Susan Tinsley Daily
Susan has spent her entire adult life working with adolescents and people who interact with adolescents, from teaching in traditional and experiential high schools to wilderness and international guiding to professional consulting for schools, camps and outdoor programs. She gets teenagers - she respects them, laughs with them, and truly celebrates who they are. Susan is most interested in the transformation that occurs when adolescents discover their grit, creativity, and ability to create meaning, thereby illuminating their authentic selves and their belonging within a community.
“Susan was one of the few adults who I felt truly saw me for who I was. I always felt heard by her, and I knew that she genuinely cared about my wellbeing. Having that kind of support was profoundly impactful to experience as a teenager. I was drawn to Susan's innate wisdom and kind soul. She is one of the most deeply caring people that I know, and she extends that care and compassion to everyone in her life.”
- C. Ende
T Susan’s clinical interests include healthy relationships and ethical sexuality education, supporting LGBTQIA+ youth, developing post-COVID interpersonal and resilience skills, and trauma-informed care. She is trained in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, anxiety-reduction, mindfulness, reality therapy, narrative therapy, and self-harm reduction. She has designed and taught comprehensive, developmentally appropriate Health and Wellness curricula for middle and high schools, and finds great joy in teaching teenagers how to feel empowered in their emotional, relational, sexual, ethical and physical identity formation. Susan has tremendous respect and curiosity for all the strengths and challenges that teenagers experience in their journey, and takes her role as a professional guide, mentor, educator and counselor extremely seriously.
“Susan supports each individual she works with, wherever they are in their mental, emotional, and social journeys. Crafting with Susan is a time to learn new skills, face challenges while feeling supported, and find inner peace. She is a community builder through and through, constantly seeking ways to bring others into spaces where they will feel safe and included.”
- M. Atterbury
Susan holds a Masters in Teaching and a Masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, and has taught at Shady Hill School, The Athenian School, The Fayerweather Street School, The Asheville School, The Outdoor Academy, Warren Wilson College and the Prison University Project at San Quentin State Prison. Her journey includes being a teacher for grades 5th-college, an Instructor, Course Director, and Education Director at the North Carolina Outward Bound School, an Instructor and Risk Management Director for Where There Be Dragons, the Dean of Students at the Outdoor Academy and the Director of Counseling and Wellness at The Putney School.
“Susan has such a nurturing and compassionate presence that cultivated a sense of safety for me. She taught our group of teens a transformative social-emotional curriculum that I had never experienced in my traditional schooling. She made me feel celebrated, brought ease to tough conversations, and also allowed me to uncover my confidence and agency to make my own decisions, when as a 16-year-old, that otherwise felt daunting and overwhelming. She always offered a calm and warm direction that pushed our imagination of what our group could be at its best, and what I could be at my best: a more courageous and blossoming version of myself.”
- H. Podhorzer
While not working, Susan enjoys being immersed in nature, writing poetry, exploring a variety of hand-crafting, getting her hands in the dirt, being in community, laughing with her friends, hugging her partner, and spending time with her two teens and her black-and-white therapy dog, Moonshine.
“Susan supported me as a teen through a period of immense growth and transformation. I still carry many of the lessons she taught me and I think about her wisdom often. She is truly a magical person.
- R. McNally