Shannen Sutherland was undecided on a career path when she enrolled at Waubonsee Community College.
That question lingered even after she found a promising possibility.
“I randomly took a psych class and just loved it,” says Sutherland, who grew up in Sandwich. “I loved learning about how people think, why they think that way and kind of getting to the root of everything. It’s really interesting to me, so I just kind of followed that – but I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do with it.”
Now she’s sure.
Sutherland, who later earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in sociology, is wrapping up her M.S.Ed. in Counseling at NIU while she completes an internship at Buffalo Grove High School.
And the soon-to-be May 2022 graduate has been named recipient of the $925 silver-level scholarship as NIU Career Services Intern of the Year.
Her eligibility comes from being selected as Fall 2021 Intern of the Semester; her motivation, however, comes not from awards.
“Every single day, I have the same hope,” Sutherland says, “and that’s to help at least one person that day. Even if it’s just the smallest amount that I could help any given student, that’s my goal.”
Buffalo Grove has offered a rich learning environment that clarified her decision to pursue school counseling rather than clinical mental health counseling: “I got really lucky with my internship,” she says, calling it “the most moving experience in my academic career.”
“My supervisor lets me work with other people and with Student Services so I can get a little taste of everything,” she adds.
“I work with the College and Career counselor. I work with the social worker sometimes with Individualized Education Programs. I do group counseling with students. He sends me a lot of the more-at-risk students – the ones who need a little bit more attention – and I get to work with those students and build really good connections with them, so I do really enjoy that.”
Bill Brown, a counselor at Buffalo Grove High School, calls Sutherland “a difference maker” whose “colleagues enjoyed working with her due to her passion, follow-through and willingness to help at a moment’s notice.”
“Shannen has truly immersed herself in the culture at Buffalo Grove High School, and that kind of commitment is difficult to find,” Brown says.
“She was born with the personality traits of a counselor – the ones you cannot teach in a counseling program. She is empathetic, accommodating, intuitive and genuine,” he adds. “These traits allow Shannen to quickly build rapport with students, which is a must in our line of work.”
That “genuine” description is one that Sutherland also uses often about herself.
“Kids can definitely tell when someone is being fake with them – and when someone is being real and really does care about them,” she says.
“They always respond to the genuineness and unconditional positive regard that I’m able to provide for them. I never lie to my students; that’s never a thing for me,” she adds. “I always tell them, ‘I will always be upfront with you. It might not always be the answer you want to hear, but my job is to be honest with you so that you can trust me.’ I think that they really do like that.”
Her authenticity is always on display, she says, no matter the situation.
“At the end of the day, I don’t try to pretend to be something I’m not. I’m very real with everybody I meet. I’m very genuine, and I think that makes it so it’s easier for people to connect with me,” Sutherland says.
“I’m a very real person with very real life struggles and everyday struggles, and just working through those as a normal person, and being open and honest about those things I go through, has made me a very realistic person.”
NIU Department of Counseling and Higher Education faculty delivered a strong and dynamic preparation, she says, that includes ethical guidelines, career counseling, theoretical frameworks, assessments, crisis intention, multicultural counseling, substance abuse and advocacy.
“Most of the coursework is clinical-focused, so that really gives a regular therapy base … that can be adjusted to fit a school environment. That’s a good foundation to build on,” Sutherland says.
“So I focus more on the emotional well-being of students,” she adds. “If a student is failing a class, I’m not like, ‘Oh, you need to stop failing.’ I’m like, ‘OK, what’s going on? What’s going on at home? What’s going on during your day at school? What’s going on emotionally that could be affecting you?’ ”
Classmates in the counseling program, meanwhile, have offered a nice sounding board.
During her course in group counseling, for example, students partnered to take turns practicing their skills as counselor and client.
That exercise facilitated valuable and direct feedback from fellow M.S.Ed. candidates and professors as well, Sutherland says, such as, “You probably shouldn’t do that,” or, “You should change this.”
“We have an internship class where we meet every other week,” she says, “and we can talk about things like, ‘Hey, I’m really struggling with this thing. Have any of you experienced this? What might you do?’ It makes it so it’s really easy for us to connect with others in the profession and get advice.”
Her favorite lessons, though, have come from the students and staff of Buffalo Grove High School.
That includes creating and giving classroom presentations on counseling that focused on socio-emotional skills, including how to identify emotions and strategies for coping, which she calls “pretty cool because I’ve never been one to teach.”
“I was just kind of thrown into it, and it’s pretty cool to be able to work with students in such a short time but to see how much they’re benefitting from it. I did really love that, and just the environment,” Sutherland says. “Everybody in Students Services has been so supportive and helpful.”
Actual counseling duties have taught her about others – and about herself.
“Working with the kids, you almost immediately see differences, and they’re very tangible differences; I can go check their grades and see how they’re doing in any given week,” she says.
“And I’ve learned a lot about patience. I had not been a patient person in the past, and in working with students, sometimes you can see where they would be able to help themselves, or what you think might be best for them,” she adds. “I need to have the patience for them to get where they need to go on their own, and not trying to ‘mom’ them – not trying to give advice. That’s really helped me to grow in empathy, being really supportive rather than giving advice.”
Likewise, Sutherland has learned to prioritize her own mental health.
“This is a really easy thing in this field – to not take care of yourself, and to give too much of yourself – so I’ve really invested in my mental health and my own self-care,” she says. “That way, I can help the students as well as I can.”
