Ms. Patel is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of Trauma and Hope in Springfield, Virginia. Trauma and Hope specifically focuses on victims of violence, sexual exploitation, gang prevention, and sex offender evaluations and treatment. Ms. Patel is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, a Certified Sex Offender Treatment Provider, and a Gang Specialist through the National Gang Crime Research Center. Through her understanding and clinical devotion to her clients, she has widened her competency to establish an Outpatient and Inpatient Sexual Exploitation Treatment Services (SETS) Curriculum. The SETS Curriculum is an established program at Trauma and Hope and within numerous outpatient, inpatient, and human trafficking task force programs.
Ms. Patel's passion and competency led her to become a recipient of the 2017 "Social Worker of the Year Award" from the Virginia National Association of Social Workers. In 2012, she received the Frederick Milton Thrasher Award for Superior Service in Gang Prevention, and in 2016, the Frederick Milton Thrasher Award and Spirit of Excellence Award from the National Gang Crime Research Center. In addition, she was selected in 2013 for the CACIE (Central American Community Impact Exchange), and initiative formed by the FBI, the White House, and the National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings and Sexual Violence against Children in Holland to share her success in treatment for gang-involved youth, victims of sex trafficking, and sex offenders. Ms. Patel is a member of the Northern Virginia Human Trafficking Task Force and Adjunct Faculty at George Mason University.
