Working in outdoor programs, including Outward Bound’s Hurricane Island School, Susan Conover found she liked helping people figure out how to work through stressful situations.

That helped steer the Camden woman toward social work and teaching, most recently at Appleton Village School where she taught special education. The 52-year-old mother of two teens has also been a guidance counselor in Searsport and done home-based work in Waldo County.

This school year, as Edgecomb Eddy School’s new guidance counselor, Conover plans to work with students on friendship, handling stress, working together, and accepting people’s differences, among other skills.

“These are social skills and other things students need to succeed in life and in school,” she said.

Dean of Students Lisa Clarke said she thinks Conover is a great fit for Edgecomb Eddy.

“She is friendly, professional and has a wonderful calming presence that I think will serve our children well,” Clarke said.

Meanwhile, Conover is also finding the school a good fit for her.

“The school is very warm and welcoming,” she said in an interview in her office on opening day, Sept. 2. “And I really like the size of this school. It feels very manageable, meaning I feel like I’ll be able to address the needs that come up.”

Conover comes aboard following Madeline Olney’s retirement from the job. Olney had hoped to stay on one more year, but her house sold quickly and she and her husband are settling in to their new home in Florida, Clarke said.

Conover’s schedule has her at school Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Her days off will help her keep up with the offseason workload in her other job, directing a nonprofit sailing school in Camden Harbor, the Camden Area Youth Seamanship Program.

Conover has lived in Camden on and off since the age of 10, and steadily for the past 25 years. Her family care-takes Camden’s Curtis Island and the island’s lighthouse.