Grooming with the Intent to Exploit - 3-Hour Professional Certificate Course

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Before Trafficking Begins, Grooming Has Already Started

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This 3-hour professional certificate course reveals the manipulation tactics traffickers use to gain trust, isolate victims, and maintain control.

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The Grooming with the Intent to Exploit Certificate Course is an in-depth training designed to help professionals recognize the deliberate tactics traffickers use to groom and manipulate victims before exploitation occurs.

Many professionals are trained to recognize trafficking after exploitation has already begun. This course focuses on the earlier stages of grooming, when intervention is still possible.

Led by survivor educator Sheri Lopez, who was groomed as a teenager and trafficked for seven years, this training provides insight that combines lived experience with practical education to help professionals better understand victim behavior and exploitation dynamics.

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Participants leave with a deeper understanding of how grooming operates and how early recognition can help prevent trafficking and exploitation.

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What Participants Will Learn

Participants will gain the ability to:

• Understand the seven stages of grooming used by traffickers
• Identify manipulation tactics and psychological control methods
• Recognize early warning signs of grooming behavior
• Understand why victims often do not leave exploitative situations
• Identify indicators of technology-facilitated grooming and exploitation
• Understand how grooming impacts victim testimony and investigations

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Who This Training Is Designed For

This course is especially valuable for professionals who may encounter victims of grooming or exploitation, including:

• Prosecutors and investigators
• Law enforcement officers
• Child advocacy center professionals
• Social workers and victim advocates
• Educators and school administrators
• Medical professionals
• Community leaders working with vulnerable populations

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Training Format

• Length: 3 hours
• Format: In-person training
• Certificate: Participants receive a certificate of completion
• Interactive discussion: Allows participants to ask questions and discuss real-world scenarios

This course is presented in person to allow for meaningful dialogue, interaction, and deeper understanding of the complex dynamics involved in grooming and exploitation.

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Why This Training Is Unique

Sheri Lopez brings a lived-experience perspective that helps translate complex victim behaviors into real-world understanding. Her experience, combined with professional education, helps participants recognize patterns of grooming that might otherwise go unnoticed.

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The goal of this training is simple:

Recognize grooming earlier so exploitation can be prevented.

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Common Grooming Behaviors Professionals Often Miss

Grooming rarely looks like abuse in the beginning. In many cases, it appears as kindness, mentorship, or support. Because of this, grooming behaviors are often misunderstood or overlooked until exploitation has already occurred.

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This training helps professionals recognize the subtle patterns that may indicate grooming, including:

• Targeting vulnerable individuals who are seeking attention, stability, or support

• Building trust through friendship, mentorship, or gifts to create emotional dependency

• Gradually crossing personal boundaries to normalize inappropriate behavior

• Creating secrecy and isolation from family, friends, or support systems

• Using emotional manipulation to maintain control and silence victims

• Presenting themselves as the only person who understands or cares about the victim

Understanding these early behaviors allows professionals to recognize grooming earlier, intervene sooner, and potentially prevent exploitation before it begins.

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What Professionals Say After This Training

“Sheri Lopez provides insight into grooming and victim behavior that every prosecutor and investigator should understand.”
— Prosecutor

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“This training helped our team understand the manipulation tactics traffickers use and why victims often respond the way they do.”
— Law Enforcement Professional

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“Sheri’s lived experience brings a perspective that cannot be found in textbooks or traditional training.”
— Child Advocacy Professional

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“Understanding grooming from a survivor’s perspective changed the way I approach cases involving exploitation.”
— Investigator