Coercion in Plain Sight

Coercion in Plain Sight

Coercion in Plain Sight: Stalking, Trafficking, and the Myth of the “Perfect Victim”

90-Minute Professional Training

Stalking and human trafficking are often misunderstood as isolated crimes or extreme, easily identifiable situations. In reality, both are sustained through coercive control—a pattern of surveillance, dependency, threats, and constrained choices that frequently goes unrecognized by systems designed to intervene.

This 90-minute training reframes stalking and trafficking as intersecting forms of ongoing hostage-taking, not one-time incidents or failures of judgment. Participants will examine how common professional practices—documentation, risk assessment, referrals, and compliance-based responses—can unintentionally reinforce harm, escalate risk, and exclude survivors who do not fit the myth of the “perfect victim.”

Grounded in trauma-informed, survivor-centered practice, this session challenges stereotypes while offering practical, immediately applicable tools for identifying coercive control, assessing risk and lethality, and responding without criminalization or rescue-based harm.

Participants will learn how to:

• Identify stalking and trafficking behaviors beyond stereotypes and single-incident frameworks
• Recognize coercive control across digital, relational, and labor contexts
• Assess escalation and lethality risk without increasing danger
• Apply safety-centered, pattern-based documentation practices
• Improve referrals while respecting survivor autonomy and constrained choice

Who should attend:

Advocates, clinicians, healthcare providers, law enforcement, attorneys, campus professionals, social service providers, and reentry program staff.

This training is ideal for professionals seeking to strengthen ethical practice, reduce institutional harm, and respond more effectively to complex, ongoing forms of violence and exploitation.