Human Trafficking Isn't What You Think: The Hidden Truths Everyone Needs to Know

Human trafficking and sex trafficking often get framed as something that happens “somewhere else,” committed by obvious monsters in dark alleys. Nichol Ellis-McGregor and survivor leader Jennisue Jessen challenge that comfort story with lived experience and clear data points that matter for real prevention. Jenny describes being trafficked as a child by a family member, then later encountering exploitation in plain sight while living in Thailand. The takeaway is unsettling but useful: trafficking hides behind normal routines, respected roles, and relationships that look trustworthy, which is exactly why human trafficking awareness has to include our own communities.

A major theme is how survivor advocacy can begin without a perfect plan. Jenny explains that her anti-trafficking nonprofit, Compass31, was essentially “born breech” when a government shutdown forced immediate placement for exploited teen mothers and their babies. With no funding, no facility, and no polished strategy, her family opened their home. That story matters for people searching for tangible ways to help, because it reframes leadership development as responsiveness: listening, acting with care, and building a trauma-informed response around what survivors actually need, not what makes outsiders feel heroic.

The conversation also targets misconceptions that directly impact sex trafficking prevention. Trafficking is frequently initiated online through grooming, not kidnapping by a stranger. Many victims are first trafficked by a family member or intimate partner, and a significant portion of traffickers are women, which challenges biased “profile” thinking. Jennisue highlights a disturbing trend where popular high school students coerce younger kids using substances, images, and threats. Understanding these patterns improves safety planning for parents, educators, faith communities, and public safety professionals by shifting attention to trust, access, and coercion rather than stereotypes.

Listeners also get practical guidance for intervention. If something feels off at a gas station, restaurant, or along a travel corridor, the goal is to gather information safely, not escalate danger. Note descriptions, vehicles, and license plates when possible, and contact trained investigators through the National Human Trafficking Hotline. Alongside that action step is a deeper hope: trauma healing is real. Jenny emphasizes that recovery is possible and supported by a belief that the mind and spirit move toward healing, especially when survivors are met with gentleness, dignity, and a safe path back to their own voice.

If this conversation expands your view, subscribe for more stories of resilience, share this episode with someone who needs it.

If you suspect human trafficking: Call 911 if someone is in immediate danger.

National Human Trafficking Hotline 1-888-373-7888 Text 233733 (Text HELP or INFO) Or use the confidential 24/7 online chat at humantraffickinghotline.org.

Remember:
• Do not intervene. Never confront a suspected trafficker or buyer.
• Do not alert the victim. This may increase the danger.
• Observe and report. Safely note physical descriptions, vehicle information, license plate numbers, locations, and times, then share that information with law enforcement.

Together, we can recognize the signs, protect the vulnerable, and bring hope to those who need it most.

More on Jenniesue at the following,

https://www.facebook.com/jenni.jessen

https://compass31.org/

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_02 0:01

Good day, everyone. This is Nicole from the Overcomer's Approach podcast, where we share stories of hope, resilience, the remarkable strength of the human spirit. I'm your host, Nicole Ellis McGregor. Today it's truly an honor to welcome an extraordinary guest whose life embodies the power of overcoming unimaginable adversity with courage, faith, and purpose. Joining us today is Jenny Sue Jesson, founder of the CEO Compass 31, a global organization committed to preventing human trafficking, restoring survivors, and developing leaders who are transforming communities around the world. She is a survivor of human trafficking who was sold into the sex trade at just four years old. Rather than allowing the trauma of her childhood to define her future, she has dedicated more than 25 years to combating human trafficking on a global scale. Her lived experience combined with her professional leadership has made her a respected voice in the anti-trafficking movement, contributing to the prevention efforts, survival advocacy, leadership development, and the shaping of a federal corner trafficking policies. Through Compass 31, Jenny continues to bring hope, healing, education, and practical solutions to those impacted by the sex and labor trafficking while equipping communities to prevent exploitation before it even begins. Jenny Sue, thank you for being on the Overcomers Approach today. I'm so glad to have you here. Welcome.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

You know, I am so excited for this conversation, Nicole, and um really excited to see how it will add to other people's healing and creating a more just world.

SPEAKER_02 1:45

Yes, yes. And I love the fact that uh you're even present to be here to have the conversation. I know that some people did not make it out of that of that experience or others. And just for you to be a living example of surviving and thriving and empowering others is so important and really falls in line with the spirit of overcomers approach and how the goal is to reach those who may not have overcome, but they can overcome in this experience. So thank you to get started.

From Survival To First Yes

SPEAKER_02 2:18

How did this advocacy even start? Because you're a survivor, but you begin to advocate and you help others give strength through this experience. How did you even start in that space?

SPEAKER_00 2:31

Yeah, thank you for that question. I do want to acknowledge and just hold space for something you mentioned in your opening, and that is so many people don't make it out alive. And and I just want to hold that with great tenderness and humil and humility. Um, I myself did not survive by my own strength, um, but through what I believe is the intervention of grace and a God who loves us and pursues us in the darkest, darkest places. Um, so how did my advocacy uh begin? It's gonna sound counterintuitive to that, to that gratitude I just expressed for the grace of God. Because um I did I did survive 14 years of profound complex trauma sold into the sex trade by my grandfather, and then God provided for my rescue and escape the day after a failed suicide attempt at the age of 17. Um, and that's really where my my life pivoted toward healing, toward redemption. However, it was years and years. Um for many years I didn't talk about it to anyone. My husband knew that I had a history of sexual abuse and assault, but he did not know the extent of what I had been through, nor did he want to talk about it. Um in my church community, it was on the down low. Nobody, nobody from the outside looking in expected that I had that history while I was continuing to heal from it. At one point, my husband and I, though, moved to Thailand, um, which is in Southeast Asia, and we were working with a church planting organization. But while we were there, we couldn't go on a date on Friday night without encountering little kids being exploited based on dates. Yes, that with air quotes, if if people are listening and not watching, um, with little kids and feeding them dinner before taking them to um get payment in return. And um, so I was confronted by it at every turn, and I want to be clear, we tend to think human trafficking is only somewhere out there, far away, third world countries on the other side of the globe. And I was certainly confronted by it there, but it's happening at the same level and the same pace in the United States. Um, the United States is one of the top buyers globally of children for sex.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:34

So it's happening here, but in the US, we have these filters, like as a culture, we condemn trafficking, and we certainly condemn the trafficking of children. Um in many parts of the world, it's simply survival and it's part of the cultural norm. And that's why I was seeing it in my face. Um, uh, so I just want to add that clarity. But as I was seeing it, I was thinking, I have to get involved, I have to do something. And I had expected, my husband had expected for some time that God would use my story of redemption in some way to empower other people. But I didn't know what that looked like. And um, so I started volunteering at an organization that was providing services to teenage girls, uh, primarily mothers who had come out of exploitation, teenage mamas.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

Right.

SPEAKER_00 6:37

And I started teaching English and I was doing it a couple of hours a week. I was a homeschool mom, I was in a culture I did not know or yet understand. But after just a few weeks of teaching English, I got a call from the director saying, uh, the government is setting, shutting down our program, and I have days to find placement for our girls, or they go back.

A Program Closes And Doors Open

SPEAKER_02 7:06

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_00 7:07

And so I talked to my husband, I talked to my two kids. I had a a daughter and a son who were 11 and 13 at that time, and we talked as a family like, what do we do? Like, is this something we can participate in? My pre-teen teen kids decided they would share a bedroom so that we could move in with us, three mama baby sets.

SPEAKER_01 7:35

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

And so 12 hours later, three mama baby sets moved into our home. Um, they did not speak English, I did not yet speak Thai. Um, I often say Compass 31, my organization was Born Breach. I love that that um God just dropped in my lap backwards this squawking bloody miracle. Yes, and I didn't have a plan, I didn't have the funding, I didn't have the facility, but the love of Christ was compelling me to meet these girls where they were.

SPEAKER_01 8:14

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 8:15

And and I I went reluctantly, honestly, kicking and screaming, because I thought it's one thing to use my testimony to empower or encourage other survivors, but it's another thing entirely for God to ask me to step back into the dark that He had rescued me from. Yes, and in my flesh and in my healing, I was like, Are you kidding? No, no, uh, and at the same time, the love of Christ, you know, to those that much has been given, much is required. I couldn't not be involved, and that was the birth of Compass 31 backwards breach in June of 2011. We just celebrated our 15th, 15th birthday.

SPEAKER_02 9:09

Congratulations, that is amazing, that is wonderful, and I love the fact that you highlighted and spoke to how when you got into it, like it, like you said, kind of kicking and screaming, you were breach first. It wasn't the most convenient time. There was money, family accommodations, um, but there was a need, and then taking you back to a place that you uh a space that you're familiar with, um, that is like totally amazing, and and totally is an act of obedience to God and shows you the power of God and and his word. How did you walking through that? Because I know obedience can be discomfort, it can bring discomfort. What brought you to to the space where you just knew you had to lean in that you had to do it when everything said nothing is set up for this to work?

SPEAKER_00 10:03

Yeah. Um, two things for for several years. I've had my a spiritual practice. It's called the Ignation Examine. Yes, and the Ignation Examine is a is a spiritual practice where every day you're reviewing where you felt the closest to God, where you felt the furthest from God, and what God has to say about that. Yes. And I have found um the traditional language for that is consolations and desolations. Yes, and I have found over the years that the desolations, the places that ache or the places that provoke and challenge me are often the nearness, the nearest that I feel God's presence, God's love, God's grace, God's empowerment to move forward. And so it was scary, it was terrifying, and I didn't know what I was doing. And in those early days, um, two things happened that were really significant. One, in my morning devotional quiet time, I happened to be in Jeremiah, which is is a book from the prophet Jeremiah in the Old Testament, and God speaking through the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 31. Um, this is the Genisu paraphrase. Okay, go ahead. Okay, Jeremiah 31, 8 through 10, the Genisu paraphrase. Yes, God speaking through Jeremiah says, see, I will bring them from the north country. And our girls all came from the northern border between Thailand and Burma. Um, see, I will bring them from the north, the crippled, the blind, the lame, those who are pregnant, and those who are in labor will come in with weeping, but will go out with joy because I am their father. And it just overwhelmed me with this sense of grace that it was God's idea. He had it, it was his plan that he would hand select the participants that would come into our home or into our program, and our responsibility was to direct them to the restorative love of Christ. And so that's where our name Compass 31 came from. God directs them to us, we direct them to redemptive relationship and Jeremiah 31. The second thing that happened was one of the mama baby sets that came into our home. Um, the baby of that, we had a teenage mom who was 14 years old. She arrived with a baby that was 14 months old, so 14 years, 14 months. Um, and the baby was so sick that she weighed less than 12 pounds and lethargic, she didn't crawl, she didn't walk, she didn't talk. I assumed she was deaf because she had such malaise and lack of interaction. So day two, I took mama and baby to a local pediatrician. And as I was sitting waiting for this pediatric appointment with a specialist, um, there was plate glass windows for the clinic clinic looking out on the street, and I was watching other young teenage girls dressed and going into the red light district for the evening. Wow. While I had this sick, tiny, lethargic baby asleep.

SPEAKER_01 13:41

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 13:42

And I knew in that moment it was like Jesus slid up right next to me, and I knew in that moment that he was offering me a choice. Yes, but the image was like I was standing right on the edge of this chasm with my toes hanging over. And I knew if I gave myself to it, if I fell in love, that there was no turning back.

SPEAKER_02 14:05

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 14:06

And in the same instant that I discerned this invitation, I knew that I it was too late. I was in love. There was no right, and um, and so that's how I knew that I knew that I knew um success or failure, you know, as determined by the world standards, was irrelevant. In this moment, I was in love and I was being compelled to love with the love of Christ, right? And wherever that took me and the girls that I was serving.

SPEAKER_02 14:42

Yes, that is so good. And I love the fact that you, like you said, you fell in love and there was no turning back. And based on what the world's view of whatever success or whatever a win is, we're not on the world's, we're not in that, we're on God's definition timing and and what what he sets before us in the spiritual realm. And that is, I think that it just resonates with me because sometimes in man's eyes, it doesn't make or look like any sense, but that's really not our concern. Like you like you said, once you fell in love, it was it was a done deal. And so I love that.

The Myths That Hide Trafficking

SPEAKER_02 15:21

Um, what are some misconceptions that you think people have of human or sex trafficking? Because I I think there's a lot of myths out there that are out. I mean, I've heard some myself, you know, in my life. And I I work just, you know, I work in the field of public safety. So I'm the crisis intervention person. So we try to redirect those calls from the police or we work collaboratively with them to get people connected to services that they need. And I think that's like a system change. So that's something that's um within the system, I think that's a great change because those people who need to be locked up are locked up, but those people who are victims of sex or human trafficking are not re-victimized by the system as well. Uh, and some of the stereotypes, I mean, sometimes if it's a youth that's dealing with human or sex trafficking, they'll they'll have behaviors. Or um, once they turn 18, it's it's the familiarity of that experience. There's a fear of them letting go of that. And so, what do you think some misconceptions or myths are about that? Some insight that you would think would be really important for those in the space, or just people in the general public that maybe they need to understand and be educated a little more about that.

SPEAKER_00 16:33

Yeah, that that is such an important question. I already hit on one of the primary ones. We always think it's somewhere far away. Yes, not in my community, right? Certainly, not in my church or in my home. Right. It is much safer to think of it that way. Right. It's also safer to think of the trafficker as like the monster under the bed. That's right. Some beast that would be easy to identify. You know, if you, as a mama, have some beast knock on your doors and you're and they say, Hey, I'm here to pick up your kids, you absolutely would not send them. However, so much trafficking is being initiated through relationships online. And so these are people that kids develop a relationship with that they think that they can trust.

SPEAKER_01 17:27

Right.

SPEAKER_00 17:27

Um, beyond that, actually, over 70% of individuals who are trafficked are originally trafficked by a family member or an intimate partner. And more than 20% of that remaining are trafficked by somebody that they know and love and trust. Yes, not a family member, not an intimate partner, but a teacher, a nurse, a doctor, a community member, a pastor, unfortunately. So that myth around two traffickers are um even extends to the concept that very few, many, very few people are aware of that globally 42% of the traffickers are women. So we know predominantly the buyers are men, well over 98% of buyers are men, yeah. However, those that sell the vulnerable people, 42% of the time are women. And in fact, the fastest growing trend for trafficking in the US right now are teenage kids, specifically upperclassmen, juniors and seniors in high school. Girls, the popular girls, yes, are trafficking younger girls and boys. Um, so they take them to a party, they get them drunk, or under the influence of a substance. While they're under the influence, they they take sexually explicit photos, and or the child is sexually assaulted for the first time, then they use those photos to force compliance of the person that's victimized and begin trafficking them. And these are like the cool girls, the girls in high school in middle class, upper middle class America.

SPEAKER_02 19:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:30

So those are some of the primary myths. The last one that I want to touch on is we tend to think that if someone is trafficked, that they will always go back beyond healing or recovery. And um I have a front row seat to watching that myth undone.

SPEAKER_01 19:56

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 19:56

In our 15 years of programming, more than 92% of the clients that have come into our program not only have stayed free, but have moved forward um to get high-level education, master's degrees. We have one that's graduated law school and pastor bar exam. We now have four with master's degrees in social work, um, that are using their experience to be a catalytic change in their own communities. Yes. So recovery is possible.

SPEAKER_02 20:31

Recovery is possible, and it and it's a real thing. And you're letting us know that just by your examples that you just stated, just seeing how the vision played out and how it's actually changing and impacting lives, um, that is so helpful. And then you're educating me and others as well, my listeners, in terms of, you know, most people, like you said, not in my backyard, it's a a stranger, uh, it's a man, um, and it could be the most popular person in school uh online, is how online has impacted trafficking. That is very educational because and uh the fact that it, like you said, it could be your pastor, you know, it could be uh someone with a very important title, you know, and those walls uh have to come down. We have to have these transparent, honest conversations about uh how anybody can be impacted. And it could be closer to you than you even think. Um, and I think just breaking those myths down and really having a conversation and understanding that is so helpful, I think, to me and others. I think when it's so close, it could bring a sense of discomfort. And then that discomfort, uh, some people choose to turn away or they turn to lean in. Yeah. Um, and sometimes when people lean in, if you're within a system or a family that wants to close the door on that or not talk about her, or it brings shame, uh, that can be an isolating place. Yeah. And I know for yourself and your lived experience, what would you say to those that maybe are experiencing? It or they have an awareness, but the discomfort of the truth is in their face, and it's very uncomfortable. They don't know what to do. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:09

That that is such a human response, and it's one of the things that um I love about Jesus. You know, he weeps outside of Lazarus's tomb, he knows what he's about to do, he still weeps. And in the garden, we see that um wrestling with pain is not the opposite or disobedient um to God's God's will or God's plan. He was perfectly in line with God's plan and in his flesh he wrestled with the pain of it. And so I think that's a totally normal um reaction for us humans to have. Yes. I also think that when we lean into our own healing and our own relationship with the divine, I would say that's God through his son Jesus Christ. I don't know about all your listeners, but when we lean into that and we pursue and find our own healing, then our capacity to sit with other people's healing and suffering expands.

SPEAKER_01 23:20

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 23:21

Because we we become intimately acquainted with what depths God will go to for redemption and healing, and so we can carry it confidently to other

What To Do When You Suspect

SPEAKER_00 23:34

people. I want to add to that just practically is a national human trafficking hotline.

SPEAKER_01 23:41

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 23:42

And I'll share the number with you. You can put it in the show notes. Yes, I will. Um, but the um the number is 888-373788.

SPEAKER_02 23:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 23:55

And the National Human Trafficking Hotline, if someone suspects that there's a case of such uh a situation of trafficking, then our recommendation is not to immediately jump in with both feet and try to intervene, but instead try to gather as much information as you can safely and call the human trafficking hotline. And they have investigators that are tasked with finding out if this is a case of trafficking or not. You don't have to know for sure that that's what's happening. But if something in you, you know, you're at a gas station, you're at a fast food restaurant, you see something, and you're like, uh, yes, thing is not okay here, um, then you can capture as much information as you can. You know, maybe go to the restroom at the same time that this young girl does. Hey, are you safe? Are you okay? Do you need help? Yes. Um, she may or may not be able to answer you.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 25:02

Um, but get the license plate of the car if you can, get a description of the people involved, and then call the human trafficking hotline and let them know. And it's their job to intervene in a way that is safe and strategic for the person being victimized and for maximum justice for the perpetrator.

SPEAKER_02 25:24

Yes, that is so good. I'll make sure that uh information is definitely in the notes of the podcast. I think that's really, really important as a reference. And I the fact that you stated, you know, don't try to jump in, you know, there's our peop, they're there collect as much information as we can, document it, you know, and then get to them who the people who are trained and has expert expertise to to to investigate that into and to complete whatever needs to be completed in that process. I love the fact that you stated that. I think that's really important. I think a lot of people see that and they might want to dive in. And that's the first thing we tell people when they call into 911, they want to save the day or do it, and we're like, no, slow down, let's get as much information as we can, because you going in and trying to do and it could be a danger to the person and to yourself. And so we want to make sure, yes.

SPEAKER_00 26:13

Yeah, and that call absolutely can save somebody's life, it can save multiple people's lives. That's right. Um, and so it's not that you're not doing something tangible, yeah, but you're doing something tangible that has the most potential to protect you as the person intervening, but the person you're trying to um interbe intervene on behalf of as well.

SPEAKER_02 26:42

Yeah, thank you for that clarification. I know we're coming down. This we it's so much more information. The time is going by really fast. I have a few more questions.

Turning Points In Trauma Healing

SPEAKER_02 26:51

I want to be respectful of time. The next question I have is healing, uh, especially from trauma or complex trauma, is sometimes it's not a straight path. Sometimes it goes in waves, it's up and down. Um, there's a pause here and there. Um, what are some of the most significant turning points in your own healing journey that you think helped you and could potentially help others as they walk through their healing journey as well?

SPEAKER_00 27:18

Um how do I summarize that? Or just yeah, I I will say that um throughout my my healing journey, well, I've written a book uh called The Lucky One. People can find it online, and it outlines my healing journey. So that would be an in-depth answer to what you're asking. The the short summary for the purposes here is that in the deepest, darkest, scariest, most violent places, I in I encountered Christ. He didn't look away, he met me there, he held me there, he kept my sanity intact while he gave me the capacity to compartmentalize this incredible violence that I was enduring. And then as an adult, with such gentleness, such tenderness, as a good shepherd would, he has led me back into memories, into things that needed to be addressed and needed to be healed, where I could see and find his presence there, yes, and find his redemption there. Uh, the other piece of that healing that I'll just speak to, I just want to name it. Sure, I carry the belief that every human is made in the image of God and that our body is designed to heal. Like if you if you got a paper cut last week, chances are it's not still bleeding, it heals. And it didn't heal because you thought heal, heal, heal, heal. It healed because your body's designed to. And I believe that God designed our mind and our spirit with the same drive. It is always moving toward healing because we're made in the image of God. That's right. And so those two pieces have really been fundamental in my healing journey.

SPEAKER_02 29:14

Thank you. That is so helpful. And for those listening out there, you know, like you said, your relationship with God was pivotal, it was one of the most important. I think for those who may not know Jesus or they have a fear and they're walking on this journey. And we have churches everywhere, but for some people, they are they're stuck and there's a fear of you know, reaching out if they don't have a relationship with Christ. What do you think is a practical way for those who just, I don't know, they're curious, they're cautious, but just to have that relationship to begin right where they're at in the space that they're in. What suggestions would you give?

SPEAKER_00 29:52

Yeah, that is a great question. So many of the clients I serve were victimized within the church or by religious leaders, um, or if they disclosed in the church environment it was compounded because they were silenced. And so it is a fair question. Yes. Um, I would encourage those individuals to wonder, yes, with curiosity, okay, if there is a God and if God is good to show me, show me how it is you kept me alive. And I would say even things like their innate capacity for fight, yes, flight, or freeze, yes, are all manifestations of how God showed up to keep them alive in unthinkable circumstances.

SPEAKER_01 30:53

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 30:54

So if they're open to asking, okay, God, if you're real, show me how you kept me alive and what does this mean for me now?

SPEAKER_01 31:04

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 31:05

And um, start conversations with people who are are safe to navigate. A lot of the clients that I serve individually are somewhere in that journey of I don't know what I think about God. And and if I think about God, I only think effing furious things about him.

SPEAKER_01 31:27

Right?

SPEAKER_00 31:28

They don't they don't know a God who's trustworthy. So we in my work, we explore many of the biblical metaphors for God. Yes, um, God is the bread of life, um, God is like a woman in labor to bring about new life, or like a mama bear that destroys those that would um threaten her children, yeah. And so we look at metaphors for God that are in the Bible and start there. Like does light resonate with you? Does that feel safe? Does a mama bear feel safe? Does bread feel nourishing to you? Yes, and we start there, yeah, um a place that feels um safe, and we take take baby steps towards healing that way.

SPEAKER_02 32:20

I love that. We have a thing in church that I grew up in that said make it plain, which is means make it practical, make it relatable. Um sometimes that's where you have to start. And you speaking of that speaks to that. Um, my uh wrapping up with my last two questions.

Centering Voices And Staying Well

SPEAKER_02 32:35

I know that you've impacted federal counter trafficking policies um for these years that you've been in this work. Where do you still feel like the most work needs to be done, or where you've there's been some progress made, but where do you feel like we still need to focus on or your thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_00 32:52

Um, yeah, this answer may be the most controversial. Sure. Um, I ask for grace in advance.

SPEAKER_02 33:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 33:02

Um, you may disagree with me theologically, that's okay. Um, my my answer is that um individuals who are victimized or marginalized need to have a voice.

SPEAKER_01 33:17

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 33:18

And so often the systems in our culture and even in our churches silence and subjugate women.

SPEAKER_01 33:26

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 33:27

And um we have this like cultural paradigm that women are more likely to be deceived, that they're the temptation, they lead men astray. For that reason, um, perpetrators of violence are often protected and kept in platforms, in politics, in churches, in I agree. Yes. Um, and until we elevate and center the voices of the marginalized and those that are victimized, um, women, children, uh, black, brown, indigenous peoples, until we give them an equal voice, yeah, we will continue to have systems that perpetuate violence. Yes. And and so I think the church has been lagging behind, and we need to have an active role in um promoting equality and justice for people who are being victimized and marginalized.

SPEAKER_02 34:27

Well, I agree with you 100%. So I don't disagree at all. Um, and just from what I observed in my own lived experience, I can attest to that um myself. So I truly agree with you. My last question is um, I I know that doing this work can be taxing. And so it could um even for me, you know, sometimes when I do my work, I come my tell my husband, some days I have just have to come in, make some tea and go to bed. Yeah, because I have to refuel, you know, I have my time with God in the morning at night. Um, and then we make time for date nights and all that. But I yeah, but I some days I just have to pray and go to bed and restore my be restored because that's how taxing it could be sometimes. I can't imagine this work you're doing is important, but how what do you do for self-care?

SPEAKER_00 35:15

Yeah, that is that is a great question. I um live in the wilderness, so you might be able to pick up from my love it. Um, I am a wheel camper, I am out in the middle of national forest in the Colorado Wild. Um, I travel with a Starlink and so I have internet connection. But what that means is I can engage fully and be fully pleasant in deep, dark, traumatic stories with my clients and the individuals I'm serving. And then when I'm done, shut down my computer and step out into the wilderness where um Jesus and I spend a lot of time. I do about a two and a half mile walk with my dogs every day in the national forest. Um, I take my journal, my Bible. There's this giant heart-shaped rock that I can sit, you know, right in the top of this little part of and be held by a symbol of God's unshakable love. Not that God's in the rock. Right in this place that I'm grounded and reminded that God's love is forever. You know, I don't know when this rock was formed, but it holds me and reminds me um that I am held by love. And so that's my primary, my primary self-care.

SPEAKER_02 36:42

Awesome. Jenny Sue, thank you for sharing. I know this could be a long movie. It could be that you have your book that you did reference. I'll make sure that's in the description as well. But I think uh you touched on some key things and confirm some things, you know, that I was curious about in terms of human and sex trafficking, what that looks like, feel like, and that speaking up and having a voice, I think, for so many communities that uh it just we have to continue to bring that to spaces and places and tells that this is important. Um, and it most definitely is. I want to thank you for doing the work that you do. I definitely honor it and respect it. Um, and me myself and being a victim in my life at times when I did go to someone, I wish I was shut down. And one of those places was the church. And I'm grateful to God that it did not impact my relationship with God. You know, it did impact my life at that time, but it I never stepped away from him. And so he's been my anchor, my saving grace. And um, I just some of the listeners out there, I want them to be encouraged by this conversation. Uh, and the number that I will leave in your book. And just uh if they want to look at some of the work you've done, reach out to your uh nonprofit for any reason, or just find out more with a sense of curiosity. What website could they go to?

SPEAKER_00 38:05

Thank you for that. My organization is called Compass31. You can find us at compass31.org. And then my personal website uh for the way that I interact with um clients is just my name, jenny sue jesson.com. Awesome. So they can find me either place.

SPEAKER_02 38:24

Thank you. Well, thank you, Jenny Sue. It's been an honor. Enjoy the nature. I love nature. Like I follow RV people on YouTube all the time. I don't know if my husband will ever go for it, but it is just a total dream of mine, and just being with nature and God is just amazing. Um, so continue blessings and all that you do and continued prayers. I greatly appreciate what you do and I appreciate this conversation. Thank you again.

SPEAKER_00 38:49

Thank you so much, Nicole. Thank you.