Good Neighbor Podcast: Frisco

EP 361: Crown Of Hope Counseling: From Caregiving To Community Healing

• Sophia Yvette

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What makes Dr. Nicci Richardson McFarland with Crown of Hope Counseling a good neighbor?

A beam of sunlight crowning a storm cloud changed everything for Dr. Nicci Richardson McFarland—and it became the defining image for Crown of Hope Counseling. We sit down with Nicci to explore how that moment turned into a practice built on presence, dignity, and the belief that healing is possible even when life feels sideways.

Nicci shares her path from caregiving for a mother with a rare illness to becoming a board-certified chaplain and counselor, revealing how a mentor’s simple question opened a vocation. We get candid about the most damaging myth in mental health—the idea that people should just get over it—and unpack what real support looks like: confidential, skilled attention; practical tools for anxiety and depression; thoughtful approaches to grief and trauma; and a safe space to bring faith, values, and big questions without judgment. Nicci’s team serves kids through older adults, blending clinical therapy with chaplaincy-informed care so clients can process compassion fatigue, marital confusion, identity challenges, and spiritual distress with equal depth.

You’ll also hear the human side: two lively toddlers, kitchen experiments that may or may not win, and the small, daily choices that build resilience. We talk authenticity in marketing—speaking to real pain instead of selling quick fixes—and why feeling seen, known, and heard is the first step toward change. If you’ve ever wondered whether counseling is a sign of weakness, consider this your invitation to rethink: it’s a proactive investment in becoming the steadier, freer version of yourself.

If this conversation encouraged you, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs light on the horizon, and leave a review to help more neighbors find hope.

**To learn more about Crown of Hope Counseling, go to
 🔗 www.crownofhopecounseling.com

Crown of Hope Counseling

817-412-1426

SPEAKER_00:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Sophia Yvette.

SPEAKER_02:

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of a counseling practice? Well, one may be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Dr. Nikki Richardson McFarland with Crown of Hope Counseling. Dr. Nikki, how are you today? I'm doing really well. How are you? I'm also doing well. Now we are excited to learn all about you and your business. Can you start off by telling us a little bit about your company and what inspired the name Crown of Hope Counseling?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, oh, that's a really good question. I appreciate that. Um, we are a mental health private practice that offers counseling and telechaplaincy. And we're really grateful to meet people in whatever season of life they are in, meeting them right where they are and helping them find threads of hope on the horizon. I came up with the name actually because it was after this really horrific storm that was in DFW one time. I grew up in Texas, and you know how sometimes we have those storms where the rain's sideways and the wind's blowing, and it just feels like it's just the sky's open. And it was right after a storm. And I was driving on the highway, and you could see the sun just encapsulate the top of the cloud, and you could see that the sun was trying to break through the cloud, and it just reminded me that there was a crown, and that even in the middle of that storm, that there was light beyond it, and that there was something that you could just wait for and just know was there. And so that's where Crowd of Hope came, was just that promise that no matter how hard someone may be in a season, that there is something beyond and that there's something you can hold on to, and light is coming.

SPEAKER_02:

Wow. Well, that's that's a beautiful reason to name the company what you did. And most definitely right, we only see that light when there's that contrast of the darkness. Now, how did you originally get into an industry like this, Dr. Nikki?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh, that's a good question. Honestly, I didn't grow up thinking, oh, I'm gonna sit with people and and hear exactly what's on their heart and what's on their mind. Um, to be honest with you, I went through so many just hardships as I grew up. My mom had a really rare disease, and and being her caregiver and being with her and her doctor's appointments and in the hospital in and out, I got to just hear and be with so many people who were just going through unthinkable uh seasons of life. And there was just something incredible when you got to enter the sacred ground and just talk with people and hear their heart. And it wasn't until after I got my bachelor's in psychology, which is a degree that's great, but also you don't get to do much with that degree. And I was in that, I was in that degree and I was thinking, oh no, what's next? And I had a mentor who just really spoke life into me. And he sat me down and he just said, Have you ever thought about counseling? And I never went to counseling, I didn't know anything about counseling. So the more I looked into it, I thought, wow, that what an incredible thing you can offer someone, just that undivided attention and that ability to hear someone and not not feel like you have to worry about whether they're gonna repeat it or whether you're gonna lose that sense of trust and that safety. And so um, from the from a sweet mentor's words is what started me on that path and how I became a counselor.

SPEAKER_02:

Wow. Quite a story you have there. Now, being in this industry today, what is the most common myth or misconception you come across in your industry?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh goodness, I really wish that we had less myths, myths to choose from, to be completely honest with you. But um I think one of the most pressing ones we have in today's time is just to get over it, uh, just to get over and accept that life is hard and just move on. And and in reality, it's not a sign of weakness if someone is going through something that's really difficult and they don't know how to cope. They they don't know how to process or feel or what to do. And so um, I really think one of those biggest myths is that, you know, if you need to go to counseling, it's a it's a sign of weakness, it's a sign of lack or inability. And and in reality, when you go to counseling, it's it's actually a sign of investment and proactive engagement and uh a sense of permission for you to really figure out how to do something different and how to be the best version of yourself.

SPEAKER_02:

Now we know marketing is the heart of every business. Who are your target clients? And in terms of marketing today, how do you attract them?

SPEAKER_01:

That's a great question. Um, when I first started Crown of Hope, it was just me. So to be honest with you, my marketing was very targeted. Um, I'm not just a counselor, I'm actually a board certified chaplain. So um I am uh someone who typically people trust to work with through grief, um compassion fatigue, uh spiritual distress, those types of really hard uh situations. But I'm blessed to work with a team of people. And the team of people and the providers at Crown of Hope specialize in a myriad of you know different uh different experiences and hardships. And so um really and truly, we are just a team of providers who just love to meet people authentically where they are. We love to be our authentic selves and get to engage people and and really help them through anxiety, depression, um, family struggles, marriage confusion, identity issues, um, grief, trauma, um, spiritual distress, um, really anything that you can think of. Our team is really equipped. I'm just blessed beyond compare. So our marketing team sometimes they just roll a Yahtzee dice and they just try to make sure that they speak to someone out there to let them feel seen, known, and heard. And really that is just our heartbeat is that if we can just allow people to feel seen, known, and heard, that is the type of person we want to be able to meet with. And and so really we are here to serve adults as old as 102 and and and kids as young as six years old. We're we're ready and able, and we're just so grateful to have that uh platform to speak to everyone and anyone who needs that kind of uh safety net.

SPEAKER_02:

Amen. And have you ever thought about having your own podcast before?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh no, I haven't. But can I just tell you, um, not even 24 hours ago, uh, the person who's in charge of my marketing, so maybe like she just planted a bug in your ear, uh, she actually was telling me, like, Nikki, I just want to be able to ask you questions and I just want you to be able to talk. And I was like, I don't think anyone really wants to listen to that. So we're gonna tell it to be honest with you. I haven't thought about it. But if God wills it, you never know it will happen.

SPEAKER_02:

Now, outside of work, what do you and your family like to do for fun?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I have two toddler girls. So, to be honest with you, I have a three and a two-year-old, and what they determine is fun is what our family does. And so to be honest with you, we get to um have a lot of dance parties and we get to play a lot of soccer. And um, my my oldest daughter, who's three, she uh is the most hardest person to feed. She is such a struggle, and so I am desperately trying to find any recipe I can on Pinterest or on something that I can try to get her stomach to get excited. So, what I'm doing for fun right now is trying to figure out the labyrinth of my daughter, which is sort of fun.

SPEAKER_02:

Honestly, though, you know, family is so important to have and it just opens up your life to a whole new span of adventures. So that's a great blessing that you have.

SPEAKER_01:

They're worth it, truly.

SPEAKER_02:

Now, please tell our listeners one thing they should remember about Crown of Hope Counseling.

SPEAKER_01:

I would love everyone to remember that no matter what they're in, that there is hope and peace that they can experience. And and that is really our our passion is to allow people to really um give themselves the ability to know that whatever really hardships that they're facing, they're valuable and they're they're valid of really being able to honor and experience, but at the same time, uh their story is not ending, and they deserve to be able to see that even in the midst of the storm, that there is light and that we can we can get experience and and find that light in the storm and we can experience true and everlasting peace.

SPEAKER_02:

Amen. And in that same vein, I think it goes back to you know, God doesn't only give us, you know, the blessings, but he also entrusts us with the challenges he allows us to experience because he gives the biggest challenges to the strongest warriors, and I think that's something to always keep in mind. Okay, that's that was bold. Just just speaking from the heart here. Um, so Nikki, Dr. Nikki, um, what our listeners would really like to know today is where can they go to learn more about Crown of Hope Counseling?

SPEAKER_01:

We have a website, um, www.crown of hope counseling.com. Um, we also have an Instagram that my marketing uh woman is phenomenal. She will just impress you with her color and and she does a great job. And so um you can go to our Instagram, which is Crown of Hope Counseling as well.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, Dr. Nikki, I really appreciate you being on the show today. We wish you and your business the best moving forward.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you, truly. I really appreciate this chance to get to know you.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNP Frisco dot com. That's GNP Frisco dot com or call four six nine two two one nine three four four four four four five.