Staff Feature:
Denise Covington
This month we interviewed one of our Youth Therapists, Denise! Read her interview to learn more about the work she is doing at DAP and why she is energized about what she does.
DAP: What is your role at DAP? What ages do you serve in your role at DAP?
Denise: I am one of the Youth Therapists. So, I work with kids mostly between 5-18. I do some early childhood therapy, I just started doing that, with kids ages 4-5. I also am one of the group facilitators for our TAY Program, which is the Transitional Age Youth Program, and that is for men who are under 25 who want to do our Intervention & Prevention Program but is more catered toward a younger age group.
DAP: What do you find most rewarding about your work?
Denise: The most rewarding thing that I have experienced is just seeing the growth in clients, with kids and parents. And just seeing the clients realizing that they did it themselves. So they come here and its a safe place for them to process and to learn more about themselves and I am here as a support, but they are really the ones doing all of the work. And it is really rewarding to see how proud of themselves they are and realizing that, ‘Wow. I did this. You know it is not someone else fixing me. It is me becoming my own person and learning about myself, and using the skills I learned in session outside of session’ and it is super cool to see people come to that and continue to work and learn more about themselves.
DAP: Could you please tell me about the Transitional Age Youth (TAY) Program? What topics are you currently focusing on in group?
Denise: TAY is part of the Intervention and Prevention Program, but it is specifically for transitional age youth, so under 25, typically. It is for people who identify as male, so we don’t have any women groups IPP or TAY, yet. And usually people are referred by their probation or are court ordered to attend. Some people are self referrals and have come here on their own. We value the connection between the probation officers, Hennepin County, and the client. We make sure they feel like [attending DAP] is an on-going conversation and that the client is actually a part of the conversation since it is services for them. A lot of the guys, I think, come in apprehensive because it feels we are a part of the system, that we don’t care about them. That it is just a class. But we try to make our groups centered around the clients and what they like to do.
Groups focus on learning about what abuse looks like, the different types of abuse— it is not just physical. I think there is a misconception that abuse is only physical, so we talk about emotional abuse, psychological abuse, technological abuse, sexual abuse. So that is kind of the main thing we drive in group, talking about the domestic violence cycle and what it looks like. We talk about communication skills, active listening, empathetic listening, conflict resolution - that is a topic we did last week. It is really to get to the questions of “Why do we use abuse? How does it serve us? How does it not serve us?” And at the end of the day, where does this cycle of abuse come from and how does it affect us long term. We don’t want to label anyone as an abuser or a violent person, we look at them as a human being who learned these behaviors, why they learned these behaviors, and how we stop the behaviors.
DAP: What is something that has surprised you most about working with youth?
Denise: I think what has surprised me the most is the fact that kids can be so resilient, even though they may not feel like it. Seeing it in their play, how they talk, like being able to work through some of the horrible things they have experienced or witnessed. It is so inspiring to see kids pushing through and doing the work themselves and coming every week. I mean, most kids want to be at home or outside playing. But, they come into my office every week and its really cool to hear them say, ‘I like coming here,’ and actually using the resources and tools I give them. It’s just super awesome. I think there's a misconception that kids are difficult to work with, but I really don't think they're difficult. I think they're really inspiring to work with.
DAP: What do you think is an important thing for youth who have experienced or witnessed domestic violence to know?
Denise: I think what's important to know is that emotions can be really confusing. You can have so many different emotions and feelings about what happened, what happened to you, what you witnessed, and they can feel really chaotic. It could feel like you don't know how to feel, and that's okay. That doesn't mean that you don't have feelings. It doesn't mean that you're broken or not normal. It it can be really confusing and sometimes therapy, it doesn't look like the typical therapy you see on TV. Sometimes it looks like playing a board game or you know, talking about music, and all of that is healing. And so I would say just trust the process. Trust that you know you have the tools inside of you to process your emotions and to live a happy fulfilling life moving forward.
DAP: What’s your favorite part about working at DAP?
Denise: I like the people. I like my co-workers and seeing people every day after being in the pandemic and working from home at my other jobs. I really value that we are in person. Like being able to pop into somebody's office and ask a question. For example, my co-youth therapist, she's great, and it's just so cool to like be able to collaborate and consult. I like all the the other components too, like how we're centered here too - the providers, having reflective practice and the different meetings to like focus on like how we're taking care of ourselves. I think that's really great and I really value that.
DAP: Lastly, with the summer Olympics coming up this year, what sport would you compete in if you were in the Olympics and why?
Denise: Oh, my gosh. First of all, I can't believe the Olympics are already here. I think I would do track. But right now I don't like running. I used to love running and I used to play basketball. And like, I just remember when I was good at running, it felt really nice. So I feel like if I practice, I would do track.
