Colleen holds a BA and MA in English from Brigham Young University. She has also completed training for certification as an Addictions Counselor from the University of Utah, and all of the course work for a PhD in Family and Human Development form Utah State University.
Colleen has been a presenter at BYU Education Weeks several times, both at BYU-Idaho and BYU-Provo. She has presented at Relief Society Women’s conferences in both the US and in Canada. Colleen is the owner and director of her own publishing company, Hearthaven Publishing which specializes in gospel-based addiction recovery literature for the LDS community. She is the mother of 12 children and step-mom to 5, and lives after the manner of happiness in Hyrum, Utah with her husband Phil, and her youngest daughter, a recently returned missionary.