Counseling
Meet Our Counselors
We enjoy our students and we love what we do. Counseling at NSCD is entirely distinct from College Counseling and focuses exclusively on students’ emotional health and wellness.
Since emotional health directly impacts school performance, we help students address usual antagonists to school achievement such as sadness, worry, anger and fear. We also help students strengthen skills related to socializing, self-advocacy, coping with difficult family situations, etc. Finally, we serve as collaborators and sounding boards to parents relative to issues of parenting and child development.
While we do not provide psychotherapy services, each of us is a licensed psychotherapist with experience working with adults, children and families. Our services are entirely free of charge and our work with students may be impromptu or planned, and is typically woven into the school day. Our work is guided by the understanding that struggle goes hand-in-hand with growth. One of our goals as counselors is to help kids “struggle well” so they may grow and thrive.
In addition to being recommended for counseling by teachers, students’ parents routinely request counseling support. There are a variety of ways in which parents may wish to work with us. We strongly recommend that parents let us know if something challenging has occurred. Likewise, should a crisis involve your child’s emotional health, please let us know.
Finally, we realize each family is different when it comes to experiences with your child’s mental health. You may have worked, for many years, to address your child’s emotional needs, or you may be newly identifying a need for intervention or support.
We know that parenting takes courage, and sometimes this includes reaching out to a counselor. We will do everything we can to help you feel comfortable and we look forward to working with you.
Terri Webb
Director of Counseling/Upper School Counselor
Families new to the school may wish to…
- arrange for a continuation of social-work services from a previous school
- request transition planning for an emotional-health need not revealed in the admission process
- consult with the counselor about how to help their child navigate a new environment
Families, in general, may wish to…
- consult with the counselor regarding parenting and child development
- establish a relationship with the counselor in anticipation of a future circumstance (such as a death, divorce or family situation)
- facilitate a collaborative connection between the counselor and their child’s therapist
- explore counseling as a means of addressing social, emotional or related academic skill sets (such as self-advocacy)
- request referrals for therapists and related providers
In the event of a crisis related to:
- a family emergency
- difficult family news
- a sibling’s mental or physical health