Dr. Sherie Hawkins

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Years ago, when the phrase “joining you on your journey towards your best life possible” first came to me, I knew it described something sacred about the work we do at Hope Springs.

To be invited into someone’s story is one of the greatest honors of my life. Whether I am sitting with a client in a crossroads moment, walking alongside a fellow therapist as they grow in their clinical calling, holding space for my children as they become who they are meant to be, or wrapping my arms around someone I love during one of life’s storms — I never take lightly the trust that is placed in me.

People’s stories are tender. They are brave. They are complicated, beautiful, messy, and holy. When someone allows me to witness their pain, their questions, their hopes, their fears, their healing, and their becoming, I consider that an extraordinary gift.

My work has always been rooted in this belief: we are not broken beyond repair. We are layered. We are shaped by what we have lived through. And sometimes, beneath the responsibilities, trauma, noise, survival strategies, and expectations of life, we simply lose connection with who we really are.

Hope Springs was born from my desire to create a space where people could come home to themselves — mind, body, and spirit.

I began my academic journey at the University of Georgia, where I earned my Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology in 1995. I then pursued my Master of Science degree in Professional Counseling at Western Carolina University, graduating in 1998. During that time, I also discovered one of my lifelong passions: teaching. While at Western Carolina, I taught a Study Skills and Introduction to College course for incoming freshmen, and something in me lit up. I realized that I loved helping others understand themselves, develop confidence, and step into their own capacity for growth.

That love of teaching has remained woven through my career. I have had the privilege of educating master’s and doctoral-level counseling students through my work as a professor and core faculty member with universities including Adams State University, Liberty University, and Walden University. Teaching future counselors has become one of the great joys of my professional life because it allows me to multiply healing far beyond the therapy room. When counselors are well-trained, deeply self-aware, and grounded in ethical, compassionate practice, entire communities are impacted.

After completing my master’s degree, my professional path took me first into leadership and business development with Sylvan Learning Systems in Atlanta. During that season, I opened and acquired multiple learning centers and served as Vice President of Operations for more than six years. That experience sharpened my leadership, entrepreneurial, and organizational skills in ways I could not have anticipated. It taught me how to build systems, grow teams, cast vision, and create sustainable spaces for learning and transformation.

Eventually, though, the call back to counseling became too strong to ignore.

I returned fully to therapy-based work, and over the years my clinical path expanded to include individual counseling, group work, seminars, workshops, trauma treatment, testing and assessments, counselor supervision, professional training, and integrative healing experiences. I am a Nationally Certified Counselor, a Licensed Professional Counselor, a Certified Professional Counselor Supervisor, a Certified EMDR Practitioner, a Certified Anger Management Specialist, and a Certified Forest Therapy Guide. I completed my Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision through Regent University in 2014, further deepening my clinical, supervisory, teaching, and assessment skills.

My clinical work has continued to evolve because I have continued to evolve.

I believe deeply in evidence-based care. I also believe that healing is bigger than talk therapy alone. The body holds stories. The nervous system remembers. Nature restores. Movement reveals. Spirit matters. Energy matters. Meaning matters. The way we are designed matters. The environments we heal in matters.

Because of this, my work has grown into a blend of clinical wisdom, trauma-informed care, EMDR therapy, EMDR Intensives, Medication-Assisted EMDR Trauma Work for appropriate clients, nature-based therapy, embodiment, mindfulness, and a deep respect for each person’s unique healing path.

Over time, I found myself longing for a more organic therapeutic space — one where healing could happen not only in an office, but also beneath the trees, beside animals, around a fire, on a trail, in stillness, in movement, and in honest connection with the natural world. 

I often say that people accumulate “stuff” as they move through life — responsibilities, expectations, trauma, grief, roles, accomplishments, disappointments, survival patterns, and the constant pressure to keep going. Somewhere along the way, many of us lose touch with our own innate needs: comfort, variety, significance, love, growth, contribution, freedom, belonging, and purpose.

And when those needs go unseen or unmet for too long, we can begin to feel disconnected from ourselves.

I believe healing is the process of remembering.

Remembering what brings us peace.
Remembering what lights us up.
Remembering what our body has been trying to say.
Remembering that we are allowed to want more than survival.
Remembering that authenticity is not selfish — it is necessary.

My own personality and design are woven into the way I work. I am a free-spirited, intuitive, entrepreneurial soul with a deep love for people, possibility, and transformation. I am a builder, a teacher, a clinician, a guide, a mother, a creative thinker, and an emotional responder who has learned to honor the wisdom that comes through feeling deeply. I am passionate about helping people understand not only what has happened to them, but who they are beneath it all.

At Hope Springs, my desire is to offer more than symptom reduction. I want to help create spaces where people experience whole healing and true transformation — where they can reconnect with their minds, listen to their bodies, tend to their spirits, understand their stories, and walk forward with more clarity, courage, and alignment.

I believe every person has an authentic self waiting beneath the noise.

And I believe it is one of the greatest honors of my life to help people find their way back home.

Please note, I do not accept insurance, but a monthly super bill will be uploaded to your client portal should you wish to submit for reimbursement. HSA & FSA cards are accepted.