Christy Heiskala

Get to Know Christy

Why are you choosing to focus on sexual assault?
I want to help survivors and their families through the process of seeking justice and finding their path to healing because I have been in their shoes and I felt so lost at the time. I didn’t understand how the criminal or civil justice process worked and I was too intimidated to admit when I didn’t understand. I know how it feels when nobody around you truly understands what you are going through. How survivors are treated after an assault can either be more traumatizing or it can be healing. Survivors deserve to have trauma-informed support every step of the way when they are seeking civil justice.

What is a message you would like to give survivors of sexual assault who are afraid of pursuing their perpetrators in civil court?
Ultimately, you have to do what is best for you but just know you are not alone, and you can make it through the process and come out stronger. From my personal experience, having faced a perpetrator in criminal and civil court, it was very empowering to me. I’m not going to lie; it was hard and stressful, but the pain would still be there whether I sought justice or not and I believe it would have been worse if I didn’t. Sometimes when the criminal justice process lets us down, the civil justice process is the only way to get justice. Holding someone accountable was very empowering to me and I have witnessed so many other survivors go through the same process and come out stronger.

More About Christy
In her spare time, Christy enjoys traveling, hiking, and going to the beach, spa days with friends, concerts with her husband, and vacations with their three kids.