This is certainly the case for Jenelle Hoosen, counsellor at Medbury School in Christchurch.
Hoosen began working at the private boys’ preparatory school in 2019.
A newly introduced role at the time, school counselling was uncharted territory for the Medbury school community, and presented some delicate initial challenges.
According to deputy headmaster Warren Durant, Hoosen’s biggest early challenge was removing the stigma attached to mental health support.
But in five short years, she has managed to normalise counselling, helping countless students work through the ongoing impact of major events such as the Canterbury Earthquakes, the COVID pandemic, the Christchurch mosque attack, as well as more personal loss and grief.
Her efforts were recognised this year, with a 2024 ISNZ Honours Award for Service to Pastoral Care and Wellbeing.
“I was very surprised,” Hoosen says of the accolade.
“I didn’t expect to be nominated, but it was a really delightful surprise to open the email.”
Hoosen’s achievements are perhaps doubly impressive, given her Medbury role was also her first counselling appointment.
Prior to this, she had worked as a secondary school teacher.
“I am one of those people with the ridiculous story where I used to teach my teddy bears and mark their tests,” Hoosen laughs.
“And the main reason I became a teacher was because I wanted to help people.”
“I especially loved being a dean at Burnside High School, and I think that was the first time I realised that, ‘OK, I’ve trained to be a teacher, but actually, it’s probably a more meaningful way [for me] to help people in a pastoral care role,” she tells EducationHQ.
After becoming a mum to two boys, Hoosen began to search for a career path that was equally rewarding, while providing a better work-life balance.
This led her to complete a Masters of Counselling.
Medbury School counsellor Jenelle Hoosen has been recognised with a 2024 ISNZ Honours Award for Service to Pastoral Care and Wellbeing.
Hoosen was offered a permanent position at Medbury School after undertaking prac hours at the school as part of her course.
“It was pretty amazing,” she recalls.
“Once I got to the point where I realised I would need to find a job, that seemed to be the most nerve-wracking thing, but I’d never expected the job would also be one where I was the first-ever counsellor.
“So it was a little bit nerve-wracking, but really exciting because it meant that, with the team around me, we could establish the service in a way that worked for Medbury, but also was really good counselling practice.”
Of course it can be challenging, Hoosen says, when a new situation or challenge arises, and there is no precedent to follow.
But she says her support networks within the counselling community are always willing to share knowledge and advice.
And, Hoosen says the collegial atmosphere at Medbury School has also been invaluable.
“Quite simply, I couldn’t do the job without the amazing staff around me,” she says.
“Often counsellors will talk about how it can feel isolating when you’re the only counsellor in the school ... but I don’t feel like that, because we have this amazing network.
Hoosen says her team includes a “lovely lady called Tanz”, (health administrator Tanya Satterthwaite) among a host of teacher aides, and other support people.
“I love the connections I have with other staff and collectively I think we all make a difference for the students,” she says.
After five years of counselling primary-aged students at Medbury, Hoosen has discovered the power of knowing that young people do have a voice.
“I think for a lot of young people I work with, they don’t realise that their voice matters.
“So, I think if people at a young age, for example, know that it’s normal to worry, or it’s normal to have some anxieties about things, it’s actually just ‘how do we cope with that?’.
“We’re empowering them from an early age to know themselves, and to know that they can cope, and not just cope but thrive. That is what drives me.”
