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July 22, 2025

Meet Daniel Horne, LPCC-S

I started as the Clinical Manager at Hopewell in 2011. I have a bachelor's degree in social work from the University of Montana and a master's degree in community counseling from Youngstown State University. I have worked in the fields of social work and counseling since 1985, and have held a wide variety of positions, from working at a pre-release center for the state prison in Montana, to residential programs for behavioral teenagers in Maine, to residential programs for adults with severe and persistent mental illness in Ohio, as well as working for a large county board of developmental disabilities.

Deciding to go to the University of Montana ended up pointing me in a career direction that I did not predict. I was a forestry major for two and a half years and realized it just really wasn't right for me, even though I enjoyed it. I looked at other majors, held a conversation with the dean of the School of Social Work and it immediately felt right for me. That was significant in changing my career path and life path, where I lived, and who I worked with over the years.

I particularly enjoy working with the population at Hopewell: adults struggling with severe and persistent mental illness, for lots of reasons. In this field, and at Hopewell in particular, I'm motivated by seeing healing happen. People improve. People improve their functioning levels and their satisfaction with life levels. To help guide that process is very rewarding.

I’m on the Leadership Team and I have a small caseload of two to five residents. I am mostly involved in supervising eight clinicians individually on a weekly basis and twice a week as a group. I run the weekly clinical team with the psychiatrist, our psychiatric nurse practitioner, the clinicians, nurses and the admission/outreach team. It’s a collaborative process to give them what they need, as each person has a different approach to working with residents.

My work at the farm is pretty diverse. I first and foremost oversee the clinical program, so I think of myself as having my own caseload of clinicians. We talk through cases, struggles, and successes, so I feel like I indirectly have a hand in the care that all of the residents receive. I am often called upon to intervene in crisis situations, which is a necessary part of the work we do here at Hopewell. I think I bring a calmness and level of tranquility to those situations that helps to bring them to resolutions that are good for both Hopewell and the individual who's in crisis.

The work I (and all of us) do at Hopewell is meaningful work in that it changes lives, and those changed lives then improve life out in the world in immeasurable ways. One of our former residents that I worked with significantly while he was here recently graduated from law school and passed the bar, which was not an easy accomplishment for him. The work that he put in at Hopewell – and our ability to create a place that allowed that work to be done – has produced a lawyer that's going to go out in the world and do good things. This means a lot to me, and that's just one story of many, many stories that Hopewell makes possible.

On another note, it feels good to be important in the lives of residents, parents, and staff. Supervising is important to me – creating the opportunity for staff to become excellent clinicians who are important to the people they serve. When I am important to a small group of people here, that impacts so many other people, it’s like the ripples spreading out over a pond from a single pebble tossed in.

There are so many good days at the farm. I just interviewed several clinicians for a new position at Hopewell, and one of the things I made a point of telling them is that there are hard days here. We work with a complicated population. In between the tough times, though, there are so many glorious, elegant moments. When you see two people that were struggling a day ago, and they're out walking together around the track in the sunshine, or you go out in the woods with them and slosh through the snow and collect maple sap for our maple sugaring, it all just feels so good. We’re working side by side with them to accomplish the day-in, day-out tasks of a working farm. In doing that, there are just so many magical moments that it's hard to describe.

In addition to my work at Hopewell, I am an artist. My primary medium is creating kinetic steel sculptures that rely on balance and human interaction with each piece. I received a welding torch for my 40th birthday, mostly to fix things, but quickly gravitated towards developing sculptures. I have traveled over much of the United States to participate in juried fine art shows; however, I have scaled back quite a bit. At one time I was doing 15 shows a year, and now I do three or four shows a year.

When I came to the farm fourteen years ago to interview with the executive director, I told him that I had done a lot of different jobs, but that I hoped that I might find a place that I could stay and finish out my career. Here I am 14+ years later, and I still feel that way. I have no plans to go anywhere. If I'm allowed to, I will continue to work at Hopewell until I retire. I might end up working until I'm 70, so that would give me another eight years. My future goals are to stay at Hopewell, do good work with residents, be as supportive of the clinical team and the entire Hopewell community as I can be, and keep creating art and enjoying life.

On a personal note, I would love to travel to places like Turkey, Ireland and points beyond with Jenn, my partner. Artistically, I’ll strive to create works that exceed my past efforts at developing elegance and wonder in my sculptures.