New Counselor at MHCC: Collette Feasler

Photo by Lindsay Leeman

Mt. Hood Community College has a new counselor here to serve its students and help them with the trials and tribulations of college life: Collette Feasler, who was born, raised in and has lived around east Multnomah County her whole life.

“The eastside is my home and I’m so happy to give back to the community that helped nurture me into who I am today,” she told me.

Even more important, Feasler has strong personal ties to Mt. Hood. She grew up going to swim meets at the Aquatics Center and took her driver’s education classes here. Her mother earned an associate degree in Early Childhood Education here, as well.

To me, it is delightful to have someone who has their roots in East County here to advocate and support my fellow scholars.

Feasler earned a bachelor of science degree in psychology and master’s degree in clinical rehabilitation counseling from Portland State University. Clinical rehabilitation counseling is an awesome subset of counseling that focuses on an individual’s mental health, disability justice, and ability status throughout their lifespan, she said.

She worked her way through college as a Certified Nursing Assistant serving in assisted living, skilled nursing facility, and sub-acute mental health facilities along the way.

To me, this sounds like a heavy workload balanced with school, so she seems very familiar with the modern, hyper-busy student lifestyle.

More recently Feasler worked as a counselor for the past six years, before coming to MHCC. She served as a vocational rehabilitation counselor, which she called “a very rewarding position where I could support people with various disabilities (physical, mental health, cognitive, developmental, etc.).”

She said she hopes to bring that level of support to her new position. One of the things that attracted her to Mt. Hood is that she would love to “make mental health and college success skills as transparent and accessible as possible for people (especially first-generation college students like myself),” she said.

“I am also really passionate about centering anti-ableism and anti-racism in the interactions I have with students, colleagues, and community partners,” she added.

I, for one, am very grateful to have someone I can relate to on many levels as one of the several great counselors we have here on campus!