Jessica Bristowe

Jessica brings an extensive background in psychology and will be facilitating programs to help females increase their levels of personal awareness and raise their self-esteem while educating them about the pitfalls of being lured into addiction. Some young girls think it's neat to wear sexually provocative clothing, stay out until the wee hours of the morning, abuse alcohol and drugs and sleep until noon or later. The hormonal changes of puberty result in the mind and body being out of sync. Physical maturation and an overwhelming drive towards rebellion or independence are part of adolescence. Naivety is combined with a sense of invulnerability. The combination can make a parent's life hell and professional intervention difficult. It can also set the stage for an insidious seduction by a pimp. Once a young girl is steered toward addiction to hard-core drugs she is forced to work the streets to pay for those drugs, the average age for a young girl entering the survival sex trade is 13 and 14. Although drawn to a flashy lifestyle and the promise of freedom, the tragedy and the irony is that young girls working the street are usually experiencing the ultimate in being controlled. Violence permeates all aspects of a sex trade worker's life, beginning with the early loss of trust and safety to the abuse from customers, pimps and onlookers. Leaving the sex trade is also dangerous because pimps and other sex trade workers will go to great and often vicious lengths to prevent the loss of a valuable commodity. The Young Warriors Network protecting females from sexual exploitation workshop is designed specifically to educate females about the pitfalls to avoid and the tactics gang members and pimps use to lure girls into prostitution. Females also gain a very extensive knowledge about alcohol and drugs and how pimps and gang members use these as a tool to entice girls away from their community and onto the mean streets of major cities right across Canada. The best way to protect young women from becoming victims of these ruthless thugs is by educating them about the realities that await them if they allow themselves to be steered onto the wrong path in life.