Counseling and Wellness

Counseling Services

The Counseling and Wellness Department at Rivers reflects the school’s relational approach to

student development within a community in which students are known, valued, and understood. School counselors embody the Rivers Excellence with Humanity philosophy by getting to know individual students who seek counseling and then tailoring the therapeutic approach to meet each student’s needs. This may take the form of short-term support, ongoing therapy, student/family outreach and advocacy, and/or team collaboration. Counseling services are provided by licensed mental health professionals and comply with national standards of care. The school counselors take a proactive and preventative approach to both direct counseling services and systems-level interventions, as part of a comprehensive school-counseling program that both helps individual students build skills and enhances the emotional climate of the school environment. School counselors collaborate as part of a larger Rivers wellness team to promote student well-being.

The department works to enhance the many systems of support that are ingrained into the school’s culture, such as the advisory program, DEI initiatives, and student-life programming. At The Rivers School, wellness education for all students and voluntary individual counseling services complement one another. School counselors collaborate with the student advisory system, the school nurse, athletic trainers, and the deans’ office to promote student well-being at multiple levels within the Rivers school, student, and family communities.

Wellness Programming

Research-based prevention programs promote healthy development by focusing on children and their main socializing environment, school. At Rivers, these educational wellness programs are implemented in classroom settings, at school-level or grade-level assemblies, and through “opt-in” programming during students’ non-academic times. Regardless of specific content, all wellness programs encourage students to integrate accurate information with their personal and family values in order to make healthy decisions. This programming also aims to help students learn to access adult support in appropriate ways. Below is an overview of the partnerships Rivers collaborates with throughout the school year.

List of 4 items.

McLean Hospital’s School Consultation Service

The Rivers School’s multi-year partnership with McLean Hospital’s School Consultation Service (SCS), made possible by the vision and generosity of the Bartlett family, benefits our community at every level. This partnership supports Rivers clinicians to offer professional development for faculty and staff, wellness skill-building workshops for our students, and a series of parent-education sessions. Together, McLean and Rivers are committed to eliminating mental health stigma and obstacles to effective mental health care—obstacles that can and do prevent students from equitably accessing the full Rivers experience. The registration links for the parent workshops can be found in the Counseling and Wellness module on the Parent Portal in RiversNet.
EducaHealth

The Rivers School partners with EducaHealth to engage students across the Middle and Upper Schools in science-based, age-appropriate, and student-centered health education. EducaHealth provides high-quality comprehensive health education as a powerful tool to empower adolescents to make informed and responsible decisions with their lives. Please check out their website for more in-depth information: https://educahealth.org/.
One Love

In its ongoing mission to support the health and wellness of all students, the Rivers Counseling and Wellness department collaborates with the One Love Foundation in order to provide education to Upper School students about healthy relationships and relationship safety. One Love’s mission is to educate young people about healthy and unhealthy relationships and empower them to avoid abuse through education, training, fundraising, and more. Please check out their website for more in-depth information: https://www.joinonelove.org/
Mental Health Collaborative

The Mental Health Collaborative provides transitional programming to graduating seniors in order to reduce stigma and improve literacy around mental health. Seniors engage in a day of programming with MHC that includes, but is not limited to, learning strategies for stress, skills for talking about mental health, knowing when to seek help, and how to recognize warning signs in others. Please check out their website for more in-depth information: https://www.mentalhealthcollaborative.org/

Equitable Access to Care

The Counseling and Wellness Department operates from a DEI framework in order to advance inclusion in the full Rivers experience for all students. To this end, the Rivers School provides equitable and confidential access to licensed school counselors during the academic day at no additional cost to families. This means that students have the autonomy to schedule appointments with our counselors for single sessions or on an ongoing basis.

School counselors always encourage students to communicate openly and directly with their parents/caregivers, and will not mandate communication or break confidentiality unless there are imminent risks to the student's safety or the safety of others. The counselors work as part of a larger Wellness Team at Rivers. There are many times when taking a wraparound approach to care best serves individual students' needs. With the student's consent and permission, this approach may include working with families/caregivers, teachers, administrators and/or outpatient providers to coordinate care in order to best support students.

Information for Current Families

Current caregivers and students should visit RiversNet to find more detailed information about the department's confidentiality and collaboration policies, as well as an extensive list of external mental health resources. Individuals who would like to get in touch with a school counselor may utilize the referral form located in the "Counseling Forms" box at the top right-hand side of this page. They are also welcome and encouraged to call or email counselors directly.

Counseling Forms

Collaboration Release Form
Referral Form

Meet the Counseling & Wellness Team

List of 9 members.

Eliza Adler

Director of Counseling Services

339-686-4504

Middlebury College - BA
BU School of Social Work - MSW, LICSW

Bio
Eliza Adler joined the Rivers Counseling and Wellness department as a school counselor after six years as a mental health clinician at the Manville School at Judge Baker Children’s Center, where she was also the middle school clinical coordinator. In her time at Manville, Eliza also established and facilitated the Gender/Sexuality Alliance. A licensed independent social worker (LICSW), she has a wealth of experience in both clinical and school settings. Her counseling work in schools has ranged from the early-elementary-school through graduate-student levels. Eliza graduated magna cum laude from Middlebury College and earned a master’s degree in social work from Boston University School of Social Work.
Megan Delano

School Counselor, Head of Wellness Programming

339-686-4511

Naropa University - MA, LMHC
Lesley University - BS
Melissa Anderson

Head of Upper School, History

339-686-2346

University of California/Berkley - Ph. D
Princeton University - AB
John Bower

Head of Middle School

339-686-2281

Haverford College - BA

Bio
John Bower joined the faculty in 2008 and has served as head of the Middle School since 2020. During his time at Rivers, John has taught Middle School and Upper School French and Middle School chorus and music-directed the Middle School and Upper School musicals. He also served as the school's director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion from 2009 until 2019. In 2017, he received the Walter Family Community Award recognizing his "commitment to cultivating a caring community through extraordinary contributions to the school." John holds a BA in music theory & composition, with a minor in French language, from Haverford College.
Sarah Freeman

MS Dean of Students, Science, Varsity Field Hockey/Girls' Lacrosse Asst. & MS Nordic Ski Head Coach

339-686-4515

Bowdoin College - BS
Columbia University - MA

Bio
Sarah Freeman is the Middle School dean of students, teaches science in the Middle School, and serves as a Middle School advisor. She has a BS from Bowdoin College, where she majored in biology and minored in education studies, and a MA in independent school leadership from Columbia University, Teachers College. Sarah assistant coaches girls' varsity field hockey and coaches Middle School girls' lacrosse.
Jennifer Litman

Director of Learning Services

339-686-2433

Boston College School of Social Work - M.S.W.
Teachers College Columbia University - M.A.T.
Franklin and Marshall College - B.A.
James Long

Assistant Head of School

339-686-2272

Harvard Graduate School of Education - Ed.M.
Bowdoin College - BA

Bio
As assistant head of school and director of student affairs for the Upper School, Jim Long is responsible for the Upper School co-curricular program, advisor program, and assembly program and oversees the Upper School class deans. Jim is also a Middle School boys’ basketball coach and ninth grade academic counselor. Jim has held a number of positions during his tenure, including dean of students for the Upper School, head of Middle School, acting Head of School, and varsity basketball coach. He graduated from Bowdoin College with a BA in history and government and later received an MEd from Harvard University.
William Mills

Upper School Dean of Student Life, History

339-686-2429

Connecticut College - BA
Harvard University - ALM

Bio
Will Mills joined Rivers in 2008 and teaches eleventh and twelfth grade history. He is also Upper School dean of students. He graduated with a BA in political science from Connecticut College and received an ALM at Harvard University. An avid rower, Will coaches boys’ crew at area high schools and rowing clubs. He came to Rivers from Choate Rosemary Hall in Connecticut, where he taught history, coached, and served as a dorm parent.
Claudia Silva

School Nurse

339-686-2480

Simmons College - BS

Bio
Claudia Silva is a registered nurse with more than a decade of pediatrics experience in a variety of settings, including schools, camps, home care, and hospitals. She has been on the staff of the Franciscan Hospital for Children in Brighton, Mass., since graduating from Simmons College with a bachelor’s degree in nursing science. She has also served as school nurse at both The Park School and Buckingham Browne & Nichols School. She has certification in CPR, CPI (Crisis Prevention), diabetes care in schools, and medication delegation.