Exposure, Education, & Experience Exercise

Survivor Research 101

“Living through a house fire doesn’t make you an arson expert. It makes you an expert on your own experience, not in determining burn patterns.  You have to have educational credentials to do that.”

-Rebecca Bender

Building cultural capital is essentially the end result of the Expert formula, shared by Rachel Lloyd at the 2017 GEMS Emerging Leaders Conference. Rachel talked about the importance of both work experience and education in addition to our lived experiences if we wanted to be considered experts on human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation.  Expertise (cultural capital) is built over time through a combination of real life experience, formal education, and work history in the field. For this exercise, work through the Expert formula on four different areas of interest you have.  These areas could be based off negative lived experiences you’ve had related to the sex trade, social services, poverty, the justice system, or family.  Or they could be based off lived experiences you greatly enjoy such as a hobby, parenting, being in a committed relationship, travel, or public speaking.

Exposure I have had: ________________________________________________________________________________________

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