Healing and Training for Trauma Survivors (Consult Rosie)
The latest in our series of partner interviews is with Rosie Cataldo. Liluye’s Staff Writer, Sylvia Nalubega, interviewed Rosie to find out more about her story and business. Rosie’s business, Consult Rosie, encompasses trauma prevention, educational solutions, and healing to reduce the impacts of crimes against humans and foster thriving individuals and communities.
To watch Rosie’s interview, please watch below:
This is the Liluye interview of Rosie:
How did you first get involved in being part of this work? In other words, what motivated you, or still drives you, to work on the issue of trafficking? Can you share a personal story?
For five years, I have been involved in the anti-human trafficking space doing prevention education, training, and healing. A too-close-to-home child trafficking ring ignited a shift. I learned of a vile scheme involving an in-home nanny who was trafficking very young children out of the home while the parents were at work. Criminals would come into the home and violate the children. The children were too young to speak about it. It was hard to wrap my head around such inhumane acts. I began to do some research and networking. After learning about the growing market for illegal sex with children in the U.S. and globally, I joined my state’s Anti-Trafficking Task Force to educate myself on the issue. As a result, I met remarkable people in my community, state, country, and globally who were actively deterring human trafficking in various ways. I listened to many survivor stories and met warriors impacted by these violent crimes—who are now leading the change movement.
On the flip side, there are many gaps in the system and unmet needs. One of them is prevention education. I began delivering prevention education in schools. By preventing physical and sexual abuse, we eliminate a vulnerability that traffickers rely on to exploit youth. Most trafficked persons have experienced a form of sexual abuse. Exploiters seek this out in their victims. If we can deter this, it erases a vulnerability that can lead to a myriad of negative health consequences. This includes exploitation.
What are your specific mission and goals for your business?
I recently launched a consulting business, Consult Rosie. The focus is on three aspects: prevention, training, and healing. I bring prevention education to schools, parents, and various groups. I wrote a curriculum on human trafficking prevention for teens as well. I lead human trafficking interdiction training for various audiences, including emergency responders, university students, and mass transit sectors. I am privileged to serve in the healing space and work alongside trauma survivors to aid in their healing. The most meaningful part—I have a front-row seat to witnessing miraculous transformations. As a result of the beautiful shifts I have seen involving people healing from post-traumatic stress, I began to share the modality with survivor advocates. It is too powerful of a tool to keep to myself.
There is no magic bullet for healing—it is as unique to individuals as their fingerprints. What works for one person may not necessarily be effective for another. I offer people various tools to help them learn how to ignite healing within themselves. The healing modality I practice incorporates different elements, including breathwork, Emotional Freedom Technique (tapping), hands-on healing, nervous system regulation techniques, and Reiki, which is energy healing. The practice incorporates a prayer or a mantra, depending on the religious or spiritual beliefs of the individual. I am intuitively guided and I am reminded of each person’s tremendous power to ignite their own healing. I am merely a conduit.
The most prevalent issue that presents itself when people reach out to me for healing work is that they think something is wrong with them. And that is false. We are all born into this world whole and perfect. The connection to self can be interrupted by a variety of circumstances and events. The worst of these is being sold into sex slavery, especially as a child. It is the ultimate trauma when this has been done by a parent or caregiver. This type of trauma can be extremely challenging to recover from. But it can be done. Some people struggle with sleeping because they have been forced to perform sex acts through the night. When we can work together to get their nervous system to feel safe, this can be repaired. It takes many environmental factors to help with this, however, it is truly remarkable to witness. When a survivor shared with me that they slept through the night after two sessions of trauma release work, and that it had been a decade since they had a full night’s sleep because of post traumatic stress, that is what inspired me to not only work with more survivors but to train survivor leaders and advocates. It is beautiful to witness, humbling, and inspiring.
As a continuation of advocacy and prevention, I work part-time as a Communications Specialist for a non-profit called The Knoble. This non-profit network of financial crime professionals and law enforcement catalyzes systemic changes that improve the ability to prevent, detect, and respond to human crime. They focus on human trafficking, child exploitation, scams, and elder abuse. Since these crimes are motivated by money, when we can disrupt the money flow, that is powerful.
Recently, in partnership with Liluye, you led a trauma healing training webinar. Could you explain a bit to us about your experience with this training and how you think this type of training will be useful for the people that attended, and for others, in the future?
I was invited by Liluye’s founder, Jill Langhus-Griffin, to share the healing modality with survivor leaders and trauma-informed advocates. I walked through what I was taught and how I have added to it with additional learnings from healers and trauma specialists. Since I have witnessed such life-changing shifts in the people I work alongside, I love for others to be able to learn and share the healing to make a more significant impact. I encourage others to practice the technique, modify it as needed, and make it their own. If someone I train helps one other person, that is wonderful.
The feedback I received after this event from attendees was very encouraging and supportive. After working in-person with individuals locally in Minneapolis, Minnesota (USA), it was wonderful to have the opportunity to train advocates in other countries via Zoom so that they can have this knowledge and share healing with others. The ripple effects are immeasurable.
To find out more about Consult Rosie:
Visit Consult Rosie on the web: https://www.consultrosie.com/
Visit Consult Rosie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/RosieCataldo/
Visit Consult Rosie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosie-cataldo-a3161512b/
To learn more about Rosie’s work and interviews: https://linktr.ee/ConsultRosie
For more information about Liluye or to inquire about becoming a partner, please visit: www.liluye.org/contact. Or, if you are interested in donating to Liluye, please visit: www.liluye.org/donate.
Rosie was interviewed by Liluye staff writer, Sylvia Nalubega, who also writes on her blog, Sanyu Centre for Arts and Rights. Sylvia’s personal message to everyone is, “We live beyond ourselves by sharing our story to hopefully impact a person.”