Kirsten Dawson

Kirsten Dawson is a life-long teacher and counselor with a specialty in drug and alcohol counseling. She completed one career at Mounds View High School, and has continued to work in private high schools, and teach at local colleges. Public speaking is a big part of her work, especially as it relates to helping parents develop guidelines for their teens, and rules for sports and activities in high schools. Kirsten has contributed to books about school programming for drug/alcohol issues, and has written countless articles for parents as part of her work at Cretin–Derham Hall.

Kirsten received her BA in English from Gustavus, her Chemical Dependency Counseling education at the U. of M. and her MA at St. Mary’s. She is a licensed alcohol and drug counselor in MN. Her real training ground, however, has been through talking with students, and being a parent to her own two sons and six foster children. Currently she is employed by Cretin Derham-Hall High School, and the MN Institute of Public Health.