Ruth Institute Podcast

Melea Stephens is a practicing marriage and family therapist and an activist leader against sexual exploitation in her home state of Alabama. She is a board member with the National Center on Sexual Exploitation and the founder of Rescue Innocence Movement, a nonprofit created to protect this generation of children from the harms of sexual exploitation through prevention, education, and legislation. After witnessing the detrimental effects of hardcore pornography in the lives of both children and adults she treated, Melea felt a call to raise awareness about the unacknowledged health and societal harms of this illegal material. Since 2012, Melea has organized several city and statewide events and public awareness campaigns. She frequently partners with anti-trafficking leaders to promote education and meet the needs of survivors of sexual exploitation. Through the Rescue Innocence Movement and with the help of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation and local leaders, she has been instrumental in the launc