Tiffany Doerr will be joining the Darlington Community as a personal counselor. She has 13 years of experience in counseling, working primarily with high school students. Most recently, she was director of counseling at Blair Academy in Blairstown, N.J.
Doerr has also worked in emotional, academic and college counseling roles at The Oliverian School in Pike, N.H., and at Philadelphia's Charter High School for Architecture + Design. Additionally, she has served as a day camp director, working three summers for ESF Summer Camps.
A native of Palmyra, Pa., Doerr holds a B.S. in Human Development and Family Studies from The Pennsylvania State University and an M.S.Ed. for Psychological Services from the University of Pennsylvania. She also holds certification in Secondary School Counseling (grades 6-12) in her home state.
“I feel like everyone has the answers inside of them, but sometimes you need help to get those answers,” said Doerr. “I look at myself as a guider or roadmap to help get the individual to where they need to be, bringing perspective and making them question something they haven’t yet thought about, allowing the person to make a decision and come to a point on their own.”
The counselor knew she wanted to work with adolescents in some way before going to college, and after exploring her interests through different classes, chose human development and family studies.
“I have enjoyed working in boarding school environments,” she said. “You have students available and willing to work with the faculty around them.”
Doerr believes it is important to be observant and responsive to the increasing amounts of stress on students that they must deal with to be successful in academics while balancing their busy lives.
“It’s about mindfulness and really trying to help them integrate a sense of where they are at in this moment, and taking time to appreciate that moment instead of constantly living in the future and worrying about the next thing,” she said. “I feel really passionate about giving students outlets to manage and cope with the more serious things.”
In addition to working as a personal counselor, Doerr is also looking forward to having a group of freshman advisees to meet with each morning during the school year.
“I am really excited about getting to know the School with them,” added the counselor. “Through my conversations at Darlington it seems like the School has it figured out—how to care for the kids and faculty and how to communicate, constantly looking for ways to grow and do the best that we can, meeting the needs of our community.”
Doerr enjoys being outside hiking and biking, taking her dogs Rez and Riley for walks, sewing, reading, and listening to live music.
“I am really excited to be at Darlington and to get to know the culture of the School and the students, she said. “It is always exciting to see how students from different places see the world.”
She is married to Hans Doerr, who will teach history and coach crew at Darlington. They will live on campus in the McCain House.
