Get Trained

 

Thousands of people have been trained through our 3-day intensive curriculum and have, in turn, gone on to train thousands more. Components of GEMS’ training materials are in use all over the country and have been included in state and national publications. 

Since 1998, GEMS has been providing trainings for youth-serving professionals and law enforcement. 20 years of training expertise has uniquely positioned GEMS to lead the field in innovative and immersive survivor created training experiences on the issue of commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking. Our experience has also allowed us to create best practice programming to serve at risk youth, victims and survivors. 

In 2007, funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, GEMS created the first national training curriculum on the commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking of children and youth. Like all GEMS curriculums, it was survivor created and the intensive 3-day Train the Trainer curriculum was designed to spread awareness as widely as possible. Domestic trafficking at that time was still an issue that few people had heard of and even fewer had skills to identify and support victims and survivors.   

 

CSEC 101:

Understanding and Identifying Commercial Sexual Exploitation
and Trafficking

In the years since, GEMS has updated its training programs to reflect a new level of resources and knowledge in the field and to meet the needs of participants working with victims and survivors. The training, now called “Understanding and Identifying Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking,” can be customized to address specific areas of focus or skill sets, including:

•Understanding and Addressing Demand •Understanding Trauma Bonds
•Long Term Prevention Efforts •Developing a Strengths-Based Program
•Motivational Interviewing with Survivors

All trainings are now offered virtually. To request a training, presentation, or workshop, please contact our Training Department at training@gems-girls.org

2024 Training Dates

NEW! 4-PART CSEC 101 LITE VIRTUAL TRAINING

About this training:

Abbreviated from a two-day intensive, this training is designed for busy learners. It provides condensed training across four weeks from our four GEMS CSEC 101 training modules. Professional individuals, especially direct service providers, clinicians, and administrators, seeking baseline knowledge about the commercial sexual exploitation of children are encouraged to attend.

TRAINING DATES

April 3: Identifying and Understanding CSEC

April 10: Pathways and Precursors to CSEC

April 17: Acknowledging the Impact of CSEC

April 24: Meeting the Needs of CSEC Victims

Session time: 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Price: $55 per session, $200 for four sessions

REGISTER HERE: https://tinyurl.com/GEMS-Training

Please note the general audience type of this training. For customized options for your organization, contact the GEMS Training Department at Training@gems-girls.org

GEMS training utilizes the best practices in adult learning, including interactive training, multi-media curricula, and practical, applicable-based content and skills training. Training pieces also tap into GEMS’ knowledge base on social justice issues and frame all of our teaching and engagement through the lens of social justice and intersectionality.

VSL : Victim, Survivor, Leader™

GEMS offers two- to three-day Victim, Survivor, Leader™ (VSL) training for a comprehensive look inside the award-winning GEMS VSL program model, with its two foundational principles, Survivor Leadership and Transformational Relationships, and six key core values. The VSL trainings take participants through the key factors and approaches that make up successful GEMS programming and teach them how to utilize this model in their own organizations and work. 

GEMS training utilizes the best practices in adult learning, including interactive training, multi-media curricula, and practical, applicable-based content and skills training. Pieces of training also tap into GEMS’ knowledge base on social justice issues and frame all of our teaching and engagement through the lens of both social justice and intersectionality.

Contact Training@gems-girls.org for more information on its VLS Training.

Survivor’s Guide to Leaving

We also offer a two-day “Survivor’s Guide to Leaving” training for organizations and practitioners looking to help victims and survivors. It implements the practice-based evidence VSL model that GEMS has pioneered, focusing on the first challenging year in a survivor’s journey and how to best serve as an ally and a support. Contact Training@gems-girls.org for more information.

 
Rachel Lloyd speaking with women at luncheon

Founded by Rachel Lloyd, herself a CSEC survivor, GEMS has created an original program to help survivors of CSEC heal.

 

About Our Founder

Rachel, CMG has become one of the foremost advocates for sexually exploited girls and young women through her tireless dedication to the community she serves. She is also deeply passionate about changing public perception and policy. Her courageous advocacy ensured the passage of New York State’s Safe Harbor for Sexually Exploited Children Act, which in 2008 became the first law in the nation to protect —rather than punish—trafficked and exploited youth. Since then 28 other states have followed suit. 

She co-produced the ground-breaking Showtime documentary Very Young Girls, which has been seen by over 4 million people and sparked a national dialogue on the issue. Rachel is also the author of the critically acclaimed Girls Like Us, and has used her unique voice to advocate for survivors at the White House, the United Nations, and before Congress.


GEMS has trained hundreds of organizations and institutions

Organizations Trained by GEMS include

  • NYC ACS

  • Jewish Board for Children and Families

  • LA County Department of Probation

  • KidsPeace

  • Uncommon Charter Schools

  • Montclair State University

  • Internet Crimes Against Children taskforces across the country

  • YWCA Halifax

  • NY State Department of Health


While we can tell you lots more about the efficacy of our trainings, we'd rather let our participants tell you:

Rachel Lloyd is a leading and powerful voice in the global fight against exploitation and trafficking. Her book Girls Like Us - both a moving memoir and stirring polemic- is considered essential reading for those working in the field and is used in multiple college courses across the country.
As the founder and CEO of GEMS for two decades, she has unparalleled expertise in meeting the needs of survivors and in empowering survivor leaders. Rachel was awarded the 2018 Worlds Children’s Prize, an award voted on by 1.2 million children worldwide and counts Malala and Desmond Tutu as board members.
GEMS trainings are the gold standard in the movement and will revolutionize how you and your organization engage and support victims and survivors. GEMS tailors its trainings to be geographically and culturally specific and works with you to address the needs of your local community, city or state.

GEMS also provides customized consultations and ongoing technical assistance for organizations on a variety of areas connected to addressing domestic trafficking.