For more than three decades, Dr. LaVerne Hanes Collins has been on a mission to reframe the conversation around mental health. A Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor, trainer, author, keynote speaker, and consultant, she has made it her life’s work to move discussions of race, faith, culture, and trauma from the margins of counseling practice to the center where they belong.
Her work is not simply professional—it is deeply personal. The motivation comes from lived experience, moments of revelation, and an unshakable conviction that healing cannot occur if cultural realities are ignored.
A Defining “Why”: The Power of Being Seen
In 2001, on her first of many journeys to Africa, Dr. Collins stepped onto ancestral soil with anticipation and excitement. It was there in Ghana, West Africa, that she met Momma Christiana, a retired schoolteacher with a loving presence and maternal warmth. The two talked at length about the TransAtlantic slave trade before the elder spoke the words that pierced the air and settled deep into the young counselor’s spirit:
“We’ve been watching; and we know you built Europe, and we know you built America. And we are SO proud of you.”
Her words were not casual; they were weighty, deliberate, and layered with history. She spoke of what Africa had lost, how its shores had been emptied of generations of sons and daughters who carried the continent’s strength and skill to other lands. She acknowledged her own grief at witnessing Africa’s position in the world economy. And yet, her declaration to LaVerne reversed the narrative: the children taken from Africa had not disappeared into silence. They had endured, created, survived—and Africa had been watching all along.
For Dr. Collins, it was as though time collapsed. In that exchange, she felt the invisible thread connecting Africa to its diaspora, stretching across centuries of enslavement, erasure, and struggle. She was not just seen as an individual—she was seen as a representative of millions whose labor had built nations while their humanity was denied.
The affirmation was unforgettable: validation from the very roots of her ancestry. It was not sympathy. It was pride. It belonged. It was redemption for generations who had been made invisible in foreign lands. That encounter became one of Dr. Collins’ defining “Whys.”
A Career Rooted in Advocacy and Training
Over the years, Dr. Collins has translated that conviction into concrete action. She founded her practice, New Seasons Counseling, Training, and Consulting, LLC, dedicated to culturally centered counseling, professional training for mental health providers, and most recently, The Multicultural Masterclass (MC2), a train-the-trainer program that equips others to carry forward the work of multicultural education.
Through The Multicultural Masterclass, she trains experienced counselors to become state and national continuing education providers who understand the urgency of decolonizing therapy. Her programs emphasize that race, identity, and systemic oppression are not tangential issues—they are core realities shaping the mental health of millions.
Her voice has resonated in classrooms, boardrooms, and conferences nationwide. Whether training clinical teams, consulting with nonprofits, or delivering keynote addresses, she challenges audiences to see cultural intelligence not as an optional skill, but as a necessity for competent, ethical practice.
The Hard-Won Authority of Lived Experience
What gives Dr. Collins’ work its undeniable authority is not only her professional expertise but also the depth of her personal journey. She has walked through life-threatening illness, survived the devastating loss of her son, lived through divorce, found love again, and boldly reinvented her career.
Her book, Overlooked: Counselor Insights for the Unspoken Issues in Black American Life, captures her ability to weave clinical insight with cultural truth-telling. It speaks to both practitioners and community members, offering a lens for understanding the “unspoken” struggles of Black life in America and how counseling must respond.
Recognition of a Trailblazer
Her groundbreaking work has not gone unnoticed. Dr. Collins has received multiple awards and honors, including:
- Trailblazer Award from the Transformation Training Institute
- Named as one of the Top 10 Most Influential Leaders in Mental Health to Follow by USA Leaders Magazine
- The Mental Health Wellness Leadership Award from Business Honor Magazine
- Recognition as the Most Trusted Trainer in Mental Health Continuing Education to Follow by The Influential Today Magazine.
These honors affirm what colleagues and communities already know: Dr. Collins is reshaping the way mental health professionals think about culture, identity, and healing.
Why She Does This Work
Dr. Collins often says her work is rooted in a series of “Whys.”
- Why did Momma Christiana’s words matter so much? Because they shattered invisibility and validated an entire people.
- Why does she challenge therapists to go deeper? Because superficial approaches fail to reach People of Color carrying generational trauma.
- Why does she train other trainers? Because one voice is not enough—this work must multiply.
Each “Why” points back to the same truth: when culture is overlooked, people are overlooked. And when people are overlooked, healing is incomplete.
Still Here. Still Leading. Still Changing the Lens.
Today, as the founder of The Multicultural Lens e-magazine and host of The Multicultural Mindset podcast, Dr. Collins continues to speak boldly about cultural blind spots and new ways of seeing. Her life’s work insists that in order to heal, we must not only acknowledge pain but also reclaim identity and visibility.
Just as she was once told, “We’ve been watching, and we are proud of you,” Dr. Collins’ own legacy ensures that generations will no longer feel invisible. They will be seen. They will be heard. And they will heal.
For those eager to learn more about Dr. LaVerne Hanes Collins and her transformative work, visit New Seasons Counseling, Training & Consulting.
Connect with her on Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn for updates and insights. And don’t miss her book, “OVERLOOKED: Counselor Insights for the Unspoken Issues in Black American Life,” which offers valuable perspectives on Black American mental health.
