> Youth counselor recognized for work with Minnesota’s adolescents
June 27, 2007
Woodland Hills staff member Dawn Peterson
With her sun-washed blonde hair and petite stature, she blends in with the group
of teen girls surrounding her.
An ever-so-slight crease that appears between her eyebrows as she’s talking in a
firm yet nurturing tone hints at the time she has devoted to girls. Not just these
girls but many, many other girls. Years of girls with issues that found them needing
help from a caring, trustworthy adult. That slight crease in the brow is Dawn Peterson’s
reward for hours spent mentoring, guiding, challenging and empowering girls and
young women to be the best they can be. Her influence extends beyond the girls placed
for care at Woodland Hills, a juvenile services agency in Duluth, to staff members
as well. It infiltrates their character while at Woodland Hills and lingers long
after they’re gone. Many continue to contact Peterson for support when things are
good for them, and more often when they’re not.
It’s hard work that comes with great personal reward for Peterson. More recently,
it’s been recognized on a statewide level. For her dedication to helping children,
particularly girls, improve their lives, Peterson received The Whitaker Award at
the Minnesota Conference on Adolescent Females in April. The award celebrates her
innovation in impacting the lives of girls and young women and for advocating on
their behalf. It is the first time the award has been given to a staff member at
Woodland Hills since the award was established in 1993.
Peterson’s own journey began 17 years ago when the Cloquet-native graduated from
college and opted to work with juvenile delinquents placed for treatment at Woodland
Hills. She worked with boys and girls in the Chisholm House residential program,
challenging them to focus on positive relationships, be accountable and make good
choices in their lives. She gained skills, seniority, and the respect of her peers
and the youth, and in 1998 was appointed Program Coordinator responsible for residential
services for all girls placed at Woodland Hills.
She’s been fearless in her work. She understands that each girl presents at Woodland
Hills with different degrees of behavioral difficulties and traumatic backgrounds.
While the agency promotes youth empowerment through positive peer group programming,
Peterson treats each girl as an individual and uses any resources possible to ensure
that all girls’ treatment needs are met. And while her eyes and voice convey empathy
to their experiences, she holds them accountable for their choices and behaviors.
“Ms. Peterson helps me with my family and those can be the most difficult decisions,”
said Gina, a 17-year-old from Wright County that completed residential treatment
and is now in the Community Transition program. “She stands by my side, not in front
of me or behind me. She protects me when it gets hard. She even tells me its okay
to cry.”
Christina Thompson, a 19-year-old college student in Bemidji, successfully completed
residential treatment programs at Woodland Hills in 2005. She maintains her connection
to Peterson, saying “we’re very, very close. She never spoke in a mean way to me,
even when I did make mistakes. She said it was okay to make mistakes because it’s
what you learn from them. I talk to her still at least once a week. She inspires
me to do a lot of different things, like go to college for early childhood education.”
A typical day will find Peterson talking to any of her former students on a variety
of topics, answering a parent’s questions about home visits, meeting with peers
about continuous program enhancements, and ending the day with a telephone conversation
with a juvenile justice representative about the need to provide gender-specific
services to increase the likelihood of girls’ success in treatment.
What the girls don’t see is Peterson’s determination to challenge systems and barriers
to success for her gender. She is a tireless advocate within the organization, community
and state, and works to ensure that girls and women are afforded and provided the
same opportunities and privileges as boys and men.
Terry Casey, a trauma counselor through AMICUS, appreciates being a part of a team
that shares a passion for helping girls. AMICUS and Woodland Hills partner to provide
positive relationship-building, restorative justice practices and individualized
transition services to girls committed to Minnesota’s Department of Corrections.
“Dawn is gender responsive just by the nature of who she is. It’s not a job for
her. It’s a way of life. As a woman, mother, wife, daughter, professional and friend,
her belief in gender responsiveness is in the fabric of her being.”
Peterson and others believe there is a crisis in caring for girls and young women.
The current child care system struggles to recognize, address and fund the specific
needs of troubled girls. Males overwhelmingly commit the majority of juvenile crimes,
often of an aggressive and violent type. Troubled girls tend to hurt themselves
by putting themselves in risky situations, letting males use them, abusing chemicals
or inflicting self harm. Consequently, they’re considered less harmful and less
of a problem to society.
However, violent crime among girls is a topic of growing research nationwide. The
FBI’s Crime Index for violent crimes found the arrest rate for girls in the United
States rose 103% between 1981 and 1997, and only 27% for boys, and the trend is
continuing. As girls act out in increasingly violent ways, those responsible for
their care must understand girls before they decide their plan for treatment.
“With the help of my peers and individual treatment with Ms. Peterson, I was finally
able to start dealing with the issues that had gotten me where I was in life,” said
Yekaterina Treskunova, 22, who completed the residential treatment and community
transition programs between 2002 and 2003. “She provided support when times where
tough, motivation when you just couldn’t make it to the next day and inspiration
to live the best life you can. Had it not been for Dawn Peterson and Woodland Hills,
I would be slumming the streets looking for my next fix, or worse yet, dead.”
“I look in the mirror now and I see someone worthwhile, someone with great potential
and bright future. Thanks to the hope and belief I was given, I am now enrolled
in a private college and working towards a triple major and am also looking forward
to attending graduate studies in the future. Best of all, my family and I are closer
than we have ever been.”
“I am forever indebted to the care and support I received from this exceptional
woman who I believe to be one of the most awe-inspiring people I have ever met.”
Due in part to Peterson’s leadership, Woodland Hills is re-shaping its services
in order to address the specific needs of girls. Peterson represents the voice for
future female programming at Woodland Hills. She is committed to helping others
think and respond differently in the treatment of troubled girls, and guides staff
to understand the best means of effectively working with girls. On a state level,
she is a member of the Inter Agency Female Subcommittee and volunteers as a grant
reader with The Women’s Foundation of Minnesota. She also trains on gender-responsive
services at state and national conferences, including those hosted by the Minnesota
Council of Child Caring Agencies, Minnesota Conference for Adolescent Females, Minnesota
Corrections Association and Reclaiming Youth International.
The Whitaker Award is a wonderful public recognition of Peterson’s commitment to
championing girls. She appreciates the less public kudos, too, like the e-mail of
a former resident now married, working and raising her own children. Or like the
alumni gone for a year that asks to visit Woodland Hills next week as a “tune up”
or reminder about positive choices resulting in positive consequences. Or like the
female administrator that thanks Peterson for taking the time to talk with her about
current issues in youth treatment. Or perhaps it’s because Peterson and her husband
Dan are raising their own daughter, Jess, to be capable, smart and independent.
Just like her mom.