivors. OnWatch™ also dismantles the biases associated with trafficking, an issue wrongly dismissed as happening in third-world countries and only to specific demographics. It’s happening everywhere, and all survivors are worthy of assistance.
OnWatch™ Trains Heroes. Safe House Saves Lives
I was seen by many, I was ignored by most, and I was saved by one is a phrase often repeated by survivors of human trafficking. As the first survivor-written program of its kind made available at this scale, OnWatch™ does a masterful job of providing multiple lenses through which to assess each situation. What sets off alarm bells in a child-parent relationship is different from the danger exhibited in a romantic partnership. Understanding those layers and trusting one’s instinct goes a long way toward putting SafeHouse out of business. “I want to be put out of a job because we’re all on watch to help prevent trafficking,” Brittany says.
Until then, SafeHouse continues to provide comprehensive, critical trauma care to survivors. Using the analogy of a cancer patient in remission, Brittany points out that a cancer survivor’s journey isn’t over just because chemo has ended. For survivors of trafficking, the moment of escape is just the beginning.
Once a survivor is medically stabilized, they embark on a long-term, restorative process. Therapy, educational support, skills training are just some of the needs addressed. Therapeutic care homes provide that small, home-like environment where residents can chart a new course for their lives. Brittany is continuously humbled by these survivors and their ability to blossom after unimaginable tragedy.
The sooner each of us is willing to acknowledge individuals who often go unnoticed in our communities, the quicker the crime of sex trafficking will end. “I think it’s so easy to just think oh, it’s not a thing, I don’t have to worry about this,” Erica says. “We have to really turn that on its head.” OnWatch™ makes it easy for anyone to support that end goal.
From Survivor To Thriver
SafeHouse understands the healing power of representation. To that end, survivor-mentors facilitate programs for those just starting on their journey. “My biggest privilege is walking alongside adult survivors and reminding them that you have value, dignity, and worth,” Brittany says. “I love the opportunity to support our adult survivors in whatever their calling is because they are the only true experts in this.”
Throughout this conversation, readers may have noticed minimal use of the term victim to describe trafficked individuals. That’s by conscious design. “There’s a lot of victim-centered language out there. It really needs to be adjusted,” Brittany says. Using “victim” minimizes the lengths to which individuals still in trafficking situations go to survive. By employing more thoughtful terminology, the burden of a survivor’s past weighs less heavily upon their future. They get to celebrate their victories with grace and dignity.
Final Thoughts
Once again, Brittany urges everyone to take the OnWatch™ training - even those who think they have a clear understanding of what human trafficking looks like in real life. “We all have something else we can learn.” She also encourages everyone, no matter their background, to be the safe place in their own community. Consider how you can build trust and foster friendships that make a difference? “It’s a huge part of the survivor journey.”
Your awareness and outreach can save a life.
YOUR ACTION FOR THIS EPISODE
Complete the free OnWatch™ Training.
GUEST CONTACT & BIO
Brittany Dunn has the honor of helping lead Safe House Project as the Chief Operations Officer. Prior to Safe House Project, Brittany Dunn spent 10 years in International Business Development at CareerBuilder.com working around the world. Brittany Dunn has a BA in Economics and English from Wellesley College. She has her MBA and graduated top of her class from Thunderbird School of Global Management. She is a military spouse, mother of two, continual learner, world traveler, and protector of the vulnerable.