MERCERSBURG MAGAZINE FALL 2015
“What we do as counselors can be pretty intense work,” says Galey, who like Rahauser was an early member of Mercersburg’s counseling staff. “When you can help a student think differently about areas of his or her life and learn to deal with them in a healthier way, it’s very fulfilling.” Galey began as a counselor when Mercersburg’s counseling staff was created by then-Associate Head of School Jackie Powell in the early 1990s; Rahauser joined the staff soon after as it continued under the leadership of Powell’s successor, longtime Associate Head of School Debbie Rutherford. Shortly after Douglas Hale arrived as head of school, the office was formally organized into the Department of Student Counseling Services in 1999. Galey and his wife, Marcia (an administrative assistant in the Health Center), share the experience of being Mercersburg parents as well as employees, as do Rahauser and her husband, Tom ’74, who is the school’s dean of students and has been a faculty member since 1978. Michael ’00 and Bethany Galey ’02 were the first students from the aforementioned families to enroll, followed by Eric ’05, Tim ’07, and Laura Rahauser ’12. Students become connected to Mercersburg’s counseling department in several ways. The most common route is for a student to refer himself or herself by contacting one of the counselors directly, many times by email, though the department also learns of students’ desire or need to work with a counselor through
L–R: Susan Rahauser, Kurt Dunkel, Paul Galey
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contact from advisers, faculty members, the school’s Health Center personnel, peers, or parents or family members. (In all, nearly 25 percent of the student body each year has contact with a member of the department, for a multitude of reasons.) “When a child is open to creating a therapeutic relationship with an adult and to reveal vulnerabilities and talk about them, that can truly open a door for growth,” says Rahauser, who holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Ohio Wesleyan University and a master’s in mental health counseling from Shippensburg University, which is one of a few CACREP (Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs) accredited schools for counselor education. “Sometimes it is not easy for adolescents to see their growth areas, because they’re in a stage of life where they want to be independent. Dropping back and choosing to be vulnerable at a time when they’re trying not to be vulnerable is a particular challenge. Kurt, Paul, and I all feel privileged and impressed when students open up and share their vulnerabilities.” Rahauser and Galey have worked with Mercersburg students in the classroom as well as in counseling sessions; Rahauser has taught human development, while Galey continues to teach a full slate of courses in the religion department in addition to his work with students as a counselor. Both are past recipients of the school’s Ammerman Distinguished Teaching Award for Religious & Interdisciplinary Studies.