The Power of Compassion: Trauma-Informed Healing and Survivor Perspectives on Human Trafficking
The Power of Compassion: Trauma-Informed Healing and Survivor Perspectives on Human Trafficking
Tuesday, November 10th, 2026
8 AM to 4 PM EST
IN-PERSON at the Department of Children and Families Training Academy
30 Van Dyke Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Register Here:
Agenda:
8:30 am to 9 am- Arrival and Registration Check In
9 am to 9:15 am- Opening Remarks
9:15 am to 10:30 am- Trafficking, Trauma, Resiliency and Evidence-based Hope– Robert Lung
10:30 am to 10:45 am- BREAK
10:45 am to 12 pm- Cultivating Kindness: The Privilege of Caring for Youth at Higher Risk for or Affected by Human Trafficking– Nicole Leopardi
12 pm to 1:30 pm- LUNCH
1:30 pm to 2:45 pm- A Survivor’s Perspective on Trauma, Healing, and the Role of Multidisciplinary Professionals– Gina Cavallo
2:45 pm to 3 pm- BREAK
3 pm to 4 pm- Q/A panel session
4 pm- Closing Remarks and Departure
Session Descriptions and Learning Objectives:
Trafficking, Trauma, Resiliency and Evidence-based Hope– Robert Lung
This presentation defines the ‘who, what, where, and how’ of sex trafficking and addresses significant misunderstandings about trafficking. The presentation also regards the multi-faceted impact of trauma as a means of enabling others to better engage trauma-impacted individuals. The presentation next regards a case study that involved severe child abuse, the creation of child sexual abuse materials (CSAM), human trafficking and torture and regards the demographics of the child in the case study which emphasizes the misunderstandings about where human trafficking occurs, to whom it occurs, and the impact of trauma when effective treatment services are enabled. The presenter then addresses methods to counter traffickers’ manipulations by creating trauma-informed practices and developing mutual trust and respect with victims of human trafficking to enable victims to become survivors as well as what the presenter regards as a “deeper dive” into the impact of trafficking and trauma. The presentation concludes with encouragement to the audience about the difference they can make on trauma impacted individuals. Throughout the presentation, the presenter will lead the audience through various impactful grounding techniques to ensure their ability to process difficult information in their work.
Learning Objectives:
- The audience will develop a better understanding of juvenile sex trafficking.
- The audience will learn about trauma and how trauma impacts system-involved individuals.
- The audience will learn from a case study involving severe child abuse, child sexual abuse materials and trafficking.
- And the audience will learn about resiliency and evidence-based hope which will in turn motivate and inspire the audience to develop their own practices to address trauma-impacted individuals.
Cultivating Kindness: The Privilege of Caring for Youth at Higher Risk for or Affected by Human Trafficking– Nicole Leopardi
This presentation will focus on evidence-based, trauma-informed approaches when caring for youth victims and survivors of human trafficking and those youth identified at higher risk. It will include a discussion about the following: Human trafficking risk factors, trauma indicators and potential manifestations in youth, implementation of evidence-based techniques in the delivery of healing-centered and trauma-informed care to this population, optimizing youth engagement with creative solutions, prevention strategies, the bigger picture, and next steps, and available resources, including the THRIVE Center at CARES Learning.
Learning objectives:
- Recognize and describe human trafficking risk factors, trauma indicators, and the wide range of potential manifestations and presentations in youth
- Implement evidence-based techniques in the delivery of healing-centered and trauma-informed care to youth victims and survivors of trauma and to those youth at higher risk for experiencing human trafficking
- Create a framework for optimizing youth engagement with care using creative, outside-the-box thinking that is applicable in their field of practice
- Prioritize prevention strategies and a more global approach
- Connect youth to appropriate resources and services when there is a concern for trafficking
A Survivor’s Perspective on Trauma, Healing, and the Role of Multidisciplinary Professionals– Gina Cavallo
This training examines the long-term physical, psychological, emotional, relational, and legal impacts of human trafficking on survivors. Participants will recognize missed opportunities for identification and intervention in healthcare and other professional settings. The training introduces trauma-informed approaches that support safety, trust, and improved outcomes for individuals experiencing or recovering from trafficking. Participants will explore strategies to reduce retraumatization and create conditions that support both immediate and delayed disclosure. Protective and resiliency factors that promote healing, recovery, and long-term well-being will also be discussed. Emphasis will be placed on the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration and survivor-centered care. Through lessons from lived experience, participants will identify ways to strengthen professional practice, improve cross-system collaboration, and enhance responses to individuals impacted by human trafficking.
Learning Objectives:
- Describe the long-term impact of human trafficking on survivors, including the physical, psychological, emotional, relational, and legal consequences that often continue long after the exploitation has ended.
- Recognize missed opportunities for identification and intervention in healthcare and other professional settings and identify trauma-informed responses that may improve outcomes for individuals experiencing or recovering from human trafficking.
- Explain how healthcare professionals and other multidisciplinary team members can foster trust, reduce retraumatization, and create conditions that support both immediate and delayed disclosure.
- Identify protective and resiliency factors that promote healing, recovery, and long-term well-being, and understand the role of multidisciplinary collaboration in supporting survivor-centered care.
- Apply lessons learned from a survivor’s lived experience to strengthen professional practice, improve cross-system collaboration, and enhance responses to individuals impacted by human trafficking.
Speaker Biographies:
Judge Robert Lung (ret.) served as a judicial officer for over twenty-two years in Colorado until he retired from the bench in 2025 and began his own mediation practice. He also provides presentations nationally and internationally on issues such as human trafficking, childhood trauma and resiliency to an exceptionally diverse audience base including the military, the medical field, the educational field, judiciaries, human services, faith-based organizations, mental health professionals and law enforcement. In 2016 he was appointed by the Colorado Chief Justice to serve on the Colorado Human Trafficking Council, in 2017 he was Presidentially appointed to the National Advisory Council on the Sex Trafficking of Children and Youth, and in 2018 he was Presidentially appointed to the U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking. In 2021 he served as an Adjunct Professor at St. Thomas University College of Law and taught Human Rights Lawyering. In 2023 he had the honor of testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Accountability regarding the passage of Federal anti-trafficking law. In 2024 he was the on-site expert to the Blue Campaign for the filming of a PSA on familial trafficking. And in 2025 he co-created a five-day conference on human trafficking, thru the John J. Brunetti Foundation Human Trafficking Academy at St. Thomas University College of Law in Miami. He has also served as a consultant with Office for Victims of Crime under the U.S. Department of Justice, the Office on Trafficking in Persons under the U.S. Administration for Children and Families, the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons under the U.S. State Department, the Blue Campaign under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). In his “free time” he works on writing his first book and he endeavors to keep up with his two adopted sons in hiking and biking.
Nicole Leopardi MD FAAP is a board-certified general pediatrician at the Rowan-Virtua Child Abuse Research Education & Service (CARES) Institute, where she currently holds the academic appointment of Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics. Dr. Leopardi is the Medical Director of the Transcend Heal Respond InnoVate & Empower (THRIVE) Center at CARES, a center for children and youth up to age 24yrs who have experienced or are at higher risk of experiencing trafficking and exploitation. Prior to transitioning to her current position at CARES in 2023, Dr. Leopardi was a primary care provider at the Cooper Children’s Regional Center in Camden and Sewell, NJ for 15 years, during which time she also completed her residency in Pediatrics and served as Chief Resident. Dr. Leopardi began her anti-trafficking work in 2015, providing primary healthcare services to youth identified in New Jersey who had experienced trafficking. She has been on the Board of the New Jersey Coalition Against Human Trafficking (NJCAHT) since 2020 and serves as the chair of the NJCAHT’s Governance Committee. She is a highly regarded speaker on the topic of child trafficking, speaking to various audiences across the state. Dr. Leopardi also serves on the NJ Office of the Attorney General’s Human Trafficking Task Force, is the co-chair of their healthcare committee, and is a founding member and former co-chair of the New Jersey chapter American Academy of Pediatrics (NJAAP) Anti-Trafficking Task Force, where she promotes resilience in children and families to help prevent trafficking as well as other forms of child adversity. It is her passion to provide trauma-informed, healing-centered care to children and youth, lifting up their voices – the most important voices – with dignity and compassion.
Gina Cavallo is a nationally recognized leader, author, public speaker, advocate, and survivor consultant in the anti-trafficking movement. She is the founder of We RISE USA and serves as the Survivor Consultant and Board Vice President for the New Jersey Coalition Against Human Trafficking. Gina also co-chairs the New Jersey Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics Anti-Trafficking Task Force and is a distinguished member of the New Jersey Commission on Human Trafficking. Through these roles, she continues to use her lived experience to inform survivor-centered policies and initiatives, and her dedication to justice earned her the National Liberators Award for Survivor Leadership in 2020. Gina published her first book, “A Survivor’s Secrets”, a powerful memoir that chronicles her journey of resilience and empowerment, offering hope and guidance to others. Through her advocacy, writing, and consulting, she continues to inspire, educate, and lead efforts to dismantle systems of exploitation while empowering survivors to reclaim their voices.
Continuing Education Credits will be offered for this event.
