Whatever Is Excellent with Leanne Tuggle
Encouragement and Inspiration for women choosing to rise above the “just survive” mentality and instead set their mind on thriving in all that they say and do. The ultimate goal is to equip you to pursue whatever is excellent in the midst of your ordinary life and in all that you say and do.
Whatever Is Excellent with Leanne Tuggle
56: A Calling To End Trafficking with Brittany Dunn
A friend’s kitchen-table Bible study turned into a national movement. Brittany Dunn joins us to share how Safe House Project is confronting child trafficking in America with a strategy built on training, survivor support, and evidence-based safe house certification—and why proximity, not sensational headlines, should reshape how we see this crisis. The numbers are sobering, but the path forward is clear, practical, and hopeful.
We talk through the real shockers—like how many victims are first trafficked by family members—and the tools anyone can use to help, including the Simply Report app for learning and reporting, and On-Watch training designed for short, focused learning. Brittany opens up about excellence as stewardship: transparent finances, measurable outcomes, and programs that stand up to scrutiny. Her leadership philosophy is simple and demanding—excellence without perfection, compassion without naivety, and prayer before plans.
If you’ve ever felt torn between meaningful work and being present at home, you’ll find a blueprint here. Brittany rejects the myth of balance and leans into managing energy and seasons, setting clear expectations at work and with her kids, and integrating family into mission so purpose becomes shared, not siloed. She also shares the spiritual rhythms that hold everything together: a 5:30 a.m. prayer call, Scripture, the “full armor” mindset, and physical training to metabolize stress and stay grounded.
Ready to engage? Become a Safe House ambassador, take On-Watch training, share the Simply Report app, or give to fund emergency housing, transportation, and case management for survivors. Subscribe, share this conversation with a friend, and leave a review to help more people learn how to spot, report, and support—because awareness paired with action can save a life.
Recommended Resources:
Eradicating Human Trafficking by Bill Woolf & Brittany C. Dunn
Safe House Project's Survivor Support Team serves hundreds of survivors every month exiting a trafficking situation and helping them get the services they need. To connect with our Survivor Support Team, please call (507) 769-0819 and select option 1 or start the process here.
Donate to The Safe House Project
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Friends, today's episode is extra special as I am joined by my dear friend Brittany Dunn. Brittany is one of the founders of the Safe House Project, which is a national organization working to eradicate human trafficking in America by helping survivors find freedom, hope, and a future. Brittany, thank you so much for being a part of the show today. You are someone who I greatly admire, not only for the work that you do with Safe House Project, but also just the way that you balance this calling alongside of being a wife and a mom. So you are someone who exudes excellence in both the workplace and in the home. So thank you so much for being here. And to begin our conversation today, can you share just a little bit about your journey both as a mom and as a founder of the Safe House Project and what led you to step into this unique calling?
Brittany Dunn:Absolutely. Well, it's so exciting to be here. And I just feel like this is just the Scott moments when you get to see somebody who has been there since the beginning of kind of one of those kairos moments in my life where God just really took a took a wrecking ball in a good way, I guess, to what I thought I would be doing for my life. When so when Leanne and I met, I was still in corporate America. I was working in a tech firm. And it was really through a Bible study that brought our families together that God started to do a new work in me and started to turn my heart toward not just knowing about the human the issue of human trafficking, but really how do we respond to it? And so it was really through just a lot of prayer and discernment from a lot of different people in our world at that time that Safe House Project was launched. So my co-founder and I, uh Christy Wells, we were at the end of 2017 and I was eight months pregnant, really nine months pregnant. Leanne was right behind me with I think I'm like six months pregnant with her twins. And so it was a season of birthing things. I just didn't expect to also birth an organization during that time. So we launched SAFOS Project the beginning of 2018 when my daughter was three weeks old and I had a two-year-old, and my husband was deployed, and God said go. And it was really from that act of obedience that we have seen an anointing on our mission and vision.
Leanne Tuggle:I love that way to like just be obedient in the most insane season of your life. I I do remember that and just being like watching you going, I I don't, I don't know, I don't know how what's happening, but I'm amazed and still to this day. So well, we got to come and hold the twins.
Brittany Dunn:That's right. International Women's Day.
Leanne Tuggle:Yes, I know. International Women's Day. Let me have a couple of boys. I love it. So for listeners who aren't familiar with what Safe House Project does, what do you want people to understand about the crisis? And what are some practical ways that the everyday woman could help to fight human trafficking?
Brittany Dunn:Yeah. So when we launched Safe House Project, we were really responding to the fact that at that time Health and Human Services estimated that 300,000 American kids are trafficked every year in the United States. And that was startling. As a mom, as a military spouse, all of these things make you go, well, how do we call ourselves, you know, the land of the free and the home of the brave if we have hundreds of thousands of kids basically trapped in what some would call modern day slavery? And so that was really eye-opening for me. But through that process of learning, we realized that only 1% are identified and that the average age is only 12 years old. I think though what changed my perspective on this was the fact that I think I still operated under a little bit of the misperception that these were kids that were being abducted or removed from their homes. And once you realized that 40 to 50% of child trafficking victims would first be trafficked by a family member, it really brought the issue out of kind of feeling like an overseas problem or an over there problem to one that was happening right there to kids in our community who were still going to school, who are still in our places of worship, that were at the grocery store, that were doing life probably right alongside other kids in their neighborhood. And they just didn't know that what they were experiencing behind closed doors isn't normal. And so it's really from that realization that our organization launched with our deep conviction that we believe that we can end child trafficking. Honestly, that sounds crazy to a lot of people, but I believe that God has really put us here for such a time as this. I know that sounds cliche, but it's like he has given us a huge vision to build the infrastructure that would allow for child trafficking to be eradicated in the United States. And we do that through a lot of training and education. How do we equip people to understand what trafficking looks like, how it's impacting their own community? Then we build um capacity of safe house programs around the country through our certification. But really, where we find the greatest impact right now is we have our survivor support team who will serve over 3,000 survivors this year as they exit a trafficking situation and help get them into these safe house programs where people can really go and heal and overcome the traumatic experiences that they've um had in their life. And so we're just blessed to be able to be a small part in somebody's journey into freedom. But when you ask, I guess, more the question of like what can people do, I think it's hard. Like it does. Like when we first started, it's like this is a huge issue. Like, how do we step in? And I would say first, I we went to prayer. We went to deep prayer before we ever even started. And that meant that when we made any decision, we never wanted to be one degree outside of God's will. And he's been so faithful in showing us where we go with this issue. How do we lead this organization? And that's still our prayer. We always joke that Safe House Project isn't ours. It's God's. We're just here for long for the ride. We're chasing after him. We're not leading it. He's leading us through it. And so that's been really critical for us to make sure that we're on the trajectory that he sets, not one that we're trying to set for ourselves. But I think where anybody can get involved right now is we just launched a new reporting app called Simply Report. And you can become a Simply Report ambassador. You can share it with your community, you can go download the app and it allows you to come on and report suspected trafficking or validate assumptions, learn a little bit more about what it is and the issue. And I think from that place of education and understanding, you'll find your next step.
Leanne Tuggle:I love that. And I love that you just mentioned simply report. And I'll definitely put that in the show notes too, so people can find out more information about that. That's so great. So I can tell that you are very passionate about the this work that you get to do that God has called you to do. And it's it's such an amazing calling and it is very important work. So I'm curious to know what does excellence in the workplace mean to you personally?
Brittany Dunn:For us, we actually, one of our core values is operating with excellence because excellence doesn't mean perfection, but it does mean that we pursue people, we pursue our programs, we pursue stewardship of our funding in a way that is about reproach. And we want anybody to come in and say, I'd love to audit your financials and know where your my gift is going. Fantastic. I would love to share with you exactly how every dollar is being spent and do that in a way that we can say that those dollars are being used to serve survivors of excellence. When it comes to like our certification of our safe house programs, we want to make sure that they're using evidence-based and promising practices that really break cycles of exploitation. And so again, striving to push people towards excellence isn't it's built into the very DNA of how we operate because anything less feels like we aren't stewarding the gifts that God gave us in the best way possible. And so our team is really incredible. I always say we get to lead a team of leaders. I don't feel like I have a lot of people, like I don't have anyone that I'm pulling along in this mission. And because of that, they are operating with excellence. They're showing up fully, they're doing the self-care things they need in their personal life in order to show up professionally. And they are, you know, we just create a, I guess, an environment, an environment of psychological safety that allows for people to be fully them and fully experience things while also knowing that we're called to excellence.
Leanne Tuggle:I love that. And it shows, it shows with how you guys just organize the entire the entire project. It's so, so great. So many women wrestle with a tension between work and home responsibilities. And you kind of just mentioned that self-care piece a little bit too. So, how have you learned to balance your work as a founder and your role as a wife and mom? It's a loaded question.
Brittany Dunn:It's a very loaded question. And I feel like one of the best ways that I've heard it described recently is it's we're not, there's no such thing as work-life balance. Right. Um, at the end of the day, it's not what it is. There is, you know, a finite number of hours in a week. And there's also, we look at it from a time, but also look at it from an energy investment. Where am I putting my best energy? That doesn't always equate to the same amount of time. But like if I can give my kids extremely focused, intentional energy at the start of their day and fill their bucket in a way that allows them to set them on a course for being successful. I'm not getting to the end of the day and going, oh my gosh, I feel like I have to spend a full hour with my child because I haven't had any time with them yet. And so I think we have to get past this idea that time equals energy or time equals, you know, outcome and more look at it from a perspective of, okay, where am I putting my best energy? Is my best energy going toward which activities? And then also recognizing that it's going to ebb and flow in different seasons. Like right now, we're in fundraising season, we're in end-of-year giving, we're in budget planning and strategic conversations. My kids just know that October is going to be a little bit more Safe House project and a little less of them. But then when November hits, it's like, nope, Thanksgiving is dedicated family time. Like, so just creating rhythms that match and then setting expectations for us, like clarity is kindness. So as long as I'm clear on like, okay, I'm going to give you this part of my time or this part of my day, or I will be at this activity with you and setting their expectations appropriately, it really creates a way for our family to move together in a in a way that I don't think we would if we weren't really being intentional about it. I love that.
Leanne Tuggle:We say clear is kind in our household a lot too. So it sounds like you guys have that same philosophy, which I think is really, really wonderful. Yeah. And doing the same with the professional side.
Brittany Dunn:Like that's the other piece. Like, okay, I am going to tell you that I am not going to respond to you until this date or this time. And being okay with that answer as well. Right.
Leanne Tuggle:And just the setting up those appropriate boundaries. And I love that you're talking about it being in different seasons. And I think that that is really, really important. There are always going to be busier seasons and then there's going to be seasons of rest. And being able to kind of identify them, I think is really great. So a question for you. So many, many women who are listening here might be wondering how do I know if I'm called to work outside of the home? Or like they're very passionate about something like you are with this work. So what encouragement would you offer another woman who maybe feels torn between her passion for meaningful work and her desire to be present at home?
Brittany Dunn:I'd say that I think that if you're willing to design your world and maybe found your own thing, you can have both. And I wouldn't shy away from that. And if God's calling you to both, there are ways to do it. Or back to the maybe you don't take full-time 40-hour, 50, 60-hour week work, but you do something that's 30 hours a week and allows you to be there when the bus stop or when kids get off the bus or whatever like your kind of need is. But I wouldn't shy away. I know that my passion for Safe House Project and the work that we get to do has made my family stronger. It's made my kids stronger. They feel part of it, like we're getting ready for some big events and they sit around and they help me with all of those activities. Like they want to be part of it. Every day they're like, when do I get to found something? I'm like, you can found something whenever you want. So my son has put together an entire business plan for a new business venture. And, you know, I like a good mom, I was like, I really need you to get outside today. It's like a day that they were off school for something random. I was like, I just need you to go do some market research and ask the neighbors if they really are going to allow a 10-year-old to come into their house while they're on holiday and care for their animals and what would be their expectations and how much do they want to pay you and how many animals do they have? So he did a full market analysis before we even got anywhere. And it's fantastic because it also puts him on a path of knowing that it's not just starting, it's about prepping and planning and then executing. So my kids feel part of this work, they are part of this work and they're part of our family's mission to really end human trafficking. I love that.
Leanne Tuggle:I love that you're including them on it and empowering them to do what you're doing. And they're seeing it modeled so beautifully too for both you and your husband. So I think that's so great. So I'm curious to know also what daily or weekly rhythms help you stay rooted in God's word and connected to him while you're carrying the weight of this work. What you do is is heavy. So what are ways that you stay connected to God?
Brittany Dunn:Yeah. So our leadership team meets at 5:30 every morning and prays. And so we usually have about 30, 30 minutes to an hour, depending on how much we're praying through. It's a time that we bring staff concerns or family concerns. It's just really a beautiful time. But it also lets us kind of know where each of us are going into the day. Like you hear people's heart, you hear their concerns, you know what they're operating with and what you're operating with. But then you're also submitting that all to God. And like we every morning we pray Ephesians 4 that we live a life worthy of our calling. So we're humble and make allowances for each other's faults, that we have a bond of unity and a spirit of peace over this entire team operation and the families who serve. And then we pray Ephesians 6 and we put on the full armor of God because we are not just walking into a physical battle. We're walking into a spiritual battle. And if we are not preparing ourselves for the spiritual battle, then we're never going to win the physical battle. And so that is integral to just our daily rhythm in that capacity. But then all of us after that, we go to the gym and we get our mental health in check and get those, you know, get our bodies moving and allow for us to do that kind of physical work. And it's always fascinating to me because it's actually in there where I probably work out more of my stress or anger or frustrations with cases or with not seeing justice served for survivor. Because if I can push my body to do really hard things, then I can usually break through some of the mental challenges that might be alongside the just the the extreme weight that this work can bring. And so those two things have been extremely grounding for me and built into kind of the daily, the daily cadence of how we work.
Leanne Tuggle:I love that. So it sounds like community and that accountability is a huge part of what you do. And so I'm curious to know just a little bit more about the role that community plays in sustaining you, both in your work and in your home life.
Brittany Dunn:Yeah. I think community is the thing that the military military teaches you the fastest is absolutely integral to life and how to build community quickly and do it in a way that comes alongside you and your family's mission and whatever that is, and whatever level of service. It doesn't have to be military or trafficking. I mean, whatever your family is called to. You know, building community is critical. And I've met so many amazing people along the way because of the work. I think that's been the biggest blessing is I know so many people now that I feel bad because I feel like there's also people who know me that I've never actually spoken to, but they'll come up to me and I'm like, of course, I have no idea who you are at this point. But it's so great because they feel so they feel so part of it. And I think that's because it is this is a community movement. It's not an issue that's solved by one person or one organization or one policy. It's that everybody has their piece of it and it's doing whatever they can in their community to help eradicate it. And so my community gets to just keep growing as a result, which is a lot of that. I love that. That's so great.
Leanne Tuggle:So you've talked a little bit about identity and being obedient to this calling and just the idea of abiding, being very central to this journey. What specifically has God taught you about your identity in Him through this work? And how has obedience shaped the path of the Safe House Project? You've talked a little bit about it already.
Brittany Dunn:Yeah, good Lord. But those are like five really hard questions all I'm gonna talk about.
Leanne Tuggle:I love you.
Brittany Dunn:I'm like challenge. Challenge. I think identity is actually the thing recently that I've been wrestling with the most. Um because I have realized, I think through this work that there's always work that we have to do on ourselves. And that as much as I'm serving people who've experienced really hard things, there's also we all have our own, our own experiences and our own things. And so identity has become a little bit of a theme. But I think where I'm seeing God work it in a new way is honestly, he's just tearing down every idol. I mean, and everything that is what I perceive my identity to be oftentimes isn't it. And so, how do I get closer to a reflection of Christ is really where my identity should be. And so I think it's actually about a whole lot less of me and a whole lot more of him and elevating this spirit side of me to be more in alignment with him than it is about the physical being of living that has really been an interesting journey. And I think that's come through this work because I've seen the absolute worst parts of humanity, but I've also seen God work the most incredible miracles that I can hardly even comprehend at times. And so it challenges you to truly know who Christ is and what he did for us and the blood that he shed on the cross and the depths of hell that he went to to bring back the gifts and to just bring back the things that we get to operate with. And that's where I want my identity to drive from. I want it to drive from the identity of Christ and the access to the gifts that he gave us as part of his death on the cross. And then when I get to operate within those and have those at my disposal and know the authority in whose mantle I'm under, it really starts to move you away from any levels of entitlement or belief that that you're doing any of this in your own strength. I don't know if I answered all the questions.
Leanne Tuggle:No, I mean, I think that it does because it's very much like this it's not about you. It's about it's it's about God and about glorifying God. And I think that when that is shaping your identity, when it is like not me but you, and like you said, like Christ be elevated, then that is part of who you are, just operating as his servant, as his vessel. And that is very evident. As you said, like every day this safe house project is covered in prayer. Every survivor is covered in prayer, like all of the things, every bed, everything that you guys are doing is just abundantly covered in prayer. And it is so clear and obvious. And that is why it is being is growing and God is blessing the work that you guys are doing because it is so much about Him. You're bringing the glory to Him in all the things. And I think that's so great. So I have two, two more questions for you. The first one being if someone listening today is like, wow, I really am interested in this organization and I would really love to know how I can help. What would be the best way that someone could be a part of this?
Brittany Dunn:Yeah, absolutely. So if you go to safehouseproject.org, then you go to our, I think it says work with us or contact us, and on there is our volunteer forms. You can sign up to become a safe house ambassador, which is amazing. And I love our team that runs that because they have monthly calls and they generate that community of support. They give you resources to push out to your community. They really want to help mobilize people. Obviously, we don't do this work without donations, and so that's a different way. If you're looking for more investing financially, that's huge. I mean, we serve 14 new victims of human trafficking every single day. And on average, you know, we're spending anywhere from $1,000 to $1,500 per individual for transportation, for emercy housing, for that sheltering, for case management. But even that, you know, donation of $40 and doing like our $40 for freedom really helps make sure that we can answer every single one of those calls. And so greatly appreciate that as well. And then the last thing I would say is if you're like, I'm on the fence and I just want to understand more, our on-watch training is at iamonwatch.org. And that's a great way. And it's they're five to eight minute videos, and you can choose which part of the problem you want to seek to understand. You can break it up. There's resources about how to talk to your kids. All of that is just a way for you to start leaning into maybe something that's pulling on your heart, but you don't know where you want to go with it. Um, but we have lots of resources. We have a curriculum for the church. We wrote a book on eradicating human trafficking. If you're more of the data nerd science policy person, like I enjoy, like I you can look at this from a lot of lenses. So it's really fun. Okay, wonderful. I say fun. It actually is really neat work. It's really interconnected. I think that's the other piece. It's like if you're sitting there going, okay, well, I don't know if I want to do like the like the recovery and be part of the this side. There's so much on the policy side. I mean, we advocate in Washington, we advocate with our states, we work at, you know, on so many layers. And so I just encourage you to learn it because this is an issue that's woven itself into the very fabric of our communities. And it is touching so many parts of your world that you probably just don't even realize at this point.
Leanne Tuggle:I think the awareness piece of it, that's what you have helped me learn through our friendship, is just being aware of what's going on and then from there letting the Holy Spirit guide how what that means for you and how you want to participate and help from this. That's great. Okay, so my last question for you is if you could encourage the woman listening today with one truth about what it means to abide in Christ while pursuing excellence, both at home and at work, what would you say?
Brittany Dunn:One truth. This is always so hard. I love the hard questions. I would say that I we hear it, but God truly does equip the cult. It's not about anything else. You don't have to know what you're doing. I didn't have a background in social work. I'm not a lawyer, I'm not a prosecutor, not in policy, I'm not in law enforcement. By all accounts, there's no reason that this should be what I'm doing with my life. But it has nothing to do with me. It has everything to do with the one who called me. And through that, he has grown new gears and he has taught me new things and he has provided me with opportunities and the people around me to grow those new skills and learn things. And it's the best thing that you could ever do is just lean into the thing he's truly calling you to do and find that God-given passion and purpose because once you find it, one, you'll know you're headed also in the right direction. The more spiritual attacks come at you, it's great. You figure that out really fast. You're like, oh, I must be going in the right direction. But I take that as a okay, if I'm if this is where we're headed and this is the amount of warfare that's coming against it, it means I'm headed in the right direction. So God is faithful and he protects those that he calls to this work.
Leanne Tuggle:Yes, I love that so much. Brittany, thank you so much for all of this wisdom and just for reminding us that pursuing excellence starts with abiding in Christ and all for his glory. I'm so thankful for you and for all the work that you do. And if you are listening today and you would like to connect with Brittany and check out more about this incredible work that the Safe House Project is doing, um, I will have everything linked in the show notes here, and you will be able to find all the resources that she has mentioned that Safe House Project has available. So thank you so much, Brittany, for everything. Thank you. It's such a pleasure. To close this episode, I want to read Psalm 23 to you. This is arguably one of the most famous psalms that we have, and yet this psalm is like a balm to someone who has experienced the trauma of trafficking. And it is also a message for us to know that the Lord is our shepherd, and He does lead us to a place that restores our soul, that our home is not here, but that our safe house is in heaven, and that we get to dwell in the house of the Lord forever someday. So let me read Psalm 23 for you. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul, he leads me in paths of righteousness for his namesake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, you anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.