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For over 44 years, Marika Sandrelli worked in outreach, counselling, education and community development with people experiencing social exclusion from poverty, homelessness, mental health and substance-use issues in several countries in Africa and Central America and in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. For the last 20 years, Marika has worked in various leadership positions in Fraser Health where she leads that region’s Trauma & Resiliency Informed Practice initiative. Currently, she is the interim director for research, evaluation and knowledge exchange in Fraser Health’s Mental Health & Substance Use Services.

Marika has been involved in program planning, monitoring and evaluation in a variety of diverse settings, from individual programs within non-profit organizations to multiple system-level contexts with over 5,000 collaborators and partners. She works with leaders in the evaluation field, including the developmental evaluation founder, Michael Quinn Patton, and the outcome mapping founder, Terry Smutylo.

Marika graduated with a master in education in contemplative education focusing on hope theory and compassion-led practices in response to distress and despair. She lives in Mission, B.C., with her partner and three dogs where all are dedicated to expanding ethical animal-assisted supports for learning, social inclusion, comfort and healing. 

Marika is also an advisor for the Evaluation for Social Change and Transformational Learning Certificate program.