A small group of about 15 people gathered in the RSC Wednesday for a screening of the documentary, “A Path Appears,” but their size didn’t hold them back from sharing substantial thoughts on the film’s subject of human trafficking.

The showing, hosted by KPTS, the Wichita PBS affiliate station, and the Wichita State Center for Combating Human Trafficking, was the CCHT’s final event for January’s Human Trafficking Awareness Month.

The documentary focuses on Nicholas Kristof, a New York Times columnist and Pulitzer Prize winner, as he travels to Nashville, Boston and Chicago to paint a picture of human trafficking in the United States. Kristof is accompanied by actresses Ashley Judd, Blake Lively and Malin Akerman to uncover the trafficking occurring oftentimes in plain sight.

Following the screening, audience members participated in a discussion facilitated by Bailey Brackin, CCHT community outreach and volunteer coordinator, and Sara Zafar, CCHT prevention associate. Robin Gales, a WSU social work graduate student who attended the showing, said something that stuck out to her was the film’s focus on perception.

With human trafficking, even if it’s obvious, “We choose not to see it,” Gales said. “We live in our own little worlds, and we don’t see (trafficking)— it doesn’t affect us.”

The documentary gave an inside look into the stories of people who had survived being trafficked by pimps and through Backpage.com, a website similar to Craigslist that posts ads selling people for sex.  Frequently, the film showed, those are people who have “fallen through the cracks” of society such as runaways. During the discussion, Brackin said a way to stop them from feeling a need to run away and, consequently, be overlooked and trafficked, is prevention training to help build their self-esteem.

“That’s something we can all do, just in the young people that are just around you,” Brackin said. “Talking to them about, ‘How do you feel about yourself?’ and ‘What are you good at?’ and ‘Look at all these strengths that I see in you.’ That’s something we can all take responsibility for.”

Zafar said there is a dual-effort in fighting trafficking, both in reducing the demand for the people being sold, as well as building up young men and women to value themselves.

“We’re trying to focus a lot on the prevention side,” Zafar said. “Let’s not have this happen in the first place.”

Trish Youngman, who works with the Kansas Medical Society Alliance, came to the screening because she was interested in seeing the film. She said conversations with young people about trafficking are not always easy, but they’re necessary to prevent trafficking and reduce the demand.

Mentoring a young person is a good way to positively shape them, Brackin said. She said if people were interested in actively fighting trafficking that way, the CCHT could connect them to local opportunities.

“There are some great places in Wichita that are in desperate need of great mentors,” Brackin said. “So if that’s an area of interest, we can help you get pointed in the right direction.”