CATCH Court Graduation
Published on September 16, 2026
The Road to Recovery Started with Encouragement and A Little Help
Powerful stories behind the victims of human trafficking, prostitution, and sexual exploitation graduating from the Franklin County Municipal Court’s CATCH Court on Sept. 17
Support from strangers has repeatedly made the difference for survivors of sexual exploitation.
Help started with temporary assistance, but became transformative when coupled with an introduction to a court program that has helped hundreds of women recover and continued emotional support.
The women’s stories and how the support was crucial will be showcased as 15 women graduate from the Franklin County Municipal Court’s CATCH Court at the Ohio Statehouse Atrium at 1 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026.
The graduates said their abusers fed their growing drug addiction to keep them compliant and unable to flee for years as new criminal charges repeatedly landed them in Municipal Court.
- Two CATCH Court graduates sought initial help at Sanctuary Night, a nonprofit that meets with basic needs and provides a supportive community. The women were assisted by two previous Court graduates who now help the vulnerable and encouraged them to learn about CATCH Court. They continued providing that emotional support as the women took two years to complete the program.
- Another woman went to Freedom a la Carte’s workforce program while in CATCH Court. The emotional support provided by Freedom staff was substantial to her work in the program and recovery.
- A fourth woman found encouragement of another kind. She had been a participant at CATCH Court twice before dropping out. Pregnancy and wanting to provide the best for her unborn child motivated her to stay.
A 16th woman will be honored at the graduation posthumously.
CATCH Court, which stands for Creating Autonomy Through Collaborative Healing, is one of five Specialized Dockets offered at the Municipal Court that offer an alternative to incarceration for those working to overcome the challenges that led them to the criminal justice system.
Participants undergo therapy and meet with Presiding Judge Jodi L. Thomas and her staff weekly as they are on probation. CATCH Court’s trauma-centered, structured approach teaches decision-making to help women decipher signs of healthy and unhealthy behavior.
Anyone wanting more information on the CATCH Court program can email CATCHCourt@franklincountymunicourt.org or learn more online about the Court’s four other Specialized Dockets, which assist military veterans, opioid users, those with alcohol or other drug addictions and those suffering from mental health diagnoses.
For more information, contact:
Gwen Jackson
CATCH Court Program Leaders
614-625-2757
Gwen.Jackson@FranklinCountyMuniCourt.org