Christa Hayden

Ms. Hayden joined IJM in 2005, as Director of Aftercare in Cambodia. She led a team of Cambodian social workers in providing care for sex trafficking survivors, as well as developed strategic partnerships with government agencies and other aftercare organizations. She now speaks regularly at churches throughout the Northeast region, equipping and mobilizing communities to engage in both local and international justice ministry. 

Christa Hayden serves as the Northeast Director of Church Mobilization for International Justice Mission. IJM is a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. IJM lawyers, investigators and aftercare professionals work with local governments to ensure victim rescue and aftercare, to prosecute perpetrators and to strengthen the community and civic factors that promote functioning public justice systems. 

Before joining IJM headquarters in Washington, D.C., in 2009, Christa served as the Director of Aftercare for IJM Cambodia from 2005 through 2008. In Cambodia, Christa led a team of national social workers in providing crisis care, aftercare placement, trial preparation and case management services for trafficking survivors; developed strategic partnerships with governmental and non-governmental social service agencies; and designed and implemented a successful staff-care program. Christa also acted as a professional resource for the aftercare community by developing and providing training, research and consultation on issues of trafficking, aftercare, and caring for child victims and witnesses in the justice system. 

In her current role, Christa engages churches in the biblical call to seek justice. She speaks to congregations throughout the Northeast region, encouraging, equipping, and mobilizing churches and communities to begin their justice journeys with prayer, study, and engagement in both local and international justice ministry. She has also traveled with IJM to conduct short-term investigations and aftercare assessments in Bolivia and Haiti, and developed resources such as IJM's Community Justice Assessment. 

Christa holds a Master’s in Social Science Administration (accredited MSW) from Case Western Reserve University and a B.A. in Political Science and African & African Diaspora Studies from Tulane University. Prior to her time in Cambodia, Christa worked in refugee resettlement, youth psychiatric care, the U.S. Senate, and with Young Life’s Military Community Youth Ministries in Italy. Christa has written for the Faith Alliance Against Slavery and Trafficking’s Hands That Heal International Curriculum to Train Caregivers of Trafficking Survivors, the North American Association of Christian Social Workers’ Catalyst newsletter, Radiant Magazine online, and IJM Online.

Ms. Hayden is based out of IJM's Washington, D.C., headquarters. 

Learn more about Christa's work in the field.