HaeSung Han is a licensed clinical and forensic psychologist and board-certified art therapist. She co-founded POETIC in 2017 with Jennifer Tinker after building the treatment program and serving as the first clinical director of Letot Girls Residential Center within the Dallas County Juvenile Department. Han saw that an in-community, bottom-up approach to addressing vulnerability of youth was needed to stop the cycle of re-victimization that leads to the exploitation and trafficking of youth in Dallas.
Han received her doctoral and master’s degree in clinical psychology from George Washington University and second master’s degrees in art therapy from New York University. She completed her post-doctoral fellowship in forensic psychology at Audrey Hepburn Children’s House, Hackensack University Medical Center, in the field of child maltreatment. She completed two post-graduate certificate programs: one in international trauma studies from Columbia University and the other in civil and criminal forensic psychology from Montclair State University.
Han has extensive experience working with individuals exposed to complex trauma including domestic violence, child maltreatment and commercial sexual exploitation/sex trafficking. She has worked in forensic, hospital, outpatient and school settings in NY, NJ, VA, DC, MA and TX. She is certified in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT). She has also received training in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and DBT-PE (Prolonged Exposure for the treatment of PTSD) and offers both comprehensive DBT and DBT-PE to youth and adult clients.
Han trains nationally on various topics related to the assessment, intervention and prevention of commercial sexual exploitation (CSEC) and domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST). She also provides consultation to anti-trafficking agencies on developing and implementing trauma-informed systems of care, programming and culture.
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