We are so excited to see you in person at our 64th Annual European Branch of the

American Counseling Association (EB-ACA) Conference which will be held in Leiden,  Netherlands (Amsterdam) this fall Oct 19-20, 2023.

This year's conference theme is "Learning from the Past to Build a Future!”Presentations will reflect this year's conference theme, address international counseling issues, and tackle social justice and advocacy in a variety of disciplines such as Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Professional School Counseling, Career Counseling, Rehabilitation Counseling, College Counseling, Higher Education Advising, Marriage, Couples, Family Counseling and other helping professionals.

 

Keynote Speaker:

Melissa Wells, Czech Certified Counselor 

The Fruit of Failure: My personal journey as an AST worker

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Human trafficking is the second largest and fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world today (DHHS, n.d.). Currently, an estimated 50 million people are trapped as modern day slaves for sexual exploitation, forced labor, forced criminality, forced begging, forced marriages, baby and organ trafficking, etc. (ILO, 2022, p. 1; UNODC, 2020, p. 24). Approximately 600,000 – 800,000 people are being trafficked annually throughout the world (DoSomething.org, n.d.). According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, individuals from 137 countries were traded and exploited along more than 500 trafficking routes within Western and Southern Europe alone between the years of 2012 and 2014 (UNODC, 2016, p. 3). Approximately 66% of those located within Western, Central and Southern Europe were brought to or moved within these areas for the purpose of sexual exploitation (UNODC, 2016, p. 12). Of these trafficking victims, 96% were female and 4% were male (UNODC, 2016, pp. 27, 28). It is also estimated that women and children comprise the vast majority (75%-80%) of those who are sexually exploited annually throughout the world (Nieme & Aaltonen, 2017, p. 120). As identification of other forms of trafficking increase, these percentages have changed, but the overall number of victims of sexual exploitation continues to grow (UNODC, 2020, p. 34; Polaris, 2022; Bahous, 2022).

In this presentation, we will discuss some of the challenges victims of sexual exploitation experience and the unique challenges faced by those who seek to help them. Participants will hear about the speaker’s personal experience as an anti-sex trafficking worker serving in the Czech Republic and how the lessons of her past are helping to shape a better future for those engaged in anti-trafficking work and for those they serve. We will also explore how we as a healing community can be part of the process of ensuring a brighter future for those who are constantly battling the darkness of human trafficking.

 

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

• Participants will have a better understanding of the impact of sexual exploitation on those who have experienced it.

• Participants will have a better understanding of the challenges facing AST workers.

• Participants will be motivated to consider how they might use their skills as counselors to assist AST workers in their work and/or survivors of sexual exploitation on their healing journeys.

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TWO Different CEU Options! 

• For those attending in person, you will have the opportunity for a combination of in-person & virtual 16 CEUs 

• For those participating virtually (asynchronously), you will have the opportunity to earn 13 CEUs.

•  If only participating in in-person CEs, you can receive up to 8 CEUs

• NEW THIS YEAR! 

  • Pre-conference Experience: Book Study- Based on the book and local tour involved; CEUs will be awarded accordingly (*additional expense)