Team Biographies

Johanne Acosta was born and raised in Ponce, Puerto Rico and  has been serving the community of Pleasant Grove since 2016 as an educator and now as a life coach and counselor. 

Johanne holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Forensic Psychology from the University of Puerto Rico, and a Master’s Degree in Counseling and Guidance from the Pontificia Universidad Católica of Puerto Rico. 

In Puerto Rico, Johanne worked as a case manager at a center for health services for families of low socioeconomic means. There, Johanne discovered a passion and natural gift for guiding others through challenging times in their lives. With a desire to further expand these gifts, she served as an academic advocate at Trinity College of Puerto Rico. As an academic advocate, Johanne had the opportunity to guide and mentor students who were struggling academically and personally through classes, individual consultancies and workshops.

After moving to Texas from Puerto Rico, Johanne entered the world of education as a Spanish teacher, and later, as the Family Partnership Coordinator at Cristo Rey Dallas located in Pleasant Grove. In this role, Johanne was able to create and implement a curriculum for family support services that focused on helping families understand their children’s high school experience, the demands of a college-prep program, and gain the tools for supporting their children’s academic experience.  

While working at Cristo Rey, Johanne became pregnant with her first child and faced many challenges that many women go through during and after their pregnancies but were unknown to her. Feeling that no mother should be surprised about these challenges and go through them alone, Johanne became certified as a Mentor Life Coach and Perinatal Counselor. 

Johanne is happy to combine all of her training and professional and personal experiences to guide families in the Pleasant Grove community through the creation and implementation of a robust curriculum that will empower parents in this community to realize their strengths and gifts and gain the knowledge and tools to help their children through the challenges they face through a mental health illness.

As a Latina who is proud of her roots, Johanne is passionate about her culture and traditions, loves to travel abroad, crafting, international food, cooking and music. She is a happy mother, wife and daughter.