Advocate - Human Trafficking

Position Summary 

The Advocate Specializing in Human Sex Trafficking serves as a staff member at will of Domestic Violence Intervention Services (DVIS). The Advocate Specializing in Human Sex Trafficking provides professional counseling services and case management services for DVIS survivors including: intake, crisis intervention, safety planning and individual and group therapy for residential and out-patient sexual assault and human sex trafficking clients, specializing in adult human sex trafficking.  

Essential Duties & Responsibilities 

• Priority 1: Equity and Inclusion 
• Reflect and understand how identities could give advantages in the workplace—even if they are not asked for or earned—while others might experience disadvantages.  Reflect on how our position and power may shift depending on the environment, the people, or the institutions at play. Build the awareness and compassion that is needed and expected to create an equitable and inclusive workplace.     
• Create an inclusive environment and behave in a way that ensures that clients and employees feel embraced, no matter what their cultural orientations are, respected and valued, engaged, and connected to the community, and safe from abuse and harassment. 
• Priority 2: Client Services 
• Provide crisis intervention services, intake and needs assessment, and therapy for survivors of human sex trafficking and sexual assault.  
• Provide medical needs assessment, extensive safety planning, and case management for survivors of human sex trafficking and sexual assault. 
• Assist with intakes of survivors of human sex trafficking including after regular business hours as necessary.   
• Assist survivors relocating to other shelters in Oklahoma if there is not appropriate space available in the DVIS shelter or for safety concerns.  
• Assist survivors in obtaining services in the community and helping with paperwork for services such as financial assistance, food, clothing, etc.   
• Serve as an educator in life skills when survivors need extra education and support.  (Interview skills, cleaning/organization skills, budgeting, etc.). 
• Provide Jail Outreach services as needed related to sexual assault and adult human sex trafficking.  
• Priority 3: Collaboration 
• Rotating duties as Staff on Call safe housing in order to ensure 24-hour coverage for victims seeking assistance. 
• Provide training on human sex trafficking and sexual assault as needed. 
• Represent DVIS in the community and at outreach events on human sex trafficking.   
• Develop relationships and an understanding of court systems, SANE nursing staff, Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics, and Department of Homeland Security. 
• Gather resources and develop relationships with local, statewide and national agencies and resources that may be useful when assisting a client who has been trafficked or assaulted.  

Other Duties & Responsibilities 

Other Duties/Responsibilities: Other assistance to support the overall goals of the department and organization.  DVIS retains the right to add or change duties and/or responsibilities at any time. 

Supervisory Responsibilities: None. 

Budgetary/Fiscal Responsibilities: Acts as a good steward of DVIS’s resources. 

Responsibility for Confidentiality: The nature of this work requires safeguarding against the release of confidential and proprietary information of DVIS and its clients. 

Contact with Others: This position will interact with managers at all levels and staff members across the organization, in addition to members of external organizations and the public. 

Documentation:  Maintains up-to-date and accurate files for each client according to agency guidelines and current professional standards. 

Meetings and Training:  Attend meetings and training as requested by supervisor.  

Statistics:  Keep shelter human trafficking statistics, coordinate and communicate this to the grants department and reporting in a timely manner for statewide collection for OSBI. 

Job Requirements/Experience 

Education: Bachelor’s with enrollment in a Master’s degree program in social work, psychology, counseling is required, or in a related field, or any equivalent combination of education and/or experience.   

Experience: Requires minimum of 1 year of experience working with individuals and groups in a social service or mental health environment, experience or training in working with victims of adult sex trafficking, and working in a nonprofit are strongly preferred, or any equivalent combination of experience, lived experience, and/or special skills.  

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:   

Proven computer skills including Microsoft Office Suite are necessary.   

Bilingual in Spanish is preferred.  

Knowledge of or experience working with social justice issues, specifically intimate partner and gender-based domestic and sexual violence, and racial, class, gender, sexual orientation issues, and intervention/prevention services strongly preferred. Requires dedication to diversity, equity and inclusion, excellent organizational skills, written and oral communication skills, attention to detail, and ability to prioritize work and tasks. Requires adaptability to produce and meet deadlines in a fast-paced, multi-task and changing environment, with frequent pressure related to meeting deadlines and scheduling requirements.  Must be able to work [independently and] as part of a team.  

• Requires the ability to embrace, support, and integrate DVIS’s philosophies to promote and demonstrate DVIS’s commitment to diversity, inclusion, equity, and anti-racism.  
• Experience applying an equitable analysis to all duties to achieve organizational goals and demonstrate DVIS’s commitment to diversity, inclusion, equity, and anti-racism preferred. 
• Diplomacy at confronting personal, individual, and internal discrimination requiring sharing and discussing personal identities relative to the work environment strongly preferred. 
• Requires sophisticated emotional intelligence and resiliency skills to lead and/or actively participate in advancing our work relative to racial, social, and economic justice. 

Schedule Availability: Monday through Friday, 8:30 am to 5:00 pm.  Occasional extended workdays. 

Licences/Certifications: Valid Oklahoma driver’s license is required; current CPR and First Aid certification preferred. 

Physical Requirements 

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made when requested to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. 

Ability to communicate and understand in English [and insert language] effectively, in person, and in writing. Ability to hear adequately in person and by phone, in personal and group settings, and function with periodic distractions such as people, telephone calls, and noise. 

Ability to work with, and process information from, a variety of individuals and media (e.g., computers, projected images, printed materials), and occasional sitting and/or standing for long periods of time.  

Mobility necessary to access various offices and a wide variety of settings. Mobility necessary to perform a variety of tasks that involve intermittent standing, walking/traversing, sitting, stooping, kneeling, bending, and twisting, occasionally climbing stairs or using an elevator, and possibly reaching chest high and overhead for materials. 

Ability to reach for, move and/or lift up to [#] pounds and the use of hands to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools, or controls, including frequent repetitive movement such as extended periods of keyboarding.