Breann Hirst
Clinical Social Worker
About Bre
Breann or Bre is a Clinical Social Worker licensed in the states of Illinois and Iowa. She received her Associate of Arts Degree at Black Hawk College, Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Sociology with a concentration in Social Welfare, and her Masters of Social Work at St. Ambrose University. Bre’s Social Work experience expands over ten years and includes working as a Direct Support Professional, Graduate Assistant to the Director of the School of Social Work at St. Ambrose University, family support roles, clinical school and office based Social Work through local mental health agencies of various sizes, has taught locally as Adjunct Professor for Black Hawk College, and Adjust Professor and Field Practicum Supervisor for St. Ambrose University. Bre was featured in the May 2025 GlobalMindED Newsletter for Mental Health Awareness Month; click here to read the article: Redefining Mental Health Through Compassion, Community, and Critical Practice: Meet Breann Hirst.
Bre owns and operates Wholehearted Connections, providing Clinical Social Work services in the forms of workshops, coaching, consultation, and therapy. She sits on the Social Work Advisory Committee for the State of Iowa and is a member of the National Association of Social Workers; adhering to their Code of Ethics which can be found by clicking here. She recently returned to her role as ‘Care Bear’ supporting Camp Kesem at the University of Iowa, a summer camp for kids who have be impacted by a parents cancer, supporting both campers and counselors navigate camp as part of the Health and Wellness team. Bre also co-hosts a conversational gathering, with a Social Work colleague and friend, called InterConnections With Madi and Bre, you can listen to Season 1 on Spotify and Apple Platforms. Recent formal learning experiences include completing the St. Ambrose Trauma Informed Care Microcredential Course in May 2024, becoming a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional Level II: Complex Trauma (CCTP-II) in June 2025, and in fall of 2026 becoming both a Certified Reproductive Mental Health Specialist and Certified Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT) Professional. In addition to enjoying learning through formal trainings, she also is an avid audiobook listener; a link to a list will be available soon. Bre incorporates all formal and informal learning experiences into Clinical Social Work services; which are are facilitated with compassion, collaboration, and learning strategies grounded in influential brain-body systems and relationship dynamics to support healing, wellbeing, and thriving practices unique to each of us.
Clinical Social Work Services
As a Clinical Social Worker, practices are eclectic and focus on an intersystemic framework which includes utilizing a combination of evidence-based and research-informed solution focused thriving strategies to support optimal health and wellbeing in all service modalities. Being an embodied somatic Social Work practitioner, means the services provided are facilitated with and grounded in biology or brain-body systems to support in healing and connected communication strategies in our vast relationship dynamics we navigate daily; including ourselves, family, friends, colleagues, classmates, teammates, neighbors, etc. - all Social Work Services are curated for each unique individual and group needs at time of connection.
Description of Services
workshops
Workshops refer to community learning opportunities for groups of various sizes and dynamics including online/virtual gatherings, school buildings/districts, business or workplace teams, agency/organization trainings. Workshops primarily focus on facilitating information through collaborative conversations, hands-on activities, comprehension through reflection to support the learning process.
coaching
Coaching Services focus on research-informed and evidence-based strategies to increase optimal functioning. Individual and groups who are seeking opportunities to learn, reflect, and productively integrate thriving strategies may benefit from coaching support. Services are oriented towards increasing understanding and compassion for strengthening team-bonding or to help facilitate group relational ruptures.
consultation
Consultation Services include support through coaching while also giving Bre the opportunity to collect information, provide offerings, and collaborate on solution-focused strategies to support connected system functioning. In addition to the coaching activities, individuals and groups who are participating in consultation will also experience learning activities focused towards the identified project, goal, or challenge that is being navigated.
therapy
Therapy Services focus on cognitive and physiological processing and healing from experiences that have caused or are currently causing distress in optimal functioning. Services are primarily done individually; however, as interconnected social beings, healing and maintaining health and wellbeing cannot be done alone and family support oriented sessions may be utilized as needed. Therapy services are different than coaching and consultation as they require a diagnosis, treatment plan, and are bound by Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA); Bre independently manages her contracting and billing with insurance companies.
Insurance Credentialed With: Aetna, BCBS, UHC, UMR, Cigna, IA/IL Molina, Iowa Total Care, Wellpoint, IL Meridian
Connect with Bre for Clinical Social Work Services:
Email: Breann@BlueTreeCounseling.org
Phone Call or Text Message:
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Hirst, B. (2025) Understanding Mental Health and Wellbeing, Utilizing Bodily Systems and Relational Framework. Black Hawk College Empowering Through Awareness Conference. March 14th, 2025
Hirst, B. (2023) Understanding Mental Health and Human Behavior Through A Polyvagal-Informed And Language-Oriented Lens Part 2. You Need a Training Podcast. August 30th, 2023.
Hirst, B. (2023) Understanding Mental Health and The Human Behavior Through A Polyvagal-Informed And Language-Oriented Lens. Part 1. You Need a Training Podcast. June 14th, 2023.
Hirst, B. (2023) Supporting Youth Mental Health Through Caregiver Cancer Diagnosis. Cancer Support Community, Virtual Psychosocial Oncology Professionals Symposium. October 12th, 2023
Hirst, B. (2023) Adolescent Mental Health. Bettendorf Middle School. Bettendorf, Iowa. May 16th, 2023
Hirst, B. (2020) Covid Caring 6: Parent Teaching 101/Six Steps To Survive Homeschool 2020. The Heart of the Story with Gary MetivierPodcast. April 8th, 2020.
Hirst, B. (2020) Social-Emotional Learning: A Reflective Approach on Implementing the Zones of Regulation. Madison Elementary School. Davenport, Iowa. January 17th, 2020.
Hirst, B. (2017) Understanding Adverse Childhood Experiences: Building Self-Healing Communities. Mandala Integrative Medicine. October 25th, 2017.
Nelson, B. & Welch, A. (2016) Trauma Informed Communities: Implications for the Workplace. Social Justice Conference, St. Ambrose University. Davenport, Iowa. May 11th, 2017.
Konchar, M. & Nelson, B. (2016) Parenting through Childhood Stress: Understanding childhood stress, its effects on our kids, and making Lemonade for Life. Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University, Kerala, Inda. January 11th, 2016.
Research Assistant (2013-2014); Croll, Paul R., Eric Tranby, Penny Edgell, and Douglas Hartmann (Principal Investigators). 2013-2014. “Collaborative Proposal: Boundaries in the American Mosaic: Inclusion and Exclusion in the Contemporary United States (Award Number 1258933).” National Science Foundation. ($263,145)
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Breann started working with my son in 2021. Since starting with Breann, my kiddo continues to learn and grow in all areas of life. Beyond being a safe, connected and nurturing professional for my son, she has also walked alongside me during difficult parenting times. She continues to teach me how to communicate with compassion, different ways to respond to my child when he needs co-regulation and connection, and has helped rewire my brain regarding outdated parenting techniques. She continues to be a safe support for me and my son in different areas of life.
- Parent of Clinical Social Work Participant, Spring, 2025
Bre is the best therapist. We went through a couple of other therapists with no success. She knows how to talk to children in a way that makes them feel comfortable. She does arts and crafts with them while they are talking which my son absolutely loved. He was always so happy when we would leave our sessions. And he always looked forward to going and seeing her. He never wanted to go see the other therapists he had seen in the past. I absolutely recommend everyone to see her, especially if you have a child with behavior problems like mine.
-Parent of Clinical Social Work Participant, Fall 2023
Breann has been a breath of fresh air in my recovery process. She always offers a different, refreshing point of view and is so gentle with the way she speaks about my disorder, my feelings, and my experiences. I have been to many therapists throughout my life, but Breann truly is one of the best. You can tell that she is always willing to continue learning as a therapist herself so that she can also continue teaching an abundance of different techniques and see things from multiple points of views. Something I appreciate about her is that I can feel her personality shine through within our sessions, which makes each session feels warm and welcoming instead of cold and discomforting. While she is very professional, it doesn’t feel uncomfortable to go to my appointments as if I can’t come as I am. I get to be my messy self and still feel like I deserve good things in life by the end of our sessions because of her encouragement. I love how kind and non-judgmental that Breann is because it encourages me to be as open and vulnerable as possible. She always is realistic with therapy goals and how recovery may look for me as an individual. I couldn’t say enough amazing things about Wholehearted Connections and how well taken care of that Breann has been! It feels like talking with a really good friend who is also really insightful, smart, and able to give guidance on my next steps. She makes me feel like it’s okay to just be ME, and that is something that I will always be grateful for!
-Clinical Social Work Participant, Summer 2023“Breann is such a knowledgeable and engaging presenter! She recently [May, 2023] presented to a group of parents on teen mental health and practical strategies for them to use. Everyone took something away from her presentation and we were so grateful to have her!”
– Learning Participant, Spring 2023
“One of my favorite things about learning from Bre, both as a professor and supervisor, was that her feedback always felt genuine and supportive. I learned a wealth of information from Bre, but I grew internally as well. I thought more deeply, I spoke more thoughtfully, and I practiced more intently. Bre always let me form my own opinions. She never swayed my experiences but helped me process them, challenged me, and encouraged me to think for myself. Bre loves Taylor Swift and often plays it while working in her office.”
– Learning Participant, 2021-2022