Date

12-2019

Document Type

Capstone Project (Open Access)

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)

Department

Health, Human Services and Public Policy

Major

Collaborative Health and Human Services

First Advisor

Kim Gutierrez

Abstract

Community Solutions is a non-profit agency that serves ages 0-100 in Santa Clara and San Benito Counties. The Solutions to Violence Program operates out of Morgan Hill and houses the CSEC and Human Trafficking Division where the capstone project was developed.The “Chill Room” was created at Community Solutions as a part of the Youth Empowerment Summit (YES) Conference in response to the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) within Santa Clara County. The YES Conference was created to enhance collaboration among community based, county, & non-profit organizations to provide a safe space for CSEC youth to process trauma. The conference provided a day of fun and empowerment for traumatized youth to just be teenagers without the weight of their trauma. The 2019 YES My Kinda Confidence Conference had a total of 23 agencies working together to plan the event. The contributing factors to the social problem of CSEC include; foster youth not connected to enough support, child sexual abuse & not enough spaces for youth to process trauma. The consequences of CSEC are, mental health issues, multi-layered trauma & negative social & physical impacts on the youth that can be forever damaging and irreversible. Sound healing therapy was offered in the “Chill Room”. A total of 31 participants were surveyed during a 1-day YES Conference held on April 6th 2019. Evaluation data suggests that participants were positively influenced by their experience & their knowledge, skills, & attitudes regarding processing trauma. The findings informed DFCS representatives, law enforcement officials, and community based agencies of the importance of an event like this to address the trauma CSEC youth face.

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