Serving the Community: Voices that inspire

It was an interest in law and social work that led Caroline Fish to a Brown School practicum in the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Missouri, but it is an interest in stopping gender-based violence and human trafficking that is leading Fish to continue her work on a volunteer basis long after the practicum ended.

Caroline Fish

Caroline Fish (left) and her teammate look over a poster of the “My Name Is Strong” project, selected for the 2013 Clinton Global Initiative University at WUSTL.

Fish is graduating with a master of social work degree from the Brown School, but she is continuing her work with an organization called Rescue & Restore Coalition to raise money and awareness regarding human trafficking.

Fish, under the supervision of Jennifer Winfield, assistant U.S. attorney, worked with survivors who were going through the federal criminal justice process.

“The scariest thing for a victim of trauma is lack of control,” Fish said. “Being able to give them back as much control as possible in the process was what we sought to do.”

And Fish did that, not only meeting with survivors individually but also setting up a training program through the U.S. Attorney’s Office for case managers. The case manager training was created in partnership with social service providers and prosecutors in order to create more victim-centered approaches in the prosecution of trafficking crimes.

Now, since ending her practicum, Fish has been working with Rescue & Restore to raise funds for the implementation of an outreach tool that will help increase identification of female victims of human trafficking — an ongoing effort in the Eastern District of Missouri.

“It’s all about looking for the voices that inspire you,” Fish said.

Related Stories