Since the advent of the Internet, child pornography crimes have exploded, causing irrevocable harm not only to the child victims, but also to the law enforcement officers, forensic analysts, prosecutors, judges, and other professionals who must view their violation in order to rescue them.
Exposure to child sexual abuse images can have widespread and serious negative effects on professionals. Psycho-educational programs are crucial to helping exposed individuals learn how to recognize and cope with problems, before they become severe or permanent.
The Innocent Justice Foundation has partnered with the Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), five Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force Commanders, and a leading global mental health expert in the child sexual abuse image field to develop one of the first training comprehensive, foundational programs in the United States to address this exploding problem. The program, including several basic and advanced level trainings, is called the Supporting Heroes in Mental Health Foundational Training (SHIFT).
