Boston HEAT

Dr. Judge founded and co-leads Boston Human Exploitation and Sex Trafficking (HEAT), in collaboration with Sandra Andrade of MGH and partners from the Boston Police Department’s Human Trafficking Unit (HTU). Boston HEAT is dedicated to supporting women at the intersection of substance use disorder and exploitation in the commercial sex trade. Our specialized outreach brings clinical and peer expertise to women where they already are: on the street; in the Suffolk County House of Correction; in MGH and partner hospitals. We also connect through referrals from law enforcement, as an alternative to arrest, and through our nighttime drop-in center in Boston’s “Mass and Cass” neighborhood.

Boston HEAT is innovative because we build long-term relationships that support women’s unique goals during active addiction and exploitation, determined through their own agency. Our approach fosters change in women’s time and on their terms.

Recent Media Appearances

• Boston NBC 10
  February 16, 2023
• Boston Globe, Letter to the Editor
  August 23, 2023
• WBUR Radio Boston, “A look at the efforts to end human trafficking at ‘Mass. and Cass,’”
  August 29, 2023