Staff Spotlight: Jenifer Haskins, Family Outreach Clinician

Family Outreach Clinician Jenifer Haskins of United Counseling Service (UCS) started her career with a plan to become a kindergarten teacher. As she worked her way through a bachelor’s degree in education at Johnson State College, she realized that the path she was really meant to follow was mental health counseling. Her past experience as a para-educator at Mettawee Community School in Pawlet, VT, proved that she was capable of helping children overcome behavioral and emotional challenges during the school day, and that she enjoyed this work.

“My husband said, ‘maybe you should just work with kids one on one, like a counselor,” says Jenifer. She then decided to change her major from education to psychology. “I love psychology,” says Jenifer. “I love how the brain works, and how behaviors come out and why.” She took off full speed down this new career path and following the completion of her bachelor’s degree, she earned her master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling at the College of Saint Joseph in 2018. It was during her master’s education that she met her current supervisor and then professor, Bob Wubbenhorst, who currently serves as Director of Children, Youth and Family Services (CYFS) at UCS. Jenifer then completed her clinical internship at UCS’ Northshire location in Manchester, VT, and has been there ever since.

Now, Jenifer works as a Family Outreach Clinician, which involves working with children ages 6-18, and as Coordinator for Children’s Integrated Services (CIS), in which role she works with children ages 2-6 years old. Her strength and biggest interest as a mental health counselor is counseling children. “Don’t get me wrong—I like talking to adults,” says Jenifer, “But kids are my choice of age to counsel. Their minds are like sponges. You guide them and respect their feelings—it’s all in the verbal language you use with them. It’s not about giving them sympathy, but empathy.”

She says that patience is another important skill to use when counseling children, and she excels in this skill. Jenifer also takes care to prepare tools for each client to better support their needs. “If a client has ADHD, it’s providing sensory tools so they can get their wiggles out,” says Jenifer. “If someone is depressed or anxious, you provide them distress tolerance tools to help them.” One of her favorite tools to use, even with young children, is Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), a therapy style that focuses on learning to regulate emotions. Everyone has a different set of needs and it is important to take those needs into consideration to better support each client. For example, Jenifer knows that many of the children she works with look forward to seeing the tools she brings in her bag to each session. She has even shared tips and tricks with local teachers that are still used today.

In addition to her everyday work seeing clients at various schools in the area, Jenifer helps to operate UCS’ therapeutic summer camp for kids ages five-12 in the Northshire region. This year’s camp is called Camp United by Uniqueness and runs from July 7-August 14 with support from the Stratton Community Foundation. Opportunities for participants include field trips to the zoo, Hildene Farm and an indoor rock-climbing facility, as well as horse riding and grooming at Kimberly Farms, and participation in Chickens for Change (C4C), a group for elementary through high school aged youth offering life and business skills through raising and selling chickens and eggs.
“We have a wonderful summer program and a lot of kids love it,” says Jenifer. “They love getting out of their households and getting away from whatever is going on in their lives, whether that is trauma, jealousy, or other siblings.”

Jenifer’s schedule changes day to day depending on her clients’ needs and time of year, and she enjoys the dynamic nature of her job. What she enjoys the most is the impact she can make on each client. “I great a great rapport with every single client I have,” she says. “Relationships and trust are really important… I would rather do this than anything else.”