our owner and ceo

Danika Ali is the Owner and CEO of Healing Sanctuary LLC which was founded in 2023. She has over 25 years’ experience in overseeing programs, capacity building, training, providing clinical supervision and 13 years experience providing therapy for adult and child survivors of domestic violence, sexual trauma including human trafficking. Danika’s passion is to see men, women and girls heal from generational trauma, mental health challenges and life's stressors. She believes in equipping others with the tools necessary to regulate emotions and to cope with life. Danika is committed to providing a team of exceptional counselors with diverse specialties that utilize their expertise to guide women and girls along their journey towards wholeness. 

Danika coordinated partnerships with domestic violence agencies that contributed to Polaris Project New Jersey being awarded a $1.4 million-dollar grant. The grant provided the funding for a pilot program to test a Safe Shelter Tool that continues to be utilized to decrease the re-traumatization of victims of sex trafficking and domestic violence.  She has led teams in providing crisis services for survivors of sex trafficking in statewide operations with the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and local law enforcement. As the Clinical Manager at Girls Educational & Mentoring Services, Danika led a team that provided crisis intervention, court advocacy, intensive case management and supportive counseling. This team serviced 250 girls and young women ages 12 – 24 who were victims of sex trafficking. 

Danika has provided training to law enforcement, child welfare agencies and community providers on topics such as domestic violence and human trafficking. She has a certificate in Violence Against Women and Children and a specialization in Human Trafficking from Rutgers University. She received her bachelor's degree from Rutgers University in Psychology, and her Master's of Science from University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Psychiatric Rehabilitation. She received her Master's of Social Work from Rutgers and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker.