How About HOPE

Joining Julie and Chrissa this week are Mikhayla Hughes-Shaw and Simone Collins, Founder and Board President of How About HOPE (Helping Others and Providing Encouragement). Mikhaya, Miss Iowa 2018, founded How About HOPE to help create and sustain conversations about suicide and mental health. She was quickly joined by childhood friend and Heart and Solutions therapist, Simone Collins.

This week on the show we hear about the work they are both doing with How About HOPE, barriers to mental health help for people of color, and their own journeys with mental health and counseling.

Connect with How About HOPE online at:

To start behavioral or mental health services in Iowa, with a provider like Simone, call Heart and Solutions at (800) 531-4236.

Connect with Heart and Solutions online at:

You Need a Counselor is a podcast designed for people curious about counseling, but who have barriers keeping them from experiencing the benefits of counseling.  Our mission is to share stories about counseling good, bad, indifferent, and spread the message that everyone can benefit from mental health and behavioral health counseling services.

Simone-Collins Written by Simone Collins on May 1, 2022.

As a Clinical Mental Health Counselor, it is my job, and my purpose, to listen to your story and assist you with developing the skills required to create and live the life you desire and deserve. I want to help celebrate your successes, help you realize the strengths you already possess, provide a safe space for you to process life’s challenges, and empower you to be the best version of yourself. As a counselor, I use a strengths-based, trauma informed, collaborative, and culturally sensitive approach to counseling in order to provide a safe environment for people from all walks of life to help process grief, work through trauma, increase healthy coping skills, manage stress, set healthy boundaries, and improve self-confidence. No matter your sexual orientation, gender identity, religious affiliation, race/ethnicity, etc., you can be guaranteed that you will walk into a safe, attentive, and nonjudgmental space in order to process mental health and related concerns so that you can live your best life!

Get to know Simone a little better.