Board of Directors
EVA BC is governed by its board of directors that represent our members from 11 regions across the province.
Directors are elected at our annual general meeting and serve for two-year terms.
Lynnell Halikowski, Co-Chair
Floating Seat
Lynnell has worked in the anti-violence field since the early 1980s. She started as a volunteer with the Prince George Sexual Assault Centre (PGSAC), then moved on to similar work throughout the region, followed educational pursuits, and had four amazing children. She returned to PGSAC in 1997 as an STV Counsellor and is now the executive director.Â
Lynell’s passion for this field comes from a long line of family members who have dedicated their lives to community service, advocacy, and anti-violence work.
Jolene Hammermeister
North Vancouver Island · Region 1
Jolene has been an STV Counsellor at North Island Crisis & Counselling Centre in Port Hardy since 2024. She also supervises the Centre’s SAS, PEACE, Women’s Outreach and BCSTH Safe House program. She is registered as a Master Therapeutic Counsellor (MTC) with the Association of Cooperative Counselling Therapists (ACCT) for over 10 years and worked for Victim Link BC for seven years. She has more recently served on EVA BC’s STVC Enhancement Project advisory committee.Â
Jolene welcomes the opportunity to represent and bring a voice to Northern Vancouver Island’s unique communities and all the small rural and remote communities across the province that share many distinct challenges, including significantly higher rates of domestic and sexual violence. She brings her extensive frontline and leadership experience to her role on the board to expand awareness and work for larger solutions that support survivors and anti-violence workers.Â
Christina Ferguson
South Vancouver Island · Region 2
Christina is humbled and honoured to live and work on the territories of the lÉ™k̓ʷəŋən speaking peoples, today represented by the Songhees and XÊ·sepsÉ™m (Esquimalt) Nations. Christina has been part of the Victoria Sexual Assault Centre (VSAC)’s Sexual Assault Services (SAS) team since 2022, working as an Access and Daytime Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) staff member. Â
They began as a volunteer at VSAC, learning the front-facing work of supporting survivors first and coming to understand the deeper, material nuances of the sector. Having lived and worked in different regions of BC, they also bring a provincial perspective on how communities differ in their relationships to resourcing, isolation, and access.Â
They work alongside counsellors, victim services, prevention educators, and fellow sexual assault services staff, and have built relationships across sectors through outreach. Their training and practice have taught them to weigh a survivor’s right to self-determination against a duty of care, and a system’s need for consistency against the reality that safety looks different for every person. They have also learned that the discomfort in those moments is informative, not something to rush past. They bring that same instinct to governance, where the right decision is rarely the most comfortable one. Â
kylie shaw
Lower Mainland · Region 3
kylie is the Victim Services Program Coordinator at Salal Sexual Violence Support Centre in Vancouver and has served in a client-facing role at the agency for more than five years, where she’s developed a strong understanding of the complex challenges facing both frontline workers and the survivors who access services. This experience has grounded her in a trauma-informed, survivor-centered practice and given her a nuanced perspective on the systemic barriers many survivors face when seeking safety and support.Â
She brings an anti-oppression and intersectional feminist lens to her work and believes in the importance of centring equity and community care in every decision.Â
She joins the board with this experience, passion, and a deep commitment to supporting survivors of gender-based violence and strengthening the systems that serve them. She looks forward to learning from the collective knowledge of the sector and taking an active part in shaping policies and strategies to improve our provincial response to gender-based violence. Â
Nichole Olsen
Fraser Valley · Region 4
Nichole has served in a leadership role at Cythera Transition House Society in Maple Ridge since 2020. During this time, she feels fortunate that she’s been able to engage deeply in local service and is now eager to expand her knowledge and share her experiences with others working in the field. While she recognizes that her experience may differ from others, she is confident in her ability to learn, apply new insights, and contribute meaningfully to the work of EVA BC. Â
Most recently, she’s committed herself to understanding the unique and complex needs of marginalized populations, reading widely on this topic, including exploring blogs by individuals with lived experience and attending workshops and trainings. However, she feels it is the conversations she’s had with people who generously shared their experiences and insights with her that have been the most impactful. Â
Nichole continues to seek opportunities to drive meaningful change. Alongside her team, she remains focused on exploring innovative ways to deliver services that are timely, effective, and responsive to the needs of their diverse community.Â
Looking ahead, Nichole is committed to building regional connections and growing her skills in community action and policy development. She hopes to deepen relationships across the region and gain a broader understanding of service delivery models and the communities they serve.Â
Nichole is a confident and skilled public speaker with a passion for sharing knowledge, her own lived experience, raising awareness, and engaging the public in conversations about gender-based violence.Â
Priscilla Healey
Okanagan · Region 6
Priscilla is the Program and Services Coordinator and the Sexual Assault Counsellor with the South Okanagan Women in Need Society (SOWINS) where she has been a dedicated team member since 2014. In her current dual role, she oversees the STV, PEACE, CBVS, and SAS programs. Her work spans public education, prevention initiatives, and advocacy related to gender-based violence.
Priscilla brings a wealth of experience from both frontline service delivery and academic research. From 2015 to 2017, she served on the board of the South Okanagan Victim Assistance Society, including a short term as Chair before relocating to Victoria to pursue doctoral studies, during which time she worked with the Victoria Child Abuse Prevention and Counselling Centre and served as a sessional instructor in the School of Child and Youth Care at the University of Victoria. She also contributed to research at the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction, focusing on the lived experiences and rights of sex workers in Canada.
Priscilla is a Registered Clinical Counsellor (RCC) and maintains a private counselling practice, rooted in the belief that access to services should be a right, not a privilege. She is an approved practicum supervisor for graduate students in Yorkville University’s Master of Counselling Psychology program, supporting the next generation of trauma-informed practitioners.
One of Priscilla’s greatest strengths is her comprehensive understanding of frontline service delivery, combined with a strong academic and research background that informs policy and systemic change. As an EVA BC board member, she looks forward to contributing to the province-wide coordination and strengthening of responses to gender-based violence. She is particularly excited to collaborate with fellow board members from across BC, share insights from her region, and help develop effective, community-informed strategies to address ongoing challenges.
Katie Chave
East Kootenay · Region 7
Katie Chave brings 11 years of anti-violence work and an honours degree in Women and Gender Studies to her position on EVA BC’s board. She currently works in Community-Based Victim Services with Summit Community Services in Cranbrook. In addition to her current CBVS role, past anti-violence work for Katie has included delivering Third Party Reporting training around the province in partnership with EVA BC’s Coordination team, and Violence Prevention Outreach work with YWCA Banff.
She was motivated to join the EVA BC Board to bring attention to what survivors are seeking for advocacy on a provincial level, and to bring consideration to the experiences of service providers, and what supports may be needed to better enhance the wellness of those who both experience and are witness to the impacts of gender-based violence.
Katie enjoys spending time snowboarding with her family in the winter, and paddleboarding in the summer. Katie is motivated and inspired by the work of women and feminists past and is invested in supporting social movements that address injustices, and inequities, and give voice to the wisdom of resistance.
Victoria Runge
West Kootenay · Region 8
Victoria comes to the EVA BC board with many years of frontline experience working alongside woman and families fleeing domestic abuse and violence. She has been in the STV counselling role for more than five years in the West Kootenays. She is a strong advocate for Indigenous women in her region and facilitates the yearly Moose Hide Campaign, MMIWG2S and Truth and Reconciliation Day events in local communities. She previously sat on the EVA board for a short period of time and returns now to bring a strong voice to represent her region.Â
Tara Lee Rea
Region 9 · North West
Tara Lee works as the VAP coordinator working as both the outreach and victim services worker at Islands Wellness Society in Haida Gwaii. She also has past experience working in a transition house, with police-based victim services and youth counselling. Â
She brings optimism and hope, along with an inquisitive and questioning perspective and fresh eyes from her experiences as a frontline worker to her role on the EVA BC board.Â
In her work she shares space with two communities in South Haida Gwaii: Haida, and the settlers who reside on their islands. She stays current by taking courses and listening to her community. She feels this is key to her confidence and work on de-colonialism and hope for unity. She defines herself as a feminist. Â
She says EVA BC represents the beacon of light to guide, support and anchor the people delivering service. She would be honoured to collaborate and share thoughts amongst the heartbeat of a phenomenal association.Â
Shari-Lyn Rougeau
Region 11 · North East
Shari-Lyn Rougeau is the Society Manager at Linda Krystina Housing Society and Safe House and Outreach Program in Chetwynd-Treaty 8 Territory.
She joins the EVA BC board with a deep commitment to supporting survivors of gender-based violence and contributing to systemic change that advances equity, safety, and justice in our communities. She believes EVA BC plays a vital role in strengthening services across the province, amplifying the voices of survivors, and advocating for policy and practices that create lasting impact.
Shari-Lyn brings over 20 years of extensive frontline experience supporting survivors of domestic and gender-based violence to her role on the board, along with a deep understanding of the challenges and systemic barriers survivors face.
Her experience has also helped her develop her skills in leadership and governance, knowledge of policy and advocacy, skills in training and facilitation, strategic thinking, communication and collaboration, community engagement, and a commitment to equity and inclusion. She works alongside Indigenous communities, newcomers and others, seeking to ensure culturally safe and responsive supports.
Being on the EVA BC board gives Shari-Lyn the opportunity to contribute her experience, leadership, and passion toward this important collective vision. Shari-Lyn sees this role as an opportunity for her to give back to the sector, contribute to strengthening services province-wide, and to support EVA BC’s leadership role in ending gender-based violence.
Thank you
We thank our board of directors for their ongoing commitment, support and direction.
If you work with a member program and would like to run to serve on our board, please email us at evabc@endingviolence.org.
