Areliz Barbosa

Community Health

Clinical Assistant Professor and Senior Project Coordinator, Bay Path University

She’s a Fighter and Advocate Who Helps Others Overcome and Thrive

Areliz Barbosa

Areliz Barbosa says she was born a fighter.

“My midwife, her name was Olivia. And my mom was screaming at the top of her lungs, and she had to get on top of my mom and literally forced me out before they grabbed the forceps to pull me out,” she related. “My mom was so grateful to her that she gave me her middle name.”

It’s a name, she said, that derives from the olive tree, and Barbosa said it also has connotations of strong roots — and it’s a middle name she has often reflected on.

“In order for her to thrive and survive, you need strong roots. And in order for me to be able to overcome the things I’ve overcome is because of the roots I’ve been able to make here in Western Mass. and my mentors and people that I’ve been able to connect with.”

While she’s a professor at Bay Path University and juggles many other roles as well (more on those later), Barbosa also recently founded Olivia’s Mission LLC, a social impact business dedicated to advancing health equity.

“I often say, like Mother Teresa, ‘I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples.’ It’s really about investing in other people and helping them,” she told BusinessWest. “I also am a plant lady, and a lot of teachers or professors use the analogy of planting a seed so people can grow into their full potential. So these are just little seeds that I’m planting to better serve our world and inspire the next generation.”

Her specific role at Bay Path is clinical assistant professor and senior project coordinator of SAMHSA initiatives, she explained, referring to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

“In order for her to thrive and survive, you need strong roots. And in order for me to be able to overcome the things I’ve overcome is because of the roots I’ve been able to make here in Western Mass. and my mentors and people that I’ve been able to connect with.”

“I work within our physician assistant program, which sits in our Health Science department. I help develop a curriculum that’s focused on substance use disorder, multiple pathways to recovery, harm reduction, co-occurring disorders, and addressing the stigmas around substances.”

She also has an adjunct role in workforce development at Holyoke Community College (HCC), providing support and training to community health workers.

“Areliz co-develops interdisciplinary curriculum focused on public health, mental health, and substance use. She mentors future healthcare professionals through a lens of cultural humility and community engagement, preparing them to meet today’s complex health challenges with compassion and competence,” said Terry DeVito, academic dean in the School of Health & Natural Sciences at Bay Path, one of an impressive five individuals who nominated Barbosa as a Healthcare Hero.

“Areliz’s body of work reflects a lifetime of achievement rooted in resilience, faith, and service,” she added. “Her career has empowered thousands, not just through direct care or education, but by inspiring others to lead, advocate, and believe in their own capacity to heal.”

Up from the Ashes

Barbosa’s career began 28 years ago as a CNA at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, N.Y. But she said the experiences that shaped what she wanted to do with her life began much earlier.

“I identify with lived experience. And what I mean by that is, I’ve experienced racial trauma and physical, mental, and sexual abuse. So a lot of the things that I do now in my roles is advocating and bringing that into classroom settings, into the curriculum, to better strengthen students’ knowledge, but also improve the system.”

For the past 23 years, Areliz Barbosa (second from left) has coordinated a program that provides free Thanksgiving meals to people who need them.

DeVito agreed. “What distinguishes Areliz as a community health hero is her ability to connect with individuals while transforming systems,” she wrote. “Whether she is guiding students, designing wellness models, or speaking truth in clinical settings, she brings both empathy and strategy to every initiative she leads.”

Barbosa said it’s personally rewarding to bring a lived experience perspective into the classroom.

“I feel like my story is a story of resilience, when we choose not to give up. And it’s not easy to break generational poverty. But being that person that I wish I had growing up, that gives me the reward. And also knowing what I’ve been able to overcome, there are lessons in there — multiple lessons to be shared so people can learn. It doesn’t define who I am today, but there are lessons to be learned from it.”

She intends to share those lessons in a number of ways outside the classroom, starting with a memoir she’s writing titled There Is a Purpose for Your Pain. She’s also speaking at the annual Rise Up conference, taking place on Oct. 9 at the MassMutual Center in Springfield.

Her lived experience as a trauma survivor — not only as a child, but as an adult; she came to Western Mass. from New York due to a domestic violence situation — also informed the creation of Olivia’s Mission, which aims to create a safe, empowering space for women through peer support groups and specialized training opportunities on behavioral health education; grief, loss, and healing; public health core competencies; family planning; and more.

“I am a domestic violence survivor, and I want to use my story to inspire other women,” she said. “Even local businesses have started to reach out to me — maybe a customer needs help, or is experiencing a crisis, and they’re asking, ‘can you help him with some resources?’ So, again, it’s a resource to anyone that needs help.”

As DeVito put it, “through Olivia’s Mission, Areliz collaborates with faith-based organizations, healthcare institutions, and academic programs to design wellness solutions rooted in cultural responsiveness and community empowerment.”

“I know what it’s like to be homeless, having to sleep on a park bench. So I never forget where I came from. It’s just having that heart of gratitude that I was able to overcome a lot of these things and serve my community.”

But Barbosa is active in the community in other ways as well. As a member of the New England Public Health Training Center advisory committee, she advocates for the voices of community health workers and calls for inclusive representation across all levels of public and healthcare systems.

She also provides expert insight to medical students through several initiatives, including Baystate Health’s Wellness on Wheels, where she emphasizes trust building between providers and patients; Baystate’s Population-based Urban and Rural Community Health committee, where she contributes to culturally informed panel discussions; and Bay Path’s Health Resources and Services Administration advisory board, where she shares strategies for culturally humble engagement and serving diverse populations.

She also just created Healing Through Motherhood, a support group for mothers of adult children (her own son is 23). Participants, she explained, will include mothers facing the challenge of supporting an adult child (or children) through trauma, unhealthy behaviors, or emotional distress. Here, they can access a safe space to connect, share, and heal together, while building community and support and navigating life transitions that aren’t often talked about.

In addition, for the past 23 years, Barbosa has coordinated a Thanksgiving outreach that provides free meals to individuals.

“When I started it from my home, we served 34 meals. Last year, we were able to serve over 1,000 meals,” she said, noting that, this November, the HCC MGM Culinary Arts Institute will collaborate on the project. “It’s just getting bigger and better.”

This is, in fact, one more way Barbosa’s lived experience informs her work today.

“I know what it’s like to be homeless, having to sleep on a park bench. So I never forget where I came from. It’s just having that heart of gratitude that I was able to overcome a lot of these things and serve my community.”

Matters of Perspective

That’s a lot of roles, for sure, and it’s not even the whole list of what Barbosa does. For example, she also mentors emerging entrepreneurs through EforAll Holyoke, and as the Massachusetts coordinator for Power 4 Puerto Rico, she champions just recovery and economic self-sufficiency for the island, demonstrating another way in which public health intersects with national policy, disaster resilience, and social justice.

In talking about her memoir and her upcoming appearance at Rise Up, Barbosa was reflective on the ways in which she has turned hardship and trauma into a tool for helping others.

“I’m just excited to be where I’m at, to be able to overcome the challenges that I have overcome and be a productive individual, able to contribute to my community.

“It all comes back to our perspective,” she added. “How do we define success? For me, it’s having a sound mind, emotional intelligence, being able to connect with people, building community, and overcoming the trauma, the anxiety, the depression. It’s so rewarding to be able to inspire others so they, too, can overcome these things with the right support and the right environment.”

Areliz Barbosa says her work is rooted in faith, empathy, gratitude, and resilience.

Barbosa also talks enthusiastically about her Christian faith, which she said began when she was pregnant with her son.

“That’s really where my healing started. I knew, when I moved here, it was my second chance. I knew that I didn’t want my son to go through what I went through. I wanted to change. I wanted better for him.”

And she also wanted to give back, as evidenced by the Thanksgiving outreach that began shortly after.

“I remember telling my mom, ‘I want to do this — it’s just something that I feel was put in my heart.’ I didn’t have a car, and I remember putting all the meals in a little warmer in my son’s Eddie Bauer stroller and walking with him. That was the year it snowed a lot.”

Her faith is, in fact, deeply veined with both service and empathy, something she’s quick to explain at a time when many Christians are at odds with certain marginalized populations. “I believe in respecting people’s autonomy and choice, and it’s important for me to vocalize that in spaces where I have opportunities to be, because there are a lot of people being targeted who identify with the LGBT+ community.”

Add it all up, and the picture that emerges from Barbosa’s life is one of an inspiring — and very busy — community leader who, as DeVito put it, blends lived experience with academic and professional expertise to bring dignity, healing, and justice to underserved populations.

“Areliz has consistently built bridges between healthcare and the communities it must serve. Olivia’s Mission stands as a model for how community-led health promotion can be both effective and sustainable,” she added. “For her visionary leadership, tireless advocacy, and enduring impact, Areliz Barbosa is a true Healthcare Hero. She doesn’t just serve the community — she uplifts, empowers, and transforms it.”