Staff Spotlight: Kirk Dennison, School-Based Clinician

Kirk Dennison, School-Based Clinician at United Counseling Service (UCS), provides mental health counseling for students at The Dorset School, a Kindergarten through eighth grade school serving 170 students in Dorset, VT. His path to becoming a clinician began after a 20-year military career and a period of uncertainty, and he now feels that he is exactly where he is meant to be—supporting students, staff and the wider Dorset community.

“I enjoy the people in Dorset—the kids, teachers, the school-based clinician team that has been built,” says Kirk. “I can’t say enough about how our team is really beneficial. I enjoy the communication process we have with our team, but also with the kids—just building those relationships and seeing people grow—all of us, including myself.”

Kirk approaches his work and daily life with a positive outlook and challenges others to find something good in all situations, however small. He says that students will often seek help for a problem which they perceive as a huge, or ‘pumpkin sized’ problem. Through talking with Kirk, they bring anxiety down, learn to focus on what can be controlled in the present moment, and what can be enjoyed in the present moment. The pumpkin-sized problem, though still real, becomes a pea-sized problem.

Though Kirk’s role is to provide counseling services to students at The Dorset School, he also supports teachers, staff, and families as a listening ear and valued school community member. He has a natural calling to help others, and a big reason for this is his faith. He felt a sense of being unsure of what to do after retiring from the military. He earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Central Florida and worked different jobs, but did not feel pulled toward a specific career. A realization came while watching a movie about a veteran who was considering suicide. “It came to me through my faith—you should be a counselor.” Kirk applied to Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, was accepted, and started on a track toward earning licensure as a counselor. The internship stage of his education led him to UCS in May of 2021 and he was hired as a full-time school-based clinician that same summer.

The nature of his work is helping students through difficulties and that can bring challenges. Kirk relies on his faith to get through hard times so that he can continue to be present for others and himself. He starts each day reading scripture and dedicates his drive home from work to talking with God. “When you get through a day that is very tiresome and stressful, and you realize you got through the day, you think about how strong and powerful you are. That’s when I lean back into my faith which helps me get through the day.”

For Kirk, always remembering the important things in life helps him to serve others to the best of his ability. This includes spending time with his wife, enjoying time outside running and biking, eating, and traveling, and supporting others in navigating their mental health journeys. “We’re here for our clients, our kids, each other,” says Kirk. “As a team, we can really make a big difference if we sit back and want to understand why we’re here.”