RISE Unit Leader, The Salvation Army

Hi my name is Nora Riggs, and I'm a Social Worker. I work in downtown Toledo, at a program called RISE. It's through the Salvation Army, and it stands for "Recovering Individuals from Sexual Exploitation." So we serve survivors of trafficking, exploitation and that kind of thing. So a lot of what my role is, is creating a goal plan with somebody, and just sitting across from them, and saying, "So what are your hopes?" You know maybe it's just for the next day or week, or maybe it's a month to a year. And just creating that goal, a lot of times when any kind of social work, when clients come in to you, they're in a really hard place. And so we wanna be sort of a place of hope, and a place of encouragement, as they're trying to reach those goals. So they'll address goals, social work is really focused on client based, and client led. And so we want that person to be leading the conversation, right. I'm not telling you what your goals should be, 'cause it's your life. And so they create the goals, and then we come alongside them and say, here's some resources, you know, that might help. Here's maybe a referral to something else, if you need that. But really just trying to partner with them on what they hoping to achieve. Our aim is to, I guess first let the community know, you know, that this is a resource. And that people can utilize the program, but also for survivors themselves, to know that they have a place that's safe, that cares about them, and wants to see them succeed. And so, you know, we through the Salvation Army, are able to access a lot of basic needs and resources in that way. And then we have a weekly survivor support group, and so that's a little bit, I think unique in the sense that it's a place where, everybody kinda comes to the table, with common experience. And so they're able to really understand each other, and we just act as a facilitator in that, 'cause when we're looking at survivors of trafficking, so much of their trauma is including taking away their choice, right. So somebody else had power and control over them, so our goal is to give it back. And for them to know that they have power and control in their own life. So I'm currently the only staff in the program, so it's a little bit of program development and oversight, but then a lot of direct client care. So, I do case management, which is what I kinda shared before about goal planning, evaluation, support, that sort of thing. So case management, and then kind of helping to facilitate that survivor support group. Grant writing and collaborating on that, a lot of community networking and meetings. Getting the word out there.