Howard Glasser is Founder is the creator and developer of the Nurtured Heart Approach^®. He is a voice of greatness so that others can ultimately find their own voice of greatness.

Howard’s background is in family treatment, clinical studies and educational leadership. His formal studies along with direct experience with the most intense and challenging children form the basis of the approach that he has now brought to many. He has been referred to as one of the most influential persons working to reduce children’s reliance on psychiatric medications. His work is inspiring a growing number of educational and treatment initiative worldwide and has been featured on CNN, Esquire and more.

Howard is the author of 15 books, including Transforming the Difficult Child, a longstanding bestseller on intense and challenging children. He is a sought-after Keynote speaker in areas of treatment, educational and inspiring greatness. Nurtured Heart is currently being researched by Rutgers University, the University of Arizona's Zuckerman School of Public Health, and the New Mexico State University.

Howard currently teaches Nurtured Heart Approach Certification Training Intensives at the Nurtured Heart Institute as well as teaching at University of Arizona’s Integrative Medicine Program and the School of Public Health’s new Transformational Wellness program.

His upcoming book due out in 2022 is an unfolding and ‘Notching In’ of the Nurtured Heart Approach from the ‘Inside Out.'

Heather Meyer is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Certified Nurtured Heart Approach^® Advanced Trainer, Certified NHA Peer Mentor and Peer Leader.  Through her counseling and consulting practice, Dynamic Wisdom, LLC, Heather teaches the Nurtured Heart Approach^® through individual and family sessions, classes and workshops. She has dedicated the last 29 years to empowering individuals with emotional and behavioral challenges to transform their intensity toward emotional healing and positive purpose. Her clinical experiences through the years have included: behavioral consultation with parents, caregivers, residential agencies, day programs and school personnel; intensive court ordered therapeutic mental health therapy services for parents, children and teens; residential services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities; therapeutic crisis intervention and ongoing roles in clinical supervision and program management.  Heather lives in Indianapolis, Indiana in a quaint 1907 bungalow with her 3^rd Nurtured Heart raised rescue, Tzion the Kitty.

Nara Derapelian is an NHA Kid, All Grown U now. Nara came to the US at age 6 after being adopted from Russia and was raised in New Hampshire by a single mother.  As a young teenager, the Nurtured Heart Approach was introduced into life and would become an interictal part of her way to journey through life.  Nara has a background in Social Work and has worked with homeless youth, advocating for those in Foster Care as a CASA and even as a 911 Dispatcher.  Later She pursued a degree in Communications and social media as her path for helping people took on a different meaning.

Today, Nara has her own business as a consultant using her technical and marketing expertise to support small businesses and non-profits.  Nara is a part of the Nurtured Heart Institute team as an Engagement Strategist and is involved with all things Trainers and CTI’s!

Co-Founders of The Institute for Applied Meditation on the Heart, iamHeart.org.

Susanna: Antioch University, Counseling Psychology, M.A., University of Vienna, Clinical Psychology A.B.D. Clinical work at the Psychiatric Hospital of Vienna. Theater Director, The State Theater, Basel Switzerland. Directs the mentoring and private retreat programs at iamHeart.

Puran: University of Pennsylvania Computer Science M.S., A.B.D. Teacher of meditation for 51 years. Researcher of the physiological effects of meditation. Spiritual activist.

Scarlett Lewis founded the nonprofit Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement in honor of her son, Jesse, who was murdered during the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy in December 2012. Shortly after his death, Scarlett decided to be part of the solution to the issues that we’re seeing in our society — that also caused the tragedy — and turned it into an opportunity to build a culture of love, resilience, forgiveness, and connection in our communities at a time when it is needed the most.

Scarlett became an advocate for social and emotional learning (SEL) and character development to help children manage their emotions, feel connected, and have healthy, meaningful relationships. She created the Choose Love For Schools program, a no cost, comprehensive, lifespan, next generation character and social emotional development (CSED) program that teaches children how to thoughtfully respond with love in any situation by using the Choose Love Formula (Courage + Gratitude + Forgiveness + Compassion-in-Action), and offer ways for children to handle adversity, have courageous conversations, and to respond with love. Choose Love extends beyond the classroom through additional no-cost programs, including programs for the home, communities, athletics, and the workplace. In addition, the movement offers Choose Love C.A.R.E.S. (Cultivating Authentic Relationships in the Education System) and Experiential Educator Wellness Workshops for school leaders and educators, and multiple extension programs. The Choose Love programs have been accessed in all 50 states and in more than 120 countries, reaching 3 million children.

Scarlett Lewis is the author of Nurturing Healing Love: A Mother’s Journey of Hope & Forgiveness, a memoir of her journey toward choosing love and forgiveness; From Sandy Hook to the World: How the Choose Love Movement Transforms Lives, an in-depth look at how Scarlett founded the Movement and its impact around the world today; and Rose’s Foal, a children’s book, with photographs by Scarlett Lewis, that tells the poignant story of a beloved horse and her newborn foal.

Since the tragedy, Scarlett has spoken across the U.S. and internationally to diverse audiences sharing her empowering story and the organization’s far-reaching programs, urging everyone to become part of the solution to the issues the world is facing. Scarlett has spoken at multiple national, statewide, and community-based events including hundreds of talks at schools, addressing educators and administrators. In 2021, Scarlett was named a Forbes 50 over 50 Impact Honoree, one of 50 women leading the way with impact and changing their communities and the world in ways big and small through social entrepreneurship, law, advocacy and education.

Tia Sanders - LCSW, Assistant Project Director, Promising Path to Success 2.0 Grant with Rutgers University

Dawn Kowalczyk - LMFT, Program Coordinator, Promising Path to Success 2.0 Grant with Rutgers University

Tia K. Sanders - is a licensed clinical social worker. She is a graduate of The College of New Jersey and received her Masters in Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania. She has over 20 years’ experience in working with youth and families in the nonprofit and human service arenas. She has a long history of service in the areas of higher education, foster care, residential care, and juvenile justice. She has served as a Program Director, Director of Quality and Assistant Director of Residential Services. Currently serving as the Assistant Project Director for New Jersey Department of Children and Families’ Children’s System of Care (CSOC) Promising Path to Success 2.0 grant. PPS2 provides coaching and training in Six Core Strategies to Reducing Seclusion and Restraint Use^© and the Nurtured Heart Approach^© to CSOC system partners and Office of Education schools, assists with the training of NHA to resource families and staff and promotes youth and family voice in the CSOC Children’s Interagency Coordinating Councils. Tia is an advanced trainer and Peel Leader in training of the Nurtured Heart Approach. She has seen the transformative power of NHA in her own life and career and advocates for others to embed it into their personal and professional practices daily. She is the owner of Hopechest Consultations in New Jersey, a counseling and consulting agency. She provides individual and family counseling, consults on youth program development, is a published author and speaks on mental health and resiliency. She proudly shares her life with her family and friend.

Dawn Kowalczyk has been in the behavioral health field for 22 years, and has experience working in children’s systems of care and child welfare in three states. Dawn has extensive clinical and consulting work in outpatient, in-home, residential, and with couples, families, and groups. She coordinated the clinical program for an alternative high school, and the transformation to a healing centered milieu earned the National School of Character Award in 2014. Dawn has diverse administrative experience in grant writing, performance improvement, program management, training, team building, and leadership. She holds a certificate in Traumatic Stress Studies from the Trauma Center at Justice Resource Institute, and has also been a Nurtured Heart Approach^® (NHA) Advanced Trainer for 15 years.  She coordinates the statewide NHA Trainer Learning Community, which is over 400 strong. Dawn is an Air Force Veteran, served as a NJ DCPP resource parent for 9 years, and is a proud DCPP adoptive parent.

Bart has over 15yrs experience working across Government and non-government sectors in the mental health delivery and program creation.  He has presented nationally and internationally on strengths-based interventions and managing extreme behaviors in children and adolescents, as well as consulted to companies and their leadership on mental health awareness and assisting with responding to traumatic incidents.  Bart was the Founder of NHA Australia and now has a particular interest for in men's mental health and helping men become the very best version of themselves, be it in the home as a partner or father, the workplace or on the sporting field.  Bart has a passion for understanding the relationships between exercise and mental health and this has led to him recently commencing PhD in Human Movement at the University of Queensland.  He is also a facilitator of the AFL Mental Health Awareness program- Tackle Your Feelings and an accredited ZUU fitness silver level coach.  Most importantly, Bart is a husband to an amazing lady and the very proud father of 2 little girls.

Jeff Waller is a thought leader in social and emotional learning, personal achievement, and youth empowerment.  He is the co-author of The 7 Mindsets to Live Your Ultimate Life. He is alos the co-author of Ridiculously Amazing Schools, Creating a Culture where Everyone Thrives. He is the co-founder of 7 Mindsets Corporation, a multi-million dollar social and emotional learning solution provider currently serving 500,000 students in thirty-two states.

Jeff has spent the last fifteen years observing hundreds of schools and thousands of classrooms. He has interviewed over 100 of the most successful administrators and teachers in the country. Through this work he has co-authored two books and co-developed the revolutionary 7 Mindsets program that delivers curriculum and professional development to schools and classrooms from kindergarten to twelfth grade.

A motivational speaker, Jeff is also the co-founder of the Magic Wand Foundation, an organization dedicated to empowering youth to live their dreams and make a positive impact on the world.  Jeff is also co-creator of the Ultimate Life Summit, a blended empowerment event that combines dynamic live seminars with existing and emerging tools to promote youth empowerment.

He has dedicated the last two decades to learning and understanding the critical elements that define high achievers.   Jeff lives in Roswell, Georgia with his wife and three children.