This is part one of a two part interview with Christy Croft who currently serves as Prevention Education Program Manager for the North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault. Christy does not forget her trauma as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, interpersonal violence, and lived experience in the sex trade as she works to serve others in similar and vulnerable positions. Being a survivor, she reminds us not to “construct” someone’s experience, but to listen to survivors. She also points out that while the goal is to reduce risk and increase protection in serving victims of human trafficking, we should know the research. Many times one type of intervention also addresses other social problems. She provides a critical resource (Connecting the Dots) to understand how our work may be helping to reduce shared risk and protective factors. In this episode, we talk about the importance of using evidence-based practice and touch on the importance of the well-known Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study to identify levels of trauma. Christy also asks us to be trained and listen to LGBTQ+ youth experiences and how their experiences relate to trafficking and trauma. Lots of good resources in this episode including: "Teach to Reach", "Point Source Youth", and "FORGE"