Today we’d like to introduce you to Kathleen Hassenfratz.
Hi Kathleen, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Being born and raised in a military family (my dad was in the Air Force), life was structured, but change was always occurring~! We lived in 5 states and 2 different countries by the time I was entering my junior year in high school so acclimating to new environments and at times having to assimilate into different social groups became somewhat of a skill I still possess. I knew very early that I wanted to be a teacher and so after graduating from the University of Texas Austin, I taught for 6 years before attaining my masters degree in Guidance Counseling from Southwest Texas University (now Texas State) Working primarily with middle and high school students labeled ‘at risk’ based on a variety of public school indicators touched my heart and soul in a way that allowed me to know I had found my ‘calling’. I continued to work in the public school setting in and around Austin for 28 years yet realized that continuing to work in the public school setting would tie my hands at really helping young adults become equipped with the tools they need to have a voice, and to use that voice to communicate what they needed to find joy and to attain their goals. While in the public school setting, I worked to become licensed as a professional counselor here in the state of Texas and opened a small private practice. During those years of juggling full time work and the part time practice, the suicide rate of young adults continued to rise. I had an ‘ah ha’ moment in the fall of 2018, upon retiring from the public education arena, when I absolutely knew my passion: equipping young adults and their caregivers with the education and tools they might need to become mentally healthy and to decrease the number of suicides in our area. For a short time, I launched and managed a non profit called Tune into Life, with the entire focus being on giving young adults voice around their mental health; then COVID affected our trajectory and I pivoted to join forces with another local 501c3 called the Engage and Heal Foundation. Now as I sit on this board of community leaders, our goal of this foundation is to bring awareness to mental health and wellness through providing mental health literacy to young adults and their caregivers, both through actual classes and an app we just launched call Mind Map. This app houses an evidence-based library of mental health literacy, mindfulness activities and prompts and community resources that have been curated to fit our local community. We are also looking forward to our 3rd annual Mental Health Symposium coming up on February 27, 2026, where we’ll have 2 key note addresses, and 4 breakout session times all for a nominal price for our community to come learn and mentally cope, nourish, heal and thrive together!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Absolutely there have been struggles and challenges! Having never planted actual long term roots in one place as a kid/teen, making friends was easy, but only because I would assimilate to ‘fit in’ if you will. There are advantages to learning how to ‘fit in’ as when I did become a teacher, I could relate to kids who felt isolated and or didn’t ‘fit in’ naturally; I believe this was my initial calling to become a school counselor. As I got further into my professional career in the public school setting, the challenges of having students from lower income homes became evident. They were not only lacking basic school supplies at times, but also often struggled with keeping up with the school work, and/or making the correct behavioral decisions both in and out of the classroom. I was drawn to these kiddos, though. By the time I be a Chemical Abuse and Prevention Counselor lead in one of the districts for which I worked, I had begun to create specific curriculum to be used while I was working with students assigned to the Alternative Education Placement Program. I connected authentically with these kiddos while many teachers and administrators were frustrated and only viewing the student through a punitive lens. Getting trained as a ROPES course facilitator (and then going on to become the ROPES Course Coordinator in two different districts, including the planning of and oversight of ropes course construction on different campuses, training of staff to become ROPES course facilitators, and developing curriculum around events at the ropes courses) changed the trajectory of how I realized young adults learn and grow the most: through experiential learning and having their voices interjected in that process. The biggest struggle of getting students on the ROPES courses became not having enough staff to get groups there on a regular basis, and of course, funding. During this amazing professional growth I was experiencing, I unfortunately experienced a divorce and was grieving too immensely to keep my private practice going as well. I had not yet had children of my own, but learned about how grief can affect someone in areas of personal as well as work life. Thank goodness for supportive colleagues as many days I felt incapacitated to focus on helping the students in my school counseling groups yet my colleagues stepped up into my role and helped with counseling groups and sessions. As that season passed, I began a new journey in the final school district in which I worked, had gotten remarried and had 2 children of my own. I continued to develop curriculum for the students at the District’s Alternative Education Placement Center, built a ropes course in the district and continued to be the voice for many at-risk youth. When I was able to retire from public education, I dove into my private practice and begun a small non profit called Tune into Life, where having young adults guide our direction with their voices was the key. We focused on communicating to our community how teens felt about their own mental health and how to slow down the suicide rate amongst this age group. Then COVID hit and we were unable to provide our community-based programming that the youth had developed. Many of those students graduated during that time and the process of recruiting young adults willing to speak about mental health was a real challenge. The stigma around mental health is strong, and many fear being shamed or embarrassed to have to ask for health or to talk about their mental health challenges. Unable to stop my passion for this topic, though, I was introduced to a local mom, Amelia Floyd, who had created a foundation called the Engage and Heal Foundation, which focuses on starting conversations around mental health and educating youth and adults about mental health literacy. We are in our 6th year and are gaining momentum!
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I have been licensed as a therapist in the state of Texas since 1996 and also served in the public school setting for 28 consecutive years (1990-2018.) Going from a middle school English teacher to a school counselor, followed by managing the ropes courses, drug testing programs, alternative placement student counseling services and the health programs for 2 Central Texas school districts taught me a LOT!
My passion has evolved to working with young adults (15-25 year olds) to provide cognitive behavior therapy with a touch of life-coaching and unconditional positive regard. I believe I am known for being somewhat of a ‘teen whisperer’ in that my approach has always been authenticity matters and connection is the key.
I am most proud of organizing the building, creation and maintenance of over 6 ropes courses in 2 central Texas school districts, as well as the work with the alternative education students, where true connections occurred so that many of these students saw positive, life-long changes in their situations.
What sets me apart is being able to retire from a local school district, one in which I continued to raise my own children until they left for college, and then continue to work as hard to make positive changes in mental health literacy awareness and education in the school district as well as the surrounding community. My passion hasn’t died down since my own kids have left, but rather I believe just as much that giving teens/young adults a voice around the topic of how to better serve them as they develop especially in the mental health area, is one of the key parenting take-aways I can impress upon others.
What are your plans for the future?
During the next 3-5 years, I’ll continue to put my efforts into the Engage and Heal Foundation, where we’ve just recently launched a Mental Health Literacy app, free to download, called Mind Map. Powered by Sharpen, an evidence-based mental health platform developed by Transparency Labs, Inc, the app gives access to an award willing library of mental health literacy, mindfulness ideas, journal prompts and a direct connection to locally curated resources and counselors.
I’m also looking forward to seeing where my own 2 children’s life journeys take them and having as much time with them as their college schedules allow. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that I love to travel so my husband and I are looking forward to getting to Europe in the near future!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.engageandheal.org
- Instagram: @engageandheal
- Facebook: @engageandheal
- LinkedIn: @engageandhealfoundation
