A Village Of Healers

When people visit for our monthly education workshops, we stress that there is no way we could do this work alone. We rely on a village of healers: health care providers, safety net programs and a strong relationship with our local law enforcement agencies to support the care of each Magdalene resident.

With our first national conference -- Welcome to the Circle -- less than a month away, we are especially excited to introduce you to some of our amazing community partners. We truly could not do the work we do without them.

On Tuesday, October 15, join us for the workshop called Interrupting the Cycle of Supply & Demand: A Criminal Justice Perspective led by Nashville Assistant District Attorney Antoinette Welch and John School Volunteer Director Kenny Baker.


Meet Antoinette:
Antoinette is an Assistant DA in Nashville prosecuting large scale drug and human sex trafficking cases. She is also a former 14 year veteran officer with the Metro Nashville Police Department where she was an undercover VICE decoy and became a sergeant for the VICE unit that dealt with street level prostitution and drugs.

Her work led her to found a pioneering program called The Hannah Project. The program screens for victims of sex trafficking and provides treatment options and counseling to women stuck in the cycle of prostitution. Antoinette is also an instructor at Nashville's John School (read more below).

Antoinette is a dynamo. We can't wait for you to meet her.




Meet Kenny:
Kenneth "Kenny" Baker volunteers his time with Magdalene to lead Nashville's John School (Prostitution Solicitation School), a program aimed at getting first time offenders of soliciting prostitutes to understand the full ramifications of their behavior and to prevent further occurrences. In addition to his volunteer work us, he is owner/CEO of Behavioral Treatment Providers in Nashville.

Kenny is a self-described "veteran of the trenches" with over 17 years experience working in counseling and behavioral treatment. On a daily basis, he works closely with elected judges, attorneys, probation officers and case managers. He educates offenders and remediates criminal behaviors. He is a State Certified Domestic Violence Treatment Provider and a State Licensed Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselor. Kenny has appeared on CNN and NPR and co-authored the workbook, Rules are Made to be Followed.

Kenny is a member of the Magdalene family and an integral part of the work we do.

You'll have to race us to the front row for this workshop.

To register and for more information, go to welcometothecircle.org.