Mel Meyer is the Director of Atlanta Dream Center’s Anti-Sex Trafficking Department, referred to as Out of Darkness. Through years of working as a program director for at-risk youth programs and juvenile justice educational programs, Mel became aware of the impact of commercial sexual exploitation in the United States. Mel completed her Master’s Degree in Nonprofit Administration, developed awareness material with Not For Sale GA, and then she joined the Atlanta Dream Center team, where she served has the Director of Residential Services for 5 years. In this role, she worked in direct-care services, developed promising practices for crisis care and directed the crisis safe homes and staff. As of January 2018, Mel is now the Director of all programming in the Anti-Sex Trafficking Department. She has served on the Georgia Statewide Human Trafficking Task Force for 3 years, and currently chairs a work group focused on initiatives for adult domestic victims of Commercial Sexual Exploitation.

Dr. Vanessa Snyder is the Vice President of the Richmont Institute for Trauma & Recovery and is an Assistant Professor Richmont Graduate University. She spearheaded the launch of the Richmont Trauma Center and now directs all clinical services. She is a practicing Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and a Licensed Professional Counselor. She is also an AAMFT Approved Supervisor, Approved Clinical Supervisor, Certified Sex Therapist, Certified Master Traumatologist, and Certified Anger Management Specialist. Clinically, she specializes in treatment of trauma, complex trauma, and dissociative disorders. Her areas of research include program evaluation and treatment in human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation; dissociative disorders and spirituality, adverse childhood experiences effects in treatment, and compassion fatigue & burnout, organizational trauma. 

Experience: Snyder, V. (March 2020). Traumatized Clients, the Drama Triangle, and the Person of the Therapist: A Backwards Journey Through Organizational Trauma.
Presented at the Christian Association of Psychological Studies (CAPS). Atlanta, GA.
Rosenau, D. & Snyder, V. (March, 2020). Restoring Sexual Intimacy after Trauma. Presented at the Christian Association of Psychological Studies (CAPS). Atlanta, GA.
Snyder, V. (April, 2020). Treating Traumatized Families. Green Cross Certification Workshop; Presented for Richmont Institute of Trauma & Recovery, Atlanta, GA.

Melissa Herrmann, Founder of Emerge Counseling and Consulting and Co-Founder of M3 Transformations, spent the past 19-years focused on working directly with children-at-risk and vulnerable women across the globe. Her efforts have entailed establishing and directing numerous children’s homes and residential facilities, developing community-based programs, training thousands of professionals and organizations around the world, and providing trauma counseling and psycho-education. Her program models have been recognized by multiple governments, which led her to assist the government of Rwanda in nationalized orphan-care policy reform. Her work has been in collaboration with organizations such as UN, USAID, and World Vision.   

Melissa has been a part of numerous counsels, collaborative groups, and NGO board of directors seeking to provide insight into policy reform and program development for traumatized populations. Her efforts span Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, South America and the South Pacific. She has additionally been a foster and adoptive mother. Melissa has her MA in Human Services and Counseling from Regent University (2017) and her BA in Sociology from Vanguard University (2003). In 2010, Melissa was the recipient of the American Red Cross Hero Award.