PA College Magazine - Winter 2021 - 7

PA COLLEGE / TEACHING & LEARNING

FACULTY PROFILE

Lessening the Horrors of Human Trafficking
By Sarah Achenbach
post-master's certificate in Family
Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing
from the University of Pennsylvania's
Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner program.

Donna Sabella, coordinator for the
Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse
Practitioner track for PA College's
Nurse Practitioner program, is a global
expert in human trafficking and mental
health nursing.
Her first degree was a BA in Portuguese.
" I love language but discovered that no
U.S. high school teaches Portuguese, "
Sabella says, so she pivoted to her
passion for behavioral health, earning
a MSN in Mental Health/Psychiatric
Nursing. Sabella also holds a M.Ed. in
English and a Ph.D. in Educational
Linguistics. In addition, she earned a

" As mental health nurses, our job is to
give patients education, support, hope
and honesty. It's an archaeological dig.
We help them dust off the dirt, but
it's up to patients to find their own
answers. We just hold their hand until
they get there. It's important to train
students to look at every patient as a
human being first, " says Sabella, who
founded the Mental Health Matters
column in the American Journal of
Nursing in 2011 and today continues
to serve as the contributing editor for
the column.
During the early 2000s, Sabella
worked as a mobile psychiatry nurse
in Philadelphia. " I worked at drop-in
centers that offered group therapy
and services like showers and a washer
and dryer, " she says. " I realized that
women at the centers were being
prostituted, but there were no services
to help them. "
So she co-founded Dawn's Place, a
residential recovery program in

Philadelphia for trafficked and prostituted
women, and later launched Project
Phoenix to educate the public and
professionals about human trafficking
and to offer counseling and support to
victims incarcerated in the Philadelphia
prison system. She also co-founded
the Journal of Human Trafficking, and
in 2018, co-founded The Global
Association of Human Trafficking
Scholars. The association provides an
international scholarly discourse on
the historical, political and cultural
components of human trafficking to
increase global policy, activism and
research.
" Sex sells, and everyone wants cheap
labor. Human trafficking is everywhere
and will never go away, but we can
lessen it, " says Sabella, who presented
the PA College Distinguished Faculty
webinar, " Human Trafficking: What's
It All About? " in November.
Sabella believes that educating nurses
about equity and health care disparities
is essential.
" I love building things and teaching
students, " she says. " I love what
I do. " n

Mary E. Fetter Garners Flory Funding
Mary E. Fetter '97, MSN, RN, received this
year's Robert M. and Thelma G. Flory Doctoral
Study Award. This fund provides annual support
for nursing faculty who are pursuing doctoral
study, doctoral research or postdoctoral research.

program. Having spent the past 11 years of her
career in nursing education preparing senior
nursing students for the transition to practice,
Fetter says she is excited to be developing a
DNP project to improve the support of novice
Fetter - both an alumna and Assistant Professor nurses who are transitioning into specialty
practice in a critical care area. n
of Nursing - is also currently enrolled in PA
College's Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)
PA College / Winter 2021

PA College Magazine - Winter 2021

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