Our Team of Educational Consultants: We Care About Your Child’s Future
Our Team of Educational Consultants: We Care About Your Child’s Future
Our Team of Educational Consultants: We Care About Your Child’s Future
Our Senior Clinical & Educational Consulting Team
Thank you to our many collaborative partners- doctors, psychologists, teachers, tutors, and specialists who join with us and bring excellence to our team and specialty care to our students!
Dana Dean Doering ARNP
Dana Dean Doering is a leading national educational consultant and child and adolescent psychiatric mental health specialist who has dedicated a 45 year career to helping children, adolescents, young adults and families improve their lives. She has also distinguished herself as an international child advocate, parenting coordinator, and children's book photo illustrator. She helps children, adolescents, young adults and parents explore creative options for educational planning. Her goal is to uplift a child and student's life and bring new possibilities, strategies and solutions to bear, as well as providing comprehensive assessment and consultation for critical moments of evaluation and decision-making in a student's and family's life.
Dana believes in optimizing a child's future, talents and capacities. She and the team build recommendations from a strength based approach centered on child, adolescent, young adult and family development. With over 13 years of college and advanced graduate studies at University of Texas, Johns Hopkins University and University of Washington, Dana continues to be an informed and valued contributor in her field. Dana has served in both academic and research positions, as well as in many decades of private practice. Dana is also involved in volunteer work, community development and community philanthropy.
Other areas of interest include her work in international child advocacy and human rights, reading and photography. She is also an avid garden designer.
Awards, Academics & Accomplishments:
- Distinguished Scholars Award: Johns Hopkins University
- Dean's Club International Scholarship: University of Washington
- Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing
- Graduation Research Award for Creativity and Excellence in Research: Johns Hopkins University
- National Dean's List
- Outstanding Service Award-Reconnecting At-Risk Youth: University of Washington
- Governor's Task Force- Washington State Suicide Prevention Plan for Youth Committee
- ISPA Visionary Award
- Excellence Award
Degrees:
- University of Washington MSN
- Johns Hopkins University BSN
Special Projects:
- Children's book photo illustrator Go Outside Ten Speed Press
- Battle Point playground Bainbridge Island
- Photo-documentary "I am a Child of Burma" KIRO TV specials
- United States Special Report to United Nations: ILO Commission of Inquiry on Forced Labor
Dana Dean Doering ARNP
Sarah Persha MA
Sarah Persha MA is both an educational consultant and family systems therapist. She has dedicated the last 20 years to helping children and their families navigate educational options and the challenges of young life transitions. As a young adult transition specialist, Sarah supports students in the task of successfully launching into college, career and dynamic adult social scenes with a healthy independence. She assists teens and young adults as they explore the educational paths leading to a motivated and purposeful adulthood. Sarah also provides ongoing parent education for all stages of childhood & young adulthood development.
Sarah and the Dean Doering team develop placement options for middle school, high school and college, as well as pre-college choices with fifth and gap year opportunities, internships, and study abroad. In addition, she provides coaching for young adult students who need academic skill building support, and mentors students in meeting objectives while increasing their executive thinking and organizational skills. Sarah has nine years of college with graduate studies at the Leadership Institute of Seattle at Bastyr University. She is certified with national fitness organizations, and brings her experience in healthy physical fitness practices to her coaching sessions with young adults.
Sarah is an accomplished artist and jewelry designer, as well as naturalist and outdoor enthusiast.
Accomplishments:
- Founding faculty member of Mount Bachelor Academy (Aspen Education Group), 1988, with roles as teacher, counselor, mentor, parent educator, Upper School Head, and Director of Admission
- Therapeutic school curriculum consultant to several national organizations
- Private practice serving families in the Northwest with locations in Seattle, Portland, Bend, and Boise
Sarah Persha MA
Educational Team Members
Dennis Doering
Julie Larson
Testimonials
Therapeutic Placement Parent Testimonial
I first came to meet Dana during an extremely difficult time as my son was increasingly displaying antisocial behaviors in his early teenage years. I was becoming concerned that he was pursuing a path of self-destruction, and it was impacting our family life. Despite having worked with many well-meaning providers who were certain they understood and could help, none of the measures we had undertaken (private schools, tutoring, family therapy, individual therapy, etc.) were working. Dana stayed in constant contact as my son moved from assessment to intensive therapies designed to address the root causes of his behaviors. At one point, when his prognosis looked bleak, Dana found an emerging program that was having success with similar cases. Dana got us in, and it was in this placement that we were able to break through and change what would have been a dark trajectory.
Ray A.
I have a teenage son with a mellow personality who struggles in school. He got caught up in drug/alcohol use by following the “in-crowd” and ended up in some legal trouble. We hired Dana and discussed whether placing my son in a therapeutic boarding school that focused on drug/alcohol or brushings with the law was a good fit for my child since he is so impressionable. Dana reassured me that yes, he would be a good fit because all the behavioral issues stem from emotional problems (mostly low self-esteem). The way they manifest their behavior is just different. Dana was right, he is now in a therapeutic boarding school out of state fitting in well and making great progress, bonding well with his peers. I’m so thankful to have found Dana and recommend her highly to anyone who is considering hiring an Educational Consultant.
Donna C.
I was referred to Dana by a Therapist who told me that I needed to explore some options for my 16 year old extremely depressed & anxious teen. We spent months working with Dana, she was extremely supportive and provided guidance and strength throughout the entire process. During this time, my son was diagnosed on the autism spectrum, with severe anxiety and depression. Per Dana's recommendation, after 3 months at an Outdoor Therapeutic program my son was moved to a Therapeutic Boarding School specializing in teens with Asperger's syndrome (executive functioning, social and memory challenges). This course of treatment may very well have saved his life.
Kevin M.
Our 20 year old daughter has had a serious problem for the last 4 years with with anxiety, depression and marijuana addiction. We tried therapy, medication, outpatient rehab and one inpatient rehab. We tried tried being flexible and we tried tough love (kicking her out of the house). Nothing has worked. She is not willing to quit using marijuana, and it's very clear to us that her marijuana usage makes her depression and anxiety much worse. Our daughter's therapist recommended that we speak to an educational consultant about a possible longer-term placement for our daughter. We are lucky to have found Dana, who’s experience and compassion saved us from many sleepless nights and countless hours of research, had we continued to do this on our own.
Mona P.
When we needed to send our son away, we had no idea where to start. There must be thousands of boarding schools and programs out there. Unfortunately, when we tried to place him on our own, my son flunked out of a local rehab program, the psychiatrist there referred us to Dana. I can't imagine how to approach finding a boarding school without some kind of guidance like this. It would have been a total crap shoot. Dana was able to find a therapeutic wilderness program and then a boarding school, both were exactly right for our son. The cost of hiring a consultant may seem expensive, but that is nothing compared to the cost of losing our son. He ended up where he needed to be, and is doing well after 14 months, he has been safe and supported and challenged -- and also, at his particular school, he got sober plus had fun. And he's graduating next month!
Tammy V.
My professional relationship with Dana has spanned over six years. During this time I've come to know her as a person with great compassion, intelligence, integrity, and a great sense of humor. Her frank approach is rare and refreshing. She has been a tireless proponent for my son, and she's helped me become the parent he needs. Looking back, I realize how fortunate we were to have found Dana. I'm certain that the work we did helped my son immensely. He's now attending college and embarking on a productive young adult life. And I know that I provided the very best resources available because of her guidance. It was all worth it.
Annon.
Dana Dean Doering is a wealth of knowledge and support and we could not be more grateful to her for the guidance and insights she offered while we were making the challenging decisions of whether or not our boys needed additional support outside of our state, and what programs could best provide the unique supports each one of our boys needed.
Dana is very well versed and knowledgeable about the different options throughout the United States and which programs are the best fit for specific challenges a child is having. We fully trusted Dana, and the options she presented were very much in line with our needs, and we could not be happier with the outcome and the experiences our boys had at the respective programs they were at.
We recommend Dana, and will continue to do so, to any families who are in the very challenging and stressful position of figuring out the best next step for their son or daughter who is struggling after exhausting all of their local therapeutic options. Dana gave us hope, insight, understanding, experience and a depth of knowledge that was most helpful to us during this very difficult time. We would not be where we are today without her help - she truly cares about these kids and the families she serves.
JK, 2019
A Mother
Dana guided our family through years of educational success. We have two boys with very different needs. One of my sons is a smart, conscientious kid, who suffered a traumatic brain injury and has ongoing medical needs. We needed a school environment that would challenge his strengths, support his areas of higher need, and nurture his potential. With the TBI and his medical needs, our homelife had become quite intense. His father and I, and his brother, were all living a life that was largely dictated by our other son’s needs. We needed help understanding how to support him at home, so that our family could be healthy and joyful. Dana helped us find a school that held my high needs child to elite, college-prep standards, asked a lot of him, and also gave him the support that he needed to make this possible. She coached and counseled us on behavior management techniques and how to manage our own patience and compassion fatigue. Dana also helped us to find ways to create special space for our younger son, so that his needs weren’t overshadowed by his high needs brother. 2 years post injury, our family is strong, our house is filled with joy and laughter, and we are able to problem solve any challenge together. Dana truly saved our family by giving us support and the tools to thrive as a whole family no matter the challenges we face.
Grace & Royal D
Values That Guide Us
We believe in a collaborative approach to your student's care and assessment. Not just one trained mind, but a team of trained minds are working with your family to enhance your child's future.
We believe in guiding each student to actualize their full potential in school and life. We help them find joy, satisfaction and happiness in their work and accomplishments.
We believe that every student has unique needs and desires and each has a unique and creative path to travel in life. We believe in thinking outside the box in order to create an academic plan that will optimize your student's talents.
We believe that the care and well-being of our students is our most important responsibility.
We celebrate excellence achieved through diversity and seek to work with and support students and families from all ethnicities, religions, and cultures.
We believe that young minds and hearts should be "Led down the right paths, not by severity, but by persuasion." -Theresa of Avila.