Probation Training - Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children: Harm Reduction Fundamentals when Engaging Youth With Complex Trauma

About the Program

Category: Children and Youth

Year: 2022

The San Bernardino County Public Defender’s Office, in partnership with Children’s Network, has created and facilitated a three-hour interactive training for San Bernardino County Probation Officers. The training is designed to bring awareness, education, and offer fundamental tools on how to engage with complex trauma youth, and more specifically, the CSEC (Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children) population. The training provides insight into the harm reduction approach, and how to successfully implement this method when working as a primary point of contact with complex trauma youth. This training is intended to advance collaboration and relationship with probation in hopes of reducing the stigmatization surrounding CSEC youth, appropriately identify them, and enhance strategies and access to resources for this vulnerable population. This project was created in response to a request by the San Bernardino County Probation Department to have a practical training that would capture the interest of their staff, and provide immediate and useful tools in working with complex trauma youth. This project was requested in June of 2021, probations training department secured STC certification in November of 2021, and the first official training was executed in February of 2022.