Student Life
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.
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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
Meet the Counseling & Wellness Team
List of 7 members.
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Eliza Adler
Director of Counseling Services339-686-4504Middlebury College - BABio
BU School of Social Work - MSW, LICSW -
Megan Delano
School Counselor, Head of Wellness Programming339-686-4511Naropa University - MA, LMHCBio
Lesley University - BS -
Melissa Anderson
Head of Upper School, Assistant Head of School for Program, History339-686-2346University of California/Berkley - Ph. DBio
Princeton University - AB -
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Sarah Freeman
MS Dean of Students, Science, MS Field Hockey, Girls' Lacrosse Asst. Coach339-686-4515Bowdoin College - BSBio
Columbia University - MA -
Jennifer Litman
Director of Learning Services339-686-2433Boston College School of Social Work - M.S.W.Bio
Teachers College Columbia University - M.A.T.
Franklin and Marshall College - B.A. -
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Rivers admits academically qualified students and does not discriminate against students or families on the basis of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or ethnic or national origin in the administration of its educational programs, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, athletic programs, and other school-administered programs.