Brainspotting with Human Trafficking Victim-Survivors

“Brainspotting with Human Trafficking Victim-Survivors” with Amanda Pulley, MSW

September 18, 2026 from 12-1:30PM Mountain Time

Recording Available; CEs Pending

Grounded in the principle that certainty can mirror coercion, this survivor-centered session opens with foundational education, defining sex and labor trafficking under federal law (22 U.S.C. § 7102 and the TVPA), then moves from program outcomes into Brainspotting-specific practice, closing with a recorded flashback demonstration and group debrief.

Amanda offers a survivor-centered look at Brainspotting with people who have experienced human trafficking, grounded in the principle that certainty can mirror coercion. Beginning with foundational education and program outcomes, it moves into Brainspotting-specific practice and closes with a recorded flashback demonstration and group debrief, modeling attunement over agenda throughout.

This is an Intermediate level session that assumes working familiarity with Brainspotting fundamentals (Gazespotting, Inside and Outside Window, dual attunement) and builds specialized application for a specific survivor population. 

Upon completion, participants will be able to: 

1. Identify at least three clinical presentations and indicators common among trafficking survivors, including those still “in the life” and those who have exited.
2. Describe how clinician certainty can replicate coercive dynamics, and explain the role of attunement over agenda in Brainspotting with this population.
3. Apply survivor-specific adaptations of Brainspotting setups, including Gazespotting, Outside Window, and approaches to dissociation and flashbacks, to reduce the risk of re-traumatization. 
4. Differentiate supportive clinical responses for survivors still “in the life” from those who have exited, consistent with a harm-reduction framework. 

About Amanda:

Amanda Pulley, MSW, is the founder of Wild Hope Brainspotting and Consulting in Conway, Arkansas, and a Brainspotting Practitioner and Consultant specializing in complex trauma. She brings over a decade of lived and professional experience in the anti-trafficking field, contracting nationally with human trafficking agencies to provide consultation and specialty training. A Certified Life Coach and Certified Victim Advocate, she is a co-author of multiple white papers in Field Forward: Research and Standards for Improving Anti-Trafficking Initiatives (Safe House Project, 2024) and the author of Unbroken. Her clinical framework draws on Brainspotting, Internal Family Systems, somatic processing, and a deep focus on the nervous system, grounded in the conviction that attunement, not certainty, is what allows survivors to heal.