My new website to aid human trafficking victims and their families

In my efforts to help victims and families of survivors I have created a new website humantraffickingend.com. At this website you will find information and resources to help the people you know and love to stop the suffering and receive help. This website was created after my latest play Don’t Call Me Baby!

For those of you who had the chance to experience Don’t Call Me Baby! it is well known to you that it is a theater piece whose purpose is to expose the sobering reality of a thriving criminal enterprise- human trafficking. It provides its audiences with an unadulterated account of one couple’s struggle to persevere through the mental anguish that accompanies victims of the sex trade, while simultaneously providing therapeutic guidance.

My play is available for booking and appeals to audiences at every level, both male and female, and of every race and culture. It is structured in a way in which the veracity of human trafficking is not simply revealed, but also given means to a healing end. And while the audience, via the central character, is provided with psychological advice, they are also presented with information on who to contact should they encounter a similar situation. It is a very useful educational piece that can be used at colleges and training facilities, just as well as support groups and prevention programs.

For more information on my play, available for booking, please go to casadelafamilia.org or directly to humantraffickingend.com. Remember that you will always find the latest about my new projects at my website ananogales.com.

- Dr. Ana Nogales

Their voices are beginning to be heard

We may prefer to believe that the abduction of teenage girls (and boys) who are forced into prostitution occurs only in fictional movies, like the 2008 film Taken! But human slavery is not a fiction. It is happening in the United States, it is happening in our cities and towns. One of the reasons the general public doesn't hear the stories that I heard in my office is that victims are often too afraid of retaliation by traffickers. But their voices are beginning to be heard.

The voices of the many terrorized clients whom I treated-and the urgency of this issue-compelled me to write a play, called Don't Call Me Baby. It portrays the life of a sexual slavery victim, how she tries to keep her past a secret, and how her secret impacts her marriage and her community. This is a story many would rather not hear about, because it is terribly disturbing to think that such crimes are going on around us, in our so-called civilized society.

Human trafficking is a heinous crime that is being committed daily. It would be a moral crime to keep it a secret.
If you want to learn more about human trafficking, you can visit my new website for information and links: humantraffickingend.com.

- Dr. Ana Nogales

A comment about "Don't Call me Baby"

I am very happy to share with you a comment that was sent to me and made me feel very proud and honored. I am very motivated and I know that the message is comming through. I am not the only one working to create awarenes about Human Trafficking, we are many. But I want to encourage each and everyone to take this opportunity and reach out and be informed.

Don't Call Me Baby plays through March 28. Hope to see you there. For more information follow this link.

Thank you Nancy!

"... My husband and I saw Don’t Call Me Baby last night and were very moved by its wrenching story!

The way the scenes shift from therapist and client to therapist and husband, to the two husbands conferring in the gym, to therapist and supervisor--brilliant! I loved how the script brought in the men's attitudes re: prostitution and how their perspectives shift over the course of the play. And I felt the deep compassion in the therapist character. I also admired the way the stories the client tells her therapist are acted out behind the see-through curtain - very evocative.

Before seeing the play, I couldn't imagine how a drama could both "educate & entertain" given the seriousness of the topic, but Don’t Call Me Baby did so brilliantly! When we left, my husband said he had no idea how prevalent human trafficking was - and he wondered about where all these people are who visit such brothels. In other words, it really made him think deeply about this subject!

Bravo to the playwright, director, and actors! What a wonderful accomplishment!

- Nancy C., Los Angeles"

Thank you all and keep the comments coming, I read them all.

- Dr. Ana Nogales

Do you know the latest?

Don’t Call Me Baby! premiers at CASA 0101 on March 5 and runs through the 28th, 2010.

I am very proud to be able to invite you and your friends and family to the premier of my new play Don’t Call Me Baby!

" Don't Call Me Baby! is a theater piece whose purpose is to expose the sobering reality of a thriving criminal enterprise- human trafficking. It provides the audience with an unadulterated account of one couple’s struggle to persevere through the mental anguish that accompanies victims of the sex trade, while simultaneously providing therapeutic guidance. "


There will be presentations Friday, Saturday and Sunday in English, Sundays in Spanish at Casa 0101.

Casa 0101 is located in 2009 East 1st Street, Los Angeles, CA 90033.
For more information or to make reservations please call (323) 263-7684 or visit http://www.casa0101.org/

I have also posted on my web, ananogales.com information about my new play and a link to the website of  Casa De la Familia where I hosted this play for the Outeach and Engagement Program.

Hope to see you there and to receive all your comments!

- Dr. Ana Nogales

This testimony is not from a movie ...

"I missed my sister. She came to the United States with the idea of working and helping the family. I´ve always admired her for her decision and I opted for doing the same thing. When I saw the man that offered her a job, I also I asked him for one. Back then, I was 13 years old and I was very frightened, but I wanted to follow my sister’s steps. It was not easy for me to move abroad, because I didn’t want to distance myself from my mother, but I had already made the decision. They facilitated everything for me. When I arrived at this side of the border, the man that I believed to be my savior raped me and told me that, from now on, this was how my life was going to be. I worked as a masseuse, but behind the room where the massages took place was a private room where I would have to comply with clients’ desires. The prettiest girls could choose their clients, but the uglier ones, like me, had to accept every client. I had to stay working in order to pay my transportation debts from Mexico. But the debt rose each day".

This testimony is not from a movie, it is a real case. If you believed that slavery ended at the end of the 19th century, you were wrong. Today, there are more slaves than ever before. Approximately 27 million people were victims of slavery in 2007. Nearly 900,000 people, per year, are involved in human trafficking worldwide. The majority are women and children, a third of which are under age. Approximately 50,000 people, per year, enter the United States to carry out forced jobs or to become sexual slaves. Of that amount, 10,000 come from Latin America.

Sexual slavery is at its peak of popularity and, along with the illegal commerce of weapons, is the second largest criminal industry in the world (drug trafficking is the first), producing approximately 7 billion dollars annually. It has developed into an organized crime and, with victims trafficked around the world, has become an international business with no limits. It is intimately linked with document fraud, money laundering, and drug and contraband commerce.

If you suspect or know someone who is being subjected to this living hell, inform them that authorities can protect them. Victims can receive a year’s worth of benefits, such as shelter, food and clothing, economic aid, training in job-seeking, health, psychological, and legal care, and the possibility that they may qualify for the T visa of immigration. In addition, within a couple of years they would be able to bring their children and families over with the T3 visa. Listed below is the number to call. It is not a police line, but rather a number that will directly connect the caller to agents specialized in human trafficking.

You should act immediately. Remember that you can also get in touch with professional organizations in seek of support and treatment, like Casa de la Familia. Follow this link to learn more about this non-profit Organization.

- Dr. Ana Nogales

Dr. Ana Nogales
Dr. Nogales is one of the most well-known and respected Latinas in the United States. Through her private practice, media presence, numerous books, and organizational leadership, she has dedicated herself to ensuring the mental health and success of women, Latinos, and anyone else who struggles with cultural and personal issues, victimization, and inequality.
After immigrating to the United States in 1979, Dr. Nogales completed her doctorate degree in psychology at the United States International University in San Diego. She then went on to open her own private practice in 1982 in both Los Angeles and Orange Counties. As a clinical psychologist and founder of Nogales Psychological Counseling, Inc., she is deeply committed to helping members of the Latino community improve their personal relationships and emotional health, as well as adjust to and thrive in the complex multi-cultural environment in which they live.

Dr. Nogales is the founder and Clinical Director of the nonprofit organization, Casa de la Familia, which she established for victims of crimes such as human trafficking, domestic violence, rape, sexual assault, child sexual, and physical abuse. She currently supervises a clinical staff of forty mental health professionals. This organization has a program called Promotores de Salud Mental, which is dedicated to the outreach and engagement of mental health for the Latino community, and is sponsored by the Orange County Health Care Agency.
She is also the President of the Association for Latino Mental Health Awareness (ALMA) in Orange County, California, which is dedicated to eradicating the stigma of mental illness. Additionally, she is an active board member on the Multi Cultural Task Force, Las Comadres para las Americas, and the Women Transitional Living Center, a shelter for women and children. Dr. Nogales was the President of the California Women's Commission on Addictions until 2008.

Her new book PARENTS WHO CHEAT: How Children and Adults Are Affected When Their Parents Are Unfaithful has recently been released by HCI: Health Communications Inc. (June 2009)
Dr. Nogales is also the author of Dr. Ana Nogales' Book of Love, Sex and Relationships: A Guide for Latino Couples (Broadway Books/Bantam Doubleday Dell), the first book to address the specific concerns of Latino couples. She also authored Latina Power! Using the Seven Strengths You Already Have to Create the Success You Deserve (Simon & Schuster, USA and Puerto Rico; Grijalbo, Latin America), and is in the process of developing a series of workbooks based on Latina Power, starting with domestic violence.

Dr. Nogales has written for the Pfizer Laboratories Newsletter about intimacy and relationship issues, and has been interviewed by the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Latina, Latina Style, Estylo, and People en Español, as well as other notable periodicals. She also participated on a panel of ten prominent relationship experts in Redbook magazine's special feature on "Marriage and the Family for the New Millennium."

Dr. Nogales has also become a playwright. She wrote the play, DE SABIOS Y LOCOS, with the intention of raising awareness of mental health issues within the Latino community while simultaneously reducing the mental health stigma associated with accessing mental health services. Her play shows the drama of a Latino family in a culturally sensitive and responsive manner. The goal of the play is to encourage early detection and intervention in mental health issues. It is her hope that this new and innovative approach will reach those communities that have historically been inaccessible.

Her newest play, DO NOT CALL ME BABY!, is a theater piece whose purpose is to expose the sobering reality of a thriving criminal enterprise- human trafficking. It appeals to audiences at every level, both male and female, and of every race and culture. It is structured in a way in which the veracity of human trafficking is not simply revealed, but also given means to a healing end. And while the audience, via the central character, is provided with psychological advice, they are also presented with information on who to contact should they encounter a similar situation.

Dr. Nogales began her media career in 1980 at Univision (channel 34) with a regular weekly segment entitled "Ella y Él" on Mundo Latino. Her own radio talk show, (La Voz, KPLS 8.30 AM) and television talk show, "Aquí Entre Nos"/"Just Between Us" (channel 22, Los Angeles) established her as a household name throughout the Latino community. She had a regular segment, "Solo Para Adultos", on the Univision Channel 34 News, and on Telemundo-LA’s evening news. She has appeared on numerous radio and TV programs, including "The Cristina Show", "Despierta America", and other top-rated national talk shows on Spanish language television.

Presently, she is collaborating with Telemundo Al Mediodia and Univision. She is a recurrent guest on CNN en Español, and on national and local radio programs in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, Miami, San Antonio, San José, and other major cities.

In addition to the weekly column she has written for the last seventeen years in La Opinión (Los Angeles), the country's #1 Spanish language newspaper, syndicated to La Raza (Chicago) and La Prensa (New York), she writes a bi-monthly column in the magazines Para Todos and Bodas.

The overwhelming popularity and success of Dr. Nogales' radio, television and print shows inspired her to produce a series of self-help audio cassettes entitled Auto-Ayuda Psicológica. The tapes address many of the topics discussed during her radio and television appearances, such as "Combating Depression", "Managing Anxiety", and "Understanding the Opposite Sex."

Dr. Nogales has been featured at workshops and conferences throughout the United States, including at the Omega Institute and The Women's Foundation, as well as at conferences in Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Buenos Aires. Her most recent presentation at the Omega Institute was on September 14-16, 2007 to address the worldwide status of women at the Women, Power and Peace Conference where she presented with Nobel Prize Laureate Rigoberta Menchu Tum.

In recognition of the critical role she has played in California, her life story and her varied accomplishments are featured in the exhibit entitled Latinas: The Spirit of California at the California Museum for History, Women, and the Arts, in Sacramento.

Dr. Nogales is committed to condemning racism and discrimination and has been appointed to the APA (American Psychological Association) Presidential Virtual Working Group on Anti-Semitic, Anti-Jewish and Other Religions, Religion-Related and/or Religion Derived Prejudice and Discrimination Task Force.
Through her insightful and compassionate writings, appearances, organizational leadership, and psychological counseling, Dr. Nogales has strived to make a difference in the lives of women and men from diverse classes and ethnic backgrounds, and is passionately dedicated to furthering this important work.

Other awards:
In recognition of the critical role she has played in California, Dr. Ana Nogales’ life story and her varied accomplishments are being featured at the exhibit Latinas: The Spirit of California at the California Museum for History, Women, and the Arts, in Sacramento. This exhibit began in June of 2005 and has been extended to June 2009.

2009 Heritage Humanitarian Award by United States International Mission and One Million Kids
2009 Amazing Woman of the Year by National Association of Women Business Owners, Inland Empire Chapter
2007 Latina Entrepreneur of the Year Award from the National Latina Business Women Association, Orange County
2006 Humanitarian Award by SOKA GAKKAI INTERNATIONAL and SGI-USA
2006 Commendation for Outstanding Service to Crime Victimes from the Los Angeles District Attorney, Steve Cooley.
2005 For Outstanding Service to the People of the County of Los Angeles
2005 Remarkable Women Award, National Association of Business Women.
2004 Paloma Award from Future Leaders of America for “Inspirational Leadership in Serving the Community”
2004 Mentorship Award from the organization Dialogue on Diversity for "Career Contributions, through Writing, Teaching, and Counseling."
1994 Commendation for "AQUI ENTRE NOS" radio show by L.A. County Board of Supervisor