Today we’d like to introduce you to Denise Zimmermann.
Hi Denise, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My professional journey, to who I am, began in the 90’s. I lost everything, e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g., in the 90’s in Atlanta and then had to come back to Texas because my father was dying. When I was leaving a friend’s aunt, Q, told me to go home (Texas) and go back to school to become a school counselor. My initial thought was, no way. Back in Texas I cried when I had to go back into education. I felt schools were more interested in bureaucracy than the students. Per Q’s urging when I left Atlanta, I completed my counseling degree while teaching math and working at a retail store at nights and on the weekends. Counseling from the perspective of an existential phenomenologist and my detached sense of being proved to be beneficial to the direction my work would lead me. I found I was able to be more effective in helping others in mental health crisis because I was not attached. I could listen and empathize but would not be wrapped up in the emotions. My third year of counseling I became a district substance abuse counselor. After about three years as a substance abuse counselor, I obtained a job as a coordinator of prevention services. I essentially oversaw a districts high risk counseling concerns such as, drugs, gangs, dating violence, child abuse, child sex abuse, etc. The intensity of my position was summed up when the assistant superintendent came to my office and apologized that what he had to talk to me about was not pleasant and did not make him feel good (as he put his hand on his heart); I told him he was in the right place. I became a trauma informed consultant and online instructor for a national trauma informed company. I wrote their online curriculum for their substance abuse and trauma, social media and trauma, and non-suicidal self-injury courses. In 2016 I became the director of counseling in a school district and in 2018 the director of mental health. In 2019 I was asked to testify twice to a joint session at the State Capital on mental health in schools. Knowing I was coming up to retirement, in 2020 I formed Inside the Mind Consultancy. Inside the Mind (ITM) works with schools, districts, and education related agencies on mental health programming in the school systems. I evaluate systems, build frameworks, and am a speaker. I have presented at local, state, and national conferences and have been interviewed by agencies both in the United States and Canada on mental health in schools. What I do is a culmination of who I am and what I know; personally and professionally, I know mental health, trauma, and school systems.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I do not resent or harbor negative thoughts about any of my obstacles/challenges because I honestly believe they contributed to who I have become. I do not think I would have ever chosen this path, it kind of chose me. However, since I “accepted” to open and walk through that door, I suppose it is an unconscious choice. I think if I were to have chosen who I would be when I grew up it would have been an artist. I feel everyone has obstacles, some personal, some professional, and some both. My personal challenges have impacted and influenced my professional aptitudes more than anything. I can tell you about my sad personal stories from sexual assault, abuse – by others and my own hand, suicidal ideation, abandonment, and estrangement but my professional journey, to who I am, began in the 90’s. That is when my life’s trajectory was put into motion. I do believe that the struggles I have had have framed my perspective; I am very much an existential phenomenologist.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Inside the Mind supports schools, districts, and education related agencies in developing their mental health framework and programming. We assess current systems that exists and are able to ascertain the strengths and the holes within the system that supports mental health for students and staff. Based on the assessment and the needs of the agency, we create a framework using current assets and recommendations of essential unsecured resources. I am known for my understanding of mental health and how to translate it to apply to school systems by constructing proactive long-term procedures and structures. I see beyond immediate problems, to address the root. I am able to translate the abstract into concrete. I am most proud of my ability to systemize mental health responses whether it is a step-by-step procedural guide or a crisis intervention roll out.
What were you like growing up?
My perspective of me growing up is that I was shy and referred to as a well-mannered and “good” girl who respected boundaries. I always did better one on one than in group settings, for me group is defined as more than one other person. Which is odd for what/who I became because I have presented to groups of 30 to 1500; but presenting is different than socializing. As I child, even today, I watched and listened intensely. I have always been sensitive to my environment. My favorite thing to do as a child, adolescent, was going to my maternal grandmother’s house. She left me alone to be me. I swam, sewed, crocheted, quilted, painted, and ate Hershey kisses dumped in a jar of Jiffy, smooth of course. I started working when I was 15 because I did not like having my parents pay for my clothes or things. My mother says that I only asked for three things my entire childhood. When I was a child, I was politically, socially, and personally correct in all my dealings. I loved cats because I loved how they did not need, or sometimes want, me; I respected their independence and sense of boundaries. Even as a child, I care deeply and respect autonomy.
Contact Info:
- Email: denise@itm-consultancy.com
- Website: itm-consultancy.com
