Gifford Health Care, a community hospital in Randolph, with family health centers in Berlin, Bethel, Chelsea, Randolph and Rochester, and specialty services throughout central Vermont, recently welcomed Hillary McAllister and Nicolas Nyirjesy to its psychiatry and counseling department. Both will be filling social worker roles.
McAllister first came to the Green Mountain State for her undergraduate work at the University of Vermont. Her appreciation and interest in the unique needs of rural communities grew during her time as a school-based clinician with the Clara Martin Center at East Valley Academy.
“The beauty of social work is we’re trained to think of people in the context of their environment,” McAllister said. “It is a unique perspective that informs what I do and helps me to relate to people authentically.”
Nyirjesy became a therapist in 2014 and previously worked for the Vermont Department of Corrections and Northwestern Counseling and Support Services in St Albans. He describes himself as eclectic in his counseling theory, working with a large range of mental health diagnoses including anxiety and mood disorders.
“My personal experiences with mental health struggles inform my counseling perspective. I consider the therapeutic relationship to be at the core of what I do and work to make people feel safe and heard,” Nyirjesy said.