COMMERCIAL SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN

About the Program

Category: Health (Best in Category)

Year: 2015

To address the rapidly increasing problem of human trafficking and the Commercial and Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) and youth in Los Angeles County, the Department of Mental Health (DMH), Transition Age Youth System of Care (TAYSOC) Bureau, with the support of the County’s Board of Supervisors (BOS), designed and implemented awareness and clinical trainings to inform and increase the specific clinical skills of mental health service providers to address the needs for CSEC victims. Through CSEC awareness and clinical trainings, DMH focuses on changing perceptions about victims, CSEC victims are often regarded as “teen prostitutes,” and working to decrease stigma that may act as barriers in providing the appropriate mental health services and supports to assist these youth.