Daniel
Hernandez, associate director of counseling
services, recalls his travel to his new job as a long drive
that was so worth it.
“I loaded up a U-Haul Truck and drove
up here from North Carolina,” Daniel
Hernandez says about coming up to the North Country. “I truly love it
here. The North Country is beautiful.”
Hernandez, originally from Sacramento,
CA, grew up in a small town much like Canton. He learned about St.
Lawrence from a graduate school friend. “I
was working at a mental health agency in North Carolina,” he says. “And
a friend of mine who I met in graduate school was the director at the St. Lawrence
University Counseling Center. She had a counseling position open and encouraged
me to apply.”
“I have always enjoyed the field of counseling,” says Hernandez,
who earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at San Jose State
in California. “Early on in my career I did an assistantship at the Shrine
Hospital in the Bay Area in California, working with children who were diagnosed
with a terminal disease. After experiencing my first death, of an 11-year-girl,
and working with her family, I knew then that this was the field that I wanted
to pursue. In addition, I have a love for teaching and sharing my clinical experience
with graduate students who have a passion and desire to help people.”
Hernandez has been teaching and doing therapy for over 15 years. He
regularly conducts workshops at St. Lawrence on issues surrounding
the loss of loved ones.
