The impacts of exploitation and trafficking on children and youth are devastating. Being a victim upends and interrupts lives, and it’s up to every member of society to do what we can to support youth through prevention and early intervention. 

So that more lives are uninterrupted. So that survivors can take control over their lives and live them un-interrupted.

Un\Interrupted: Working with Exploited Youth

Family Services of Greater Vancouver is a national leader in providing supports for victims and survivors of exploitation and human trafficking.

This hour-long webinar will give you insights into how to support exploited youth

Learn about the issues impacting at-risk youth, what you can do as a parent, educator, or healthcare professional, and how FSGV is walking with them every step in their journeys.

Presentations

Identify Don’t Define: How to Spot Exploitation and Let Youth Define Their Experiences 

Brenda Lochhead, Victim Support Worker 

An award-winning victim support worker, Brenda will provide indispensable information about what signs educators, healthcare workers, parents, and other youth-facing individuals can be on the lookout for that signal when a young person needs help. She’ll also walk you through ways that you can offer support, without defining for youth what their needs are. 

Un/Interrupted Service: How to Work with Youth Who Have Experienced Trauma 

Katrina Grabner (MA, RCC), Trauma & Family Counsellor 

Whether you work with youth every day or interact with them in the wider community, we all come into contact with youth who have trauma. Katrina will explain how trauma may show up in your interactions with youth and share practical ways that you can create and follow-through on a sense of safety for the young people in your life. 

Speakers

Brenda Lochhead (she/her)

BA Criminology
Victim Support Worker, VPD Counter Exploitation Unit

Brenda has 30 years of experience in the anti-violence sector and has worked with Family Services of Greater Vancouver as a Victim Support Worker in the Counter Exploitation Unit at VPD since 2016.  

Recipient of the 2018 Services to Victims, Community, Safety & Crime Prevention award from the BC Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General, Brenda’s expertise in the area of human trafficking is recognized internationally. She was instrumental in the development and implementation of a coordinated framework for supporting victims of human trafficking in BC.  

Brenda’s work in counter exploitation has set a national standard for how to approach human trafficking and exploitation cases. Building trust with victims and survivors is a core tenet of her success, with outcomes that improve the quality of life for victims and increase the odds of conviction. Her model relies on deep work with victims from a truly client-centered, trauma-informed approach. It also centers the victim’s experience and provides the long-term support that decreases the likelihood of future exploitation. 

 

Katrina Grabner (she/her)

Katrina Grabner, trauma counsellor

MA, RCC
Trauma & Family Counsellor, PEACE, Stopping the Violence

Since 2010, Katrina has supported adults, youth, and children who have lived through various experiences of trauma. She is a Trauma & Family Counsellor in the PEACE and Stopping the Violence programs at Family Services of Greater Vancouver, and a front-line worker with several East Vancouver social service providers. 

Her professional and lived experiences provide Katrina the insight to work from a truly collaborative, trauma-aware, anti-oppression framework. Katrina believes in the agency of her clients and her trauma-aware approach focuses on nervous system regulation and creating experiences of felt safety in the here and now at a pace that does not overwhelm.   

Growing up in Treaty 6 Territory, Katrina is a visitor on the unceded Ancestral lands of the Coast Salish peoples, the Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, and Musqueam Nations, also known as Vancouver, BC, Canada. Her ancestors are German, Scottish, Irish, French, and Mi’kmaq. Katrina works toward self-awareness of her role in colonization, and she is committed to the daily work of being a co-conspirator and ally in decolonization.