Josie Heyano is a Deg Xinag Athabascan woman from Alaska, a clinical social worker, and a nationally recognized leader in anti-trafficking and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR) advocacy. She is the founder of Signify Consulting, where she blends modern therapy with Indigenous healing practices rooted in land, storytelling, and community.
In December 2025, the Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking had the honor of welcoming Josie as the featured speaker at our Carry the Work event. Her powerful lived experience and message challenged us to think differently about care, prevention, and what it really means to show up for one another.
Josie also contributed her viewpoint to our 2025 Gratitude Report. She reminded us that exploitation does not happen in a vacuum and that healing is possible when people feel seen, valued, and supported. Read more from Josie below, in her own words.
Josie sharing her story with the LCHT community from her home in Alaska on Colorado Gives Day 2025
At our Carry the Work event last December, you shared a message about care, community, and showing up for one another. What did you most want people to take away that evening?
“Care is not abstract. It is not transactional, and it is not performative. It is something we practice in how we show up for each other, especially when it is inconvenient, when resources feel scarce, and when the temptation to retreat into individualism is strong.
I come from a lineage where ‘wealth’ meant making sure everyone else was ok because that is how we take care of ourselves, too. Caring for ourselves and caring for others are not separate things. That kind of care is rooted in connection, relationship, responsibility, and community survival.
I also wanted people to understand that when care is absent, harm will fill space. The choices people make when they are surviving do not happen in a vacuum. They are shaped by whether or not they feel seen, safe, and valued by the world around them.
Lastly, we must abandon the language of brokenness and disorder. People are incredible. What and who we can survive, and how we adapt our brains and bodies to stay safe, protect others, connect or disconnect, and shrink or grow all reflect resilience. There is nothing disordered about our response to disconnection, isolation, pain, hurt, betrayal, violation, abandonment, and fear.
Our bodies and minds are brave to continue. We can and do heal when we have connection, community, ceremony, culture, and compassion. We all have the power to offer that connection, to cultivate our presence to be healing in itself.”
What do people facing exploitation need most from their communities?
“People facing exploitation do not need to be ‘rescued.’ They need consistent, relational care that restores their sense of worth and belonging. Exploitation often works because it mimics care, especially for those who have been disconnected from what real care feels like.
What people need most is not just services, but environments where they are treated with dignity, where their humanity is reflected back to them, and where support is steady enough to rebuild trust. That kind of care takes time, patience, and a willingness to stay.
A good friend of mine, Christina Love, often says, ‘People are not difficult to work with; the systems you built to serve them are.’ Real care is about refusing abandonment and disconnection. It is the fierce work of keeping people sheltered, cared for, warm, and fed, with their spirits, minds, and bodies protected in community. It also means ending harmful language such as ‘too much,’ ‘too unsafe,’ ‘not ready,’ and ‘too loud.’”
What does it look like when a community truly shows up, beyond charity?
“It looks like a sacred and non-relinquishable responsibility instead of a job. It means asking, ‘Is everyone okay?’ and acting on that question in real, tangible ways. It is not just giving resources. It is making sure systems, spaces, and relationships are built so people do not fall through the cracks in the first place. It includes humility and recognizing that the only difference between you and the people you serve is circumstance.
In my community, it looked like making sure elders had wood before your own family did. Applied today, it means prioritizing those most in need, even when it requires sacrifice. It is long-term, relational, and rooted in the understanding that our well-being is tied to each other.
It also means recognizing that each of us has a role in caring for one another. The person who helped me heal the most was my high school art teacher. She did not offer charity or counseling. She offered me a different story. When I look back at one of the hardest years of my life, I now see it as the year I became a potter. That is the story she made possible by offering me belonging in her art room. Find your gift and offer it widely. Give it generously.”
What do you want people to know about the difference their support can make right now for anti-trafficking efforts?
“I was taught that wealth is not what you keep. It is what you give away. Where I come from, that was not a metaphor. You cannot hoard warmth, food, or safety. Your support matters right now because it helps create the conditions for real, tangible care that keeps people alive and connected to their worth.
When you choose to give, you are not just funding programs. You are restoring relationships, dignity, and belonging. You are making it harder for exploitation to take root because you are filling the gaps where harm often begins.
I know this personally. The trust and generosity extended to me by LCHT did not just support a speech at a fundraiser [the Colorado Gives Day event]. It funded 110 care bags that went directly into the hands of my houseless neighbors. All winter long, I was able to meet people, talk with them, and offer bags filled with hand warmers, soup, and comfort items. This is how giving should be. It should be circular, always feeding back into us, nourishing and replenishing.
What you are investing in is bigger than a moment. It is prevention. It is a determined belief in community. It is the understanding that our survival is tied to one another. When we act from that place, when we reject scarcity and choose to see and care for each other, we do not just change individual lives. We shift entire systems and begin to heal collectively.
Prevention starts long before a crisis. It begins with people like you who show up for one another. Your support today will help educate communities, train professionals, mentor leaders, and connect survivors to immediate help. Make a gift to build communities where exploitation cannot take root.
Josie’s words are a reminder that preventing human trafficking and supporting survivors is about choosing to care for one another in real, consistent ways. As we look back on 2025, it was a difficult year marked by federal funding cuts and growing uncertainty for Colorado’s anti-trafficking response.
Even so, this work continued because people like you kept showing up for your community with courage, compassion, and commitment. Read LCHT’s 2025 Gratitude Report to find out more about the impact you made. Together, we are building safer and more connected communities.