Safe Harbour Event

Arnot Mall Event Center - January 26 at 6:00 pm - postponed until 1/26

Registration is now closed. If you are still interested in participating, please email Katie Rhodes to sign up before Thursday at noon. 

Join us to hear Andy Stowers Forest & Melanie Puorto Conte from HEAL Trafficking Speakers' Bureau as they share their expertise. A panel of local experts will close out the evening with time for Q&A. A light meal (subs, wraps, chips, drinks) will be available.

Andy Stowers Forest is a Doctoral Candidate in Public Administration. Andy is a researcher and educator whose work focuses on the role of ideological extremism in shaping preferences for the use of force. His work most centrally focuses on assisting others who were victimized or trafficked by cults. 

Melanie Puorto Conte is a professor at the Sage Graduate Schools, School of Health Sciences, Forensic Mental Health Division. She designed and teaches three graduate-level courses including Human Trafficking; Suicide Prevention, Intervention, and Postvention; and Grant Writing at Sage. She currently serves as the Schenectady County
Safe Harbour Coordinator, advocating for individuals who have been trafficked. She also serves as an advocate for several trafficked young adult women who have aged out of the Safe Harbour Program.

Speakers provided by HEAL Trafficking. HEAL Trafficking’s mission is to lead innovative and survivor-informed health solutions to eradicate human trafficking in our communities worldwide. HEAL works with hospitals, health centers and clinics, prehospital care centers, and all other physical and mental health-related venues where trafficked persons receive care. HEAL currently engages with a global network of more than 4,000 healthcare workers and other multidisciplinary professionals, including survivors of human trafficking, in 45 countries.