Melissa Kaiser serves as Director of Advocacy for the NCPTF.
Melissa is a licensed social worker with specialized expertise in anti-human trafficking efforts, multi-disciplinary team development, and addressing secondary traumatic stress and officer wellness. She brings a wealth of knowledge as a certified trainer in Green Dot, Compassion Fatigue, GEMS, Stand to Protect, My Life My Choice, and SHARP. Additionally, Melissa is trained in Child Welfare and Safe Zone/PRIDE. Over the past decade, she has provided national and international training and technical assistance to professionals working with victims and survivors of human trafficking.
Her diverse background includes case management and crisis response for human trafficking victims and survivors, treatment foster care, youth homelessness, victim/witness programming, prevention education, and work in psychiatric and addiction services. Notably, Melissa served as the first Human Trafficking Navigator and Victim/Witness Specialist in North Dakota, spearheading nine years of program development in the state. In 2020, she was nominated for the YWCA's Women of the Year award.
Since its inception in 2016, Melissa has been an active member of the North Dakota Human Trafficking Task Force. She currently chairs the Lived Experience Subcommittee and serves as vice-chair of the Labor Trafficking Subcommittee. In addition, she is a board member of Fargo PD's Badges of Unity initiative.
With over 15 years of experience in social work, Melissa has witnessed firsthand the toll that high-stress, high-pressure environments take on professionals. This led her to develop trainings and resources to help organizations better understand vicarious trauma and foster wellness in their teams.
Melissa played a key role in developing North Dakota's human trafficking program and response protocol as part of her grant deliverables. She also contributed to the creation of North Dakota's Victim/Witness Program, becoming the first Specialist hired in that capacity. Throughout her career, Melissa has trained over 13,000 students and professionals, presenting at notable conferences such as IAHTI, GRIT Wyoming, Shared Hope, IACP, NCPTF, Dallas CAC, National Cyber Crimes, and IHTSJ. Her expertise spans topics such as human trafficking, team development, trauma-informed interviews and approaches, secondary traumatic stress, and the creation of wellness programs for first responders in North Dakota.
Currently based in St. Petersburg, FL, Melissa continues to offer training and consulting services nationwide.
