We strive to help individuals better understand themselves, their relationships, and the systems shaping their lives. Through education, compassion, and evidence-informed care, we aim to create opportunities for deeper understanding, meaningful healing, and lasting growth.
Some beliefs helped you survive. Healthier beliefs can help you heal.
Welcome to Mental Wellness University, Licensed Clinical Social Worker Inc.
“At Mental Wellness University, we don't measure success by how long someone needs therapy. We measure success by how confidently they carry the skills they've learned into everyday life. You are not rewriting your story because your past didn't matter. You are reinventing the way you speak to yourself because your future does. We can't grow for you, BUT we may be able to help you create the conditions where growth becomes possible. Dreams don’t work unless you do too. At MWU, we aim for progression, not perfection. Therapy doesn't plant a new person. Therapy creates the conditions for the person who has always been there to grow. We don't create growth. We help uncover the capacity that was there all along.”
-Ms. Hawkins (MWU Founder/CEO)
Ready to begin your healing journey?
You've been managing for a long time.
Something hasn’t felt right—the mood shifts, anxiety, overthinking, exhaustion, or distance you’re noticing in your child or teenager. You may not have the words or answers yet, and that’s okay.
You don’t have to figure it out alone. Take the first step. We’ll take the next ones with you.
What would it feel like to leave a session and feel like you got somewhere?
Not because you simply vented but because something shifted. You gained insight, learned a practical skill, or found words for what you have been carrying.
Our hope is that you leave each session feeling more empowered, equipped, and confident in your next step.
Healing rarely happens all at once. It unfolds through small moments that gradually transform your life.
LAURESHA Z. HAWKINS
Founder, CEO, & Clinical Director
MEET YOUR LCSW
I’m Lauresha — a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with over 15 years of experience across some of the most demanding clinical and non-clinical environments in the field. What I bring to every session can be something most therapists never develop: a deep, firsthand understanding of the whole system that surrounds my clients — the insurance plans, Managed Care Organizations, inpatient hospitals, residential treatment facilities, the community resources, family dynamics, trauma, the pain, and even the faith journey.
I don’t just treat mental health, I treat the whole person. I meet every client I serve exactly where they are, trusting that they can move forward with true healing and restoration.
My clinical focus centers on supporting adolescents, transitional aged youth, and adults as they navigate the heavy weights of mood disorders, deep-seated trauma, anxiety, OCD, and more. My educational foundation includes a Master of Social Work from the University of Southern California (2015), where I specialized in Families and Children, and a Master of Public Health from Claremont Graduate University (2025).
My advanced research and capstone work were dedicated to creating vital interventions for the Black Maternal Mental Health crisis, addressing the heartbreaking rise of Black mortality rates across the nation. I believe that understanding these systemic realities is essential to providing the whole-person care and treatment every individual deserves.
Mental Wellness University, Licensed Clinical Social Worker Inc. exists to educate, empower, and inspire lifelong healing by serving clients, developing clinicians, and strengthening communications through compassionate mental health care.
Because healing is, and always will be, a forever journey.
Now Streaming: The Therapy You Didn’t Know You Needed
The Therapy You Didn't Know You Needed, LLC is a transformative podcast co-founded and co-hosted by Lauresha Z. Hawkins, LCSW, MSW, MPH, Founder of Mental Wellness University, Licensed Clinical Social Worker Inc., and Malaysia G. Davis, visionary founder of Lays Golden Kidz and The Brunch Book Klub, LLC.
Together, they have created a space where honest conversations become catalysts for healing, self-discovery, and meaningful change. Through authentic storytelling, clinical insight, lived experiences, and unfiltered dialogue, they challenge listeners to examine the beliefs, behaviors, and patterns that often shape their lives without conscious awareness.
Rooted in the belief that education is an essential part of healing, the podcast seeks to dismantle the stigma surrounding mental health while fostering emotional intelligence, accountability, resilience, and personal growth. Every episode is an invitation to think more deeply, feel more honestly, and embrace the lifelong journey of becoming the healthiest version of yourself.
These are the conversations many people have never been taught to have—but desperately need. Whether exploring relationships, trauma, family dynamics, boundaries, culture, grief, identity, or everyday life, The Therapy You Didn't Know You Needed creates a courageous space where vulnerability is met with compassion, difficult truths become opportunities for growth, and healing begins through understanding.
Because sometimes, the therapy you didn’t know you needed starts with a conversation.
