Profile of the month: Desire to help children drives counseling aspiration

Mt. Hood student Jennifer Grimes rarely pauses to consider the path that led to her joining the Mental Health Human Service program.

“A lot of times, I’m going through life, and I don’t really think about where I’ve been and where I am now, because it’s so different,” she said.

Grimes decided to join the program to help people in situations similar to the ones she had to overcome.

“I grew up in a really abusive environment, and I come from a family of addicts. I didn’t have any positive role models,” said Grimes, reflecting on her background.

Before realizing her calling, Grimes hoped to pursue a career in the automotive industry. “After my mom died, I moved in with some other family, and they were all really into cars, and I thought it was really cool,” she said.

In high school, she served an internship with a body shop, and another for a mechanic’s shop. When she first started college in 2006, she joined the MHCC automotive program, but ended up dropping out of college due to drug addiction.

“I ended up getting clean when I was 20, (but) I struggled with alcohol still at some point for my life over the last five years,” said Grimes. “I wanted to be a good mom to my daughter, and I knew that if I continued to live with addiction (including alcohol), then I wasn’t going to be a good parent for her.

“I just decided that I wanted to stop, and I wanted to get better and work on myself, ’cause addiction is more than just having a drug problem, it’s really deep-rooted.”

It was the memory of being exposed to the helpful nature of her high school counselors that inspired her to realize she wanted to get into a career similar to theirs. “I went to an alternative high school where I was guided by a lot of people who showed that they cared about me, and wanted me to be successful,” she said.

Grimes returned to college in 2012, joining the Transitions program at Mt. Hood. “I decided that I wanted to apply to the mental health program, so I just took classes for a year while I was waiting, and then I applied and I got in,” she said.

Her 20-year-old brother passed away shortly after she returned to school. “It was really hard, but I continued to come to school and do life, and there are services on campus that are offered for students,” she said.

Grimes’ primary focus is to counsel children, and let them know that if they’re in an abusive or neglectful environment, they still have rights.

“When I was a kid, I didn’t know that I could get help without my parents’ consent,” she explained.

“A lot of children don’t get the kind of parenting or nurturing or love that they need, so I can be that person in their life that shows them that not everyone is like their parents are – maybe just be a support in their life,” she said.

Grimes volunteers for the “I Have a Dream” mentorship program that “adopts” an elementary or middle school and helps low-income and “kids who need extra support” to succeed in their education.

“I get a mentee, and I just go and I hang out with her,” she said. “I help her with whatever she wants to do, like schoolwork, or we play games, or we just talk about stuff, whatever she needs. And if things go well, I would (stay as) her mentor all the way until she graduates high school,” she said.

She also volunteers at Woodland Elementary School in the Reynolds School District, teaching life skills to students from kindergarten to the fifth grade.

“It’s a counselor job. We’re just there to support the kids, but going into classrooms and teaching the kids life skills is like a really important thing,” she said.

Grimes said she loves to play disc golf, and enjoys Zumba.

She married her husband, Geoff, in August and has a daughter who is almost 3. She attributes part of her success to her friends and husband for always supporting her, and reaches out herself to individuals going through their own hard times.

Her advice is succinct, and comes from experience: “Practice self-care and heal yourself. No matter how your life has been, you can always move it in a positive direction.”