Viviana Barajas, M.A., Ed., PPS Nurtured Heart Approach Advanced Trainer

Viviana Barajas is a first-generation Mexican-American who was born and raised in California. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Human Development at UC San Diego, and received her Master’s in Educational Counseling from California State University, Stanislaus. She is the proud mother of two amazing boys and has always had a passion for helping underserved populations and for finding opportunities to promote positive relationships. Her experience includes early childhood education, non-profit community work, domestic violence and sexual assault advocacy, early intervention and prevention services for children and families, foster youth advocacy, residential treatment facility training and support, and program development. For the past 8 years, Viviana has been working exclusively to integrate the Nurtured Heart Approach as an Advanced Certified Trainer into school and agency settings and has grown a successful independent consulting business. Viviana has created a Nurtured Heart Approach mental health high school course for teens, is a certified instructor in Teen Mental Health First Aid, and is the creator of Greatness Project, a non-profit organization in the making to provide a platform for youth to share this life-changing method with other youth and adults. Her Greatness Project includes youth who are homeless, displaced, in the foster care system, and recently released youth from juvenile detention centers and in an alternative educational setting. For the past four years, she has led parent workshops through Modesto Junior College for resource families in Stanislaus County, including CASA workers, social workers, residential treatment staff, teachers, counselors, administrators, families, and community partners. She has professionally trained thousands of adult professionals, parents, and students in San Joaquin, Fresno, Kings, Stanislaus, and Merced Counties, with no plans to slow down. She has been consulting with MUHSD for 3 years.