Seeing People Clearly Is Her Life’s Work
For more than three decades, Dr. LaVerne Hanes Collins has challenged mental health professionals to do something both simple and transformative: see people clearly.
As Founder and CEO of New Seasons Counseling, Training and Consulting, LLC, Dr. Collins has become a nationally respected voice on multicultural mental health, cultural responsiveness, leadership, and ethical clinical practice. Her work reaches counselors, educators, healthcare professionals, and organizations committed to serving people with greater understanding, compassion, and effectiveness.
Her mission was born from an observation that continues to shape her work today. Too often, individuals are misunderstood—not because they lack strengths, but because the systems designed to help them fail to recognize the cultural experiences that shape their lives.
That insight became the foundation of New Seasons Counseling, Training and Consulting. What began as a counseling practice has grown into a national platform for professional development, keynote speaking, consulting, continuing education, and leadership training. Today, Dr. Collins equips helping professionals with practical tools to better understand the intersection of culture, identity, trauma, resilience, and healing.
Her influence extends well beyond the classroom and counseling office. Dr. Collins recently achieved one of the profession’s highest honors when the American Counseling Association selected her to serve as Series Editor for The Inclusive Practice, an ambitious eight-volume publication examining counseling and psychotherapy through the lenses of cultural responsiveness and the decolonization of mental health services. The appointment follows her acclaimed two-year Honoring Diversity series in Counseling Today magazine.
“What makes this accomplishment meaningful isn’t the title,” she says. “It’s the opportunity to influence how future generations of counselors think about ethical and culturally informed practice.”
Dr. Collins believes effective counseling requires far more than technical expertise. It requires perspective. Her training encourages professionals to move beyond checklists and compliance toward deeper reflection, cultural humility, and informed decision-making. As a result, experienced clinicians often discover blind spots they never realized existed, leading to stronger therapeutic relationships and more meaningful client outcomes.
One of the issues she is most passionate about today is counselor burnout. As mental health professionals face growing caseloads, emotional fatigue, and increasing complexity, she believes the profession must prioritize the well-being of those who dedicate their lives to caring for others.
That commitment inspired the Culture and Clinical Decision-Making RESET, a live virtual experience taking place August 20–22, 2026, celebrating the 15th anniversary of New Seasons Counseling, Training and Consulting. More than another conference, RESET is designed as an opportunity for helping professionals to pause, reflect, recalibrate, and renew alongside nationally recognized thought leaders.
Throughout her career, Dr. Collins has remained guided by one powerful belief: meaningful transformation begins with understanding.
Her advice to emerging leaders is equally profound.
“Begin by decolonizing your own life,” she says. “Success becomes more sustainable when it is rooted in authenticity rather than performance.”
As conversations around mental health continue to evolve, Dr. LaVerne Hanes Collins is ensuring that culture remains central—not peripheral—to the conversation. Through her writing, speaking, consulting, and leadership, she is helping build a future where people are seen not through assumptions, but through understanding.
And in a world longing for deeper connection, that may be the most powerful prescription of all.
Learn more: NewSeasons.training
