Beyond the Myths: Building a Real Response to Human Trafficking with Kirsti Mouncey

On this episode of The Constant Advocate, co-hosts Jasmine Martirossian and Partner Dean Venizelos of Constant Legal Group welcome Kirsti Mouncey, President and CEO of the Collaborative to End Human Trafficking in Cleveland. Founded in 2007, the Collaborative leads a 75-member coalition that includes law enforcement, hospital systems, courts, social service providers, and businesses. Together they work to help Northeast Ohio better identify and serve survivors. Kirsti spent 15 years at the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center before joining the Collaborative. She explains the belief she held early on that changed most, which is that trafficking survivors have the same needs as other trauma survivors. Many survivors spend 7 to 15 years under constant coercion and control, and they miss the milestones most young adults take for granted, such as finishing school, holding a job, and building trusting relationships. Recovery means rebuilding all of that, and it takes far more coordinated support than most systems are set up to give. The conversation takes apart the movie version of trafficking. Kirsti explains that trafficking rarely involves kidnapping. It is a slow grooming process in which traffickers find unmet needs, such as poverty, homelessness, or past trauma, and exploit them until a trauma bond forms. She shares findings from the Collaborative's new annual report: about 1,000 survivors are receiving services in Cuyahoga County, and federal estimates suggest only 1 to 10 percent of survivors are ever identified. Kirsti also discusses the industries that should step up, pointing to Ohio's hotel and lodging industry as a model, and to massage businesses and labor trafficking as urgent next frontiers. She explains the role civil accountability plays in survivors' recovery and stability, and she offers advice for attorneys: lead with a trauma-informed approach, expect distrust, slow down, and believe your clients. She closes with her vision for Cuyahoga County to have a coordinated, "no wrong door" system in which every survivor is identified, connected to support, and given a clear path to recovery. To read the Collaborative's report, visit https://collabtoendht.org/.

Episode 4:  A Mother's Story Dealing with Human Trafficking, Siloed Systems, and the Fight for Accountability with Carolyn Kinkoph On this episode of The Constant Advocate, host Jasmine Martirossian speaks with Carolyn Kinkoph, a human trafficking survivor parent and co-founder of the Alliance Against Human Trafficking. Carolyn shares the story of her daughter, Courtney, who was exploited as an adult over several years while living with mental illness and substance use challenges, and who lost her life at age 29. Carolyn explains what human trafficking actually looks like, from sex trafficking in exchange for a meal, a phone, or a place to stay, to labor trafficking in restaurants, construction, and private homes. She describes how traffickers often appear as friends, partners, or trusted visitors, and how one of Courtney's traffickers gained access to the entire family, even joining them for dinner. The conversation reveals how the systems meant to protect Courtney often failed to connect. Carolyn recounts law enforcement agencies that didn't understand legal guardianship, medical providers who attributed Courtney's crisis to mental illness rather than trauma, and the absence of any facility able to treat medical, mental health, substance use, and trauma needs together. Carolyn also celebrates those who made a difference, including a trucker trained by Truckers Against Trafficking, a police chief who changed his department's approach, and Renee Jones of the Renee Jones Empowerment Center, whose outreach meets survivors where they are. Carolyn closes with a call to action requesting to reduce demand through stronger laws against buyers, hold complicit businesses accountable, and educate attorneys, judges, and juries so that survivors are believed. To learn more, call Constant Legal Group at 855-906-2561 or visit constantlg.com.

Episode 2: Trauma, Moral Injury, and Institutional Accountability with Dr. Catherine Koverola (Part 1) On this episode of The Constant Advocate, co-hosts Jasmine Martirossian and Partner Dean Venizelos welcome Dr. Catherine Koverola, former President of the University of Pittsburgh (Bradford and Titusville) and a renowned clinical psychologist whose work with trauma survivors spans several decades. Dr. Koverola traces her path from a child sexual abuse clinic in East Los Angeles to work with survivors of domestic violence, community violence, and institutional abuse, including residential school survivors in Canada and Alaska. She then shares what she learned from the other side of the desk as a university executive, where she observed a recurring gap between an institution's stated mission and how it actually responds when someone is harmed. That gap, she explains, often reflects a performative commitment to the people an organization claims to serve, and it gives rise to what researchers call moral injury. The conversation then turns to the courtroom. Dr. Koverola explains how trauma affects memory and emotional expression, why survivors may struggle to give a consistent account, and why a calm or flat demeanor is too often mistaken for dishonesty. She also speaks directly to attorneys about vicarious trauma and moral injury as occupational hazards, and why firms serving survivors need real support systems in place for themselves as well. She closes with advice for institutional leaders – consult your own moral compass before the first allegation arrives, ask how you would want your own family treated, and refuse to let reputational self-protection override your humanity. Stay tuned for Part 2 of our conversation with Dr. Koverola.

To learn more, call Constant Legal Group at 855-906-2561 or visit www.constantlg.com.

Welcome to the inaugural episode of The Constant Advocate, a podcast by Constant Legal Group. Co-hosts Jasmine Martirossian and Partner Dean Venizelos open the series by explaining institutional accountability and why it matters to anyone harmed by an organization that had the power to prevent it. Dean describes the two broad fronts where Constant Legal Group holds institutions accountable. The first involves well-funded corporations, such as drug and medical device manufacturers, that learn their products cause harm and fail to warn the public or work to conceal it. The second involves schools, churches, medical facilities, and other institutions that knew or should have known about sexual abuse and chose silence over action. The conversation turns to human trafficking and abuse survivors, and why so many come forward years or decades later. Jasmine and Dean discuss how trauma is processed differently than physical injury, how social stigma has kept survivors silent, and how state and local legislatures are responding with look-back windows that temporarily reopen expired civil claims. Because those windows close on fixed deadlines, awareness is critical. They also explore the duty of care institutions owe the people in their charge, especially children, and why abuse within religious organizations extends well beyond any single denomination. Upcoming episodes will feature national experts on trauma, abuse, and institutional accountability. Subscribe and join the conversation. To learn more, call Constant Legal Group at 855-906-2561 or visit constantlg.com.