Christy Heiskala

Bio

Christy Heiskala joined the Haeggquist & Eck team in 2022 after devoting the second half of her professional career to serving as an advocate for sexual assault survivors.

In 2007, the molestation of her daughter by her third-grade teacher sent Christy on an eight-year learning experience of the justice system: she navigated a criminal case, a civil trial, and subsequent appeals in the civil case against her daughter’s abuser that resulted in a precedent-setting, published opinion by the California Court of Appeals. Christy emerged from the experience determined to make a measurable impact in reducing child abuse and sexual assault through training, speaking up, and advocating for victims and their families.

She became a certified victim advocate in 2010 and has spent more than a decade since then working alongside hundreds of victims of sexual assault, child sexual abuse, and sexual harassment in the workplace. In that role, she has helped victims and their families navigate the reporting, legal, and personal processes required to help them move past their trauma and connected victims to carefully vetted resources like therapists and attorneys. In 2018, Christy founded the nonprofit organization Educate to Eliminate, which consults and trains parents, schools, youth-serving organizations, and community groups on child sexual abuse prevention, consent, and bystander intervention. A trailblazer for victim advocates in civil litigation, Christy is the co-author of Stop the Silence: Thriving After Child Sexual Abuse and of the forthcoming The Path from Survivor to Advocate: How To Become a Victim Advocate, which will be published in the Spring 2024.

Christy volunteers as a committee member for San Diego Pride LGBTQ+ Survivor Task Force, Lawyers Club of San Diego Gender Equity Committee, VictimsVoice Advisory Board, and The Natalie Project Advisory Board.  

Christy has also served as a legislative consultant to Chelsea’s Light Foundation and worked to help pass Chelsea’s Law AB1844 for sexually violent predators. She holds multiple certifications, including Credentialed Advocate (CA) through the National Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA); Certified Victim Advocate through the Department of Justice Office for Victims of Crimes and Certified Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Counselor through the California Office of Emergency Services (CalOES). She has trained hundreds of lawyers nationwide on how to provide trauma-informed support for survivors, from case intake through resolution. 

A native of southern California, Christy enjoys golf, hiking, travel, and exploring trails with her husband on their e-bikes.