Valerie Heard

Valerie J. Heard, MSW, RSW Executive Leader | Professional Regulator | Founder, VJH Learning Valerie J. Heard is an executive leader in professional regulation, ethics, and applied learning, with more than 15 years of experience across public service, professional oversight, and human services. She is widely recognized for her thoughtful, practical approach to ethical leadership, trauma-informed systems design, and professional learning in high-stakes environments. Valerie currently serves as Manager of Professional Conduct at the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers, where she provides strategic leadership on professional complaints, investigations, and risk management. In this role, she supports the work of statutory committees, leads complex regulatory processes, and contributes to policy and practice frameworks that uphold procedural fairness, public protection, and public trust. Her work sits at the intersection of accountability, ethics, and human impact. She is also the founder of VJH Learning, a values-driven learning and consulting practice that partners with regulators, nonprofits, and service-based organizations to strengthen ethical practice, leadership capacity, and system integrity. Through VJH Learning, Valerie designs and delivers training, facilitation, and consultation focused on ethical communication, trauma-informed practice, reflective leadership, and harm reduction in complex systems. Valerie is the creator of Conversations That Matter, a learning series designed to reduce harm, deepen professional insight, and strengthen ethical communication in high-pressure and relationally complex environments. In addition to group learning, her work includes tailored remediation, reflective supervision, and professional development support for practitioners and leaders navigating ethical risk, boundary concerns, or performance challenges. Her approach is structured, independent, and aligned with regulatory and governance expectations, supporting meaningful insight, accountability, and sustained ethical growth. Her leadership style is values-led, relational, and grounded in integrity. Valerie is known for bringing clarity to complexity, holding steady in emotionally charged or high-risk contexts, and building systems that reflect both accountability and care. She has contributed to national conversations on child welfare, mental health, and professional conduct through policy development, professional education, speaking engagements, and applied regulatory innovation. Valerie holds both a Bachelor and Master of Social Work from Dalhousie University, where she was awarded the Women Alumnae Medal as the top graduating student in her program. Outside of her professional work, Valerie is deeply connected to her home in Nova Scotia, where she lives with her partner and two children. She finds grounding in nature and in the quiet rituals of everyday life, kayaking, walking wooded trails, tending the garden, preserving food, and sharing meals prepared with care. These practices reflect the same values that shape her professional life: presence, steadiness, and connection. Valerie believes leadership is a form of service, a commitment to act with integrity, to hold space for growth, and to make decisions in the public interest. Her work, through both professional regulation and VJH Learning, reflects that commitment.