Clinical Staff

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Jeffery DerryJeffery Derry, M.A., NCC - Clinical Director
Jeff is a native of Colorado and began his clinical career working with adolescents in the San Luis Valley using experiential/wilderness approaches while working on his master’s degree.  Now with seven years’ post-master experience, he has developed a successful reputation for outstanding clinical skills, excellent service, and solid wilderness and transitioning skills while working with adolescents and families in Colorado.  In addition, Jeff supplied counseling services and training for families, individuals, and corporations through his private practice.  Completing both his bachelor and master’s degrees in Colorado, he previously worked as a Treatment Coordinator, Case Manager and Group Facilitator for the Lathrop Park Experiential Program (Youthtrack Corp) and the San Luis Valley Youthtrack; a Crisis Response Clinician for Spanish Peaks Mental Health; and a Treatment Coordinator and Clinician for over five years with the Griffith Centers for Children Programs at the Colorado Springs and Larkspur campuses.  As noted, he also ran a successful private practice in Colorado Springs.  All of us at SUWS Adolescent and Youth Programs were excited to lure him farther west to head up the clinical team.

Daniel EdgertonDaniel Edgerton, MSW - Field Supervisor
Daniel comes to SUWS from Colorado, where he received his MSW from the University of Denver.  The outdoors is a familiar and comfortable teaching and therapeutic environment for Daniel, and he is equally at home with adolescent populations.  He has worked as a marriage and family therapist, case manager for a high-intensity treatment team, and mental health counselor in a variety of settings, including a residential treatment center.  He has taught outdoor living classes and instructed a variety of athletic endeavors including soccer, basketball, tennis, track and field, archery, sailing, and waterskiing.  Daniel is a member of the National Association of Social Workers and the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists.  We are particularly excited about his membership on the SUWS team.

Bonnie ShewmakerBonnie Shewmaker , LCPC, LMFT - Field Supervisor
While earning her master’s degree in counseling, Bonnie worked as a high school teacher and counselor, then a mental health counselor and case worker.  She subsequently became a licensed clinical professional counselor and marriage and family therapist (LCPC/LMFT).  Throughout her career she has had a wide range of experiences working with adolescents and their families in both educational and mental health settings.  She found it a special privilege to serve as professional counselor for Operation Purple, a summer camp for teens of military families who have a parent who is deployed.

Having lived in many places throughout the United States, Bonnie still considers southern Idaho her home.  She believes the desert has many things to teach, and at SUWS she has the opportunity to explore it further and the tools to help young people experience the value and lessons of the wilderness.  When it’s time to relax away from work, she indulges her passion for reading, old movies and antiques. 

Sean TomkinsonSean Tomkinson, LCSW
Sean Tomkinson, LCSW, found his way to SUWS from Pocatello, Idaho, where he worked as a therapist and clinical supervisor for five years.  He has worked with both adults and adolescents in individual and group therapy, psychosocial rehabilitation and crisis intervention and assessment.  Sean’s specialties include personality disorders, depression, anxiety, PTSD, adult and childhood abuse, EMDR therapy and couples work.  Applying his considerable experience to young people in an outdoor setting couldn’t be more perfect, in Sean’s opinion.  On his first day at SUWS he exuberantly exclaimed, “I’m just supposed to be here!” 

Sean had an eye in the sky during his ten years in the US Air Force as an air traffic controller and avionics technician.  At ground level he has worked many years in the scouting program and taught hunter and bow hunter education for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.  Sean’s family is his greatest joy in life, and he loves watching his boys play football in the fall.  In his leisure time he enjoys many outdoor pursuits including backpacking, camping and fishing. 

Jerrie Dee HarveyJerrie Dee Harvey, MA - Field Supervisor
Colorado Christian University with a master’s degree in counseling, Jerrie Dee believes that “challenging situations bring to the surface elements of people that nothing else will; it strips them of pretense. People’s lives can be changed when they are in this tender and vulnerable state.”

Jerrie Dee’s work as a firefighter and dispatcher with the Forest Service taught her discipline and helped her develop the mental stamina to push herself when it was physically difficult. This training served her well, both as a Youth Corp crew leader and as a group home caregiver working with troubled and at-risk youth. Jerrie Dee has two passions—people and the outdoors. A career in wilderness therapy allows her to blend the two. Says Jerrie Dee, “I have a heart for young people and want to meet them in their vulnerable and difficult places in life.”

Dan Rafferty Dan Rafferty, - Field Supervisor
Originally from Minnesota, Dan is a familiar face at SUWS, as he began his journey as a Field Instructor five years ago, ultimately becoming a Master Instructor.  Because of his extensive field experience, Dan trusts the desert and the program to play their roles in creating a desire for change.  He works with students on clarifying their needs with their families, peers, and themselves.  Dan received his B.A. with honors from Haverford College in Pennsylvania, where he studied literature.  He is a big believer in the power of metaphor and stories and integrates them frequently to present the SUWS experience as a moment of significant insight and self-exploration. 

During his time at SUWS and in his teaching experiences in the New York schools, Dan has had success in blending humor with compassion.  He especially likes initiatives that model problem-solving skills and create challenges.  He works closely with the field instructors and the rest of the program to head a unified treatment team that has each child’s growth in mind and heart.