Named one of the top 30 most influential social workers alive, Dr. Celia Williamson has over 25 years of anti-trafficking experience. She is a professor of social work at the University of Toledo where she has received 13 years of federal funding to study sex trafficking and prostitution and hosts the oldest and largest international academic human trafficking conference in the world.
Dr. Williamson’s research focus has been in the area of human trafficking with particular attention to domestic minor sex trafficking. She has published numerous articles on the subject and has delivered over 200 presentations and been the keynote speaker at more than 20 conferences. She also studies prostitution, vulnerable women, and drug abuse. She teaches social work practice courses and a human trafficking course. She founded the first anti-trafficking program in Ohio in 1993. She has completed 9 studies, 19 articles/reports, and edited 2 books on sex trafficking; & she has received federal funding from 2002 to 2012 to conduct research in this area. Additional accomplishments include: founding the annual International Human Trafficking and Social Justice Conference in Toledo; founding the Lucas County Human Trafficking Coalition; she sits as chair of the Research & Analysis Subcommittee for the Ohio Attorney General’s Human Trafficking Commission; and is an Editorial Manager for the Journal of Human Trafficking. And most recently, she opened the Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute in 2015 to further the mission of combating human trafficking & supporting victims of this crime through research, education, and engagement.
Celia grew up in north Toledo, a high-crime, low-income area of Toledo, Ohio. After driving into work seeing drug-addicted and abused women on the streets, Celia had an epiphany about who she really was as a social worker and a spiritual follower. Not finding any meaningful information at the library, in 1993 Celia took to the streets and spent 6 months, 3 times a week on the street learning about prostitution, drugs, and the culture of the street. She went into crack houses, and a brothel to connect with women and walk beside them into freedom and recovery. She later learned that three of her childhood friends were caught up as sex trafficking victims. One was murdered by a customer. The other struggled with life-long trauma and addiction.
Celia spent over 28 years working on behalf of youth and adult sex trafficking victims. She completed 10 years of federally funded research on the issue, founded several programs, conducted a few hundred presentations, published several peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, state level reports, and currently serves as the Director of a Human Trafficking & Social Justice Institute at University of Toledo. Today she is named the 26th most influential social worker alive.
Having reached the heights of her career, Celia decided to devote the rest of her career to equipping practitioners and those passionate and committed to ending human trafficking with the knowledge and skills to be the most effective they can be.
To show you that you can indeed by effective and make a meaningful difference in the lives of human trafficking survivors, Celia is offering this free webinar that talks about trauma and is offering to train you to become a group facilitator or coach and implement the TNT Survivor’s Journey groups for anyone that has suffered emotional or physical violence and has also been involved in the commercial sex trade.