Alaska's School Psychologist of the Year

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Mary DuHoux (PhD ’83) is joined at the heart with her adopted home of Alaska. It stole hers in the 1980s and she’s been helping Alaskans whenever their hearts break ever since.

DuHoux is a school psychologist and an expert in suicide prevention and crisis intervention. When something heartbreaking happens at a school in the Anchorage school district, DuHoux is often dispatched to help teachers, staff, and students pick up the pieces.

Guy Okada, principal at the Martin Luther King, Jr., Career Center in Anchorage, worked with DuHoux for 10 years. He said her compassionate and non-judgmental nature made working with her an ideal situation.

“We weathered many crises together from deaths of students on and off campus as well as staff members,” he said. “One of her strengths is her ability to work through emotional crises in a manner that allows people to maintain their dignity, express their emotions, and have the support network to work through it.”

Even though she knew Alaska was the place for her, when DuHoux first told her Minnesotan family she was moving to Alaska, they thought she was crazy.

There were misconceptions to deal with. “My dad always thought we had to keep our cars running all winter long so that they would start. Or that it would be dark all winter long. He certainly didn’t think I’d have a split level home that looks like it came off a street in Iowa City,” she said.

But once her family came to visit her new home in Anchorage, they understood. “I think it’s the most beautiful place in the world and now they know why I love it here,” she said.

Anchorage, a city of 255,000 people, is bordered by Cook Inlet, part of the Pacific Ocean to the west, and the Chugach Mountains to the east.

“There are wonderful hiking and cross country skiing trails throughout the whole city. You can just hike forever,” said DuHoux, an avid biker and skier.

DuHoux first fell in love with Alaska after taking a biking trip from Anchorage to Fairbanks with friends in 1985 and moved there four years later. “My heart was always up there,” she said.

DuHoux is based at Bartlett High School, where she works with a diverse student population of around 2,000, but travels throughout Alaska to help schools deal with tragedies and traumatic events, such as a fire at a school that claimed three children’s lives.

DuHoux was named the 2005 Alaska School Psychologist of the Year. She said her years of experience help her work with people after a tragedy, but every situation is unique.

“I have to kind of go with intuition,” she said. “I can’t be afraid to ask questions and find out what folks need.”

–by Heather McElvain