Catie Denham
Master of Education in Counseling
Catie works towards creating supportive spaces for the communities she serves, and strives to help build pathways to success for all students in the Delta.
Originally from Kentucky, Catie graduated from the University of Louisville in 2013 and became an English teacher at Yazoo City High School in Yazoo City, Mississippi. She created close bonds with her students. That bond led her to her current area of study, counseling, and her desire to work in child and family therapy.
Catie’s project, Restor[ED], centers around restorative discipline practices and peer mediation. She hopes to create a restorative justice curriculum and training program for teachers. Restorative justice has been shown to dramatically decrease behavior problems, and increase students' abilities to feel empathy and correct problematic actions.
“In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.”