The Hill School Mission: The Hill School prepares young people from across the country and around the world for college, careers, and life. Within a family school environment and a rigorous liberal arts curriculum, we challenge our young people to work hard; think and reason; be fulfilled; serve the common good; and be prepared to lead as citizens of the world, uniquely guided by our motto, "Whatsoever Things Are True."

Position Summary

The Director of Counseling leads the counseling program, directing the School's mental health counselors, and collaborating with other health and wellness team members, faculty, and staff to promote student wellness and success, provide preventive education, and respond to identified student mental health needs. This position is a blend of student prevention education and direct clinical care, supervision of the counseling staff. At the individual student level, the department is designed to provide short-term, solution-focused care for students with mental health needs. The director ensures compassionate, insightful, and effective care to students in need of support.

Responsibilities

• Establish and administer policies and procedures to ensure high quality care in the Counseling Center within the broader context of the boarding school setting; establish administrative processes to document student care provided. Ensure the delivery of compassionate care to students who are in need of mental  health support.
• Supervise the School’s mental health counselors to provide individual counseling and group guidance to help students cope effectively with personal, social, academic, career, mental health, and family concerns through a short-term, solution-focused model.
• Develop and support a robust prevention education program, including collaboration with School community leaders in the development and support of the residential life program. Teach section(s) of Eudemonia, a well-being program for third, fourth, and sixth form students designed to educate them on how they might capitalize upon their human resources to make the most of their potential. Students learn about topics including executive functioning skills, empathy, managing conflict, resilience, judgment, substance use prevention, sexual health, and preparing for college and beyond. Provide ad hoc training to faculty and students/student groups on mental health topics. Plan and facilitate parent education programs to foster engagement on teen mental health topics.
• Lead highly effective communication with students, parents, faculty, and staff regarding mental health and social wellness; consult with parents of students with identified concerns and make recommendations for follow-up evaluation and/or treatment. Facilitate communication and exchange of pertinent information with administration, residential staff, teachers, advisers, coaches, and other select Hill employees, in compliance with parental permission granted in the Authorization to Treat and Share Health Information form to include the minimum necessary information on a need-to-know basis. Ensure that all required health records are maintained in the prescribed format and in a manner which retains medical confidentiality.
• Collaborate with the Medical Director and Dean of Students to support a health-based approach to students’ challenges with substance use for those students who qualify for the I Care program. Collaborate and meet as needed with Learning Coordinator to support students who are utilizing services of both the Counseling Center and Learning Center. Serve as the lead case management resource on mental health related medical leaves, facilitating coordination of care and support between off-campus mental health providers, parents, students, and the School.
• In collaboration with Human Resources and Medical Directors, ensure compliance with local, state, and federal requirements for training adults and students on The Hill School campus (Act 126, etc.). Develop and deliver professional development training on mental health issues to Hill employees.
• In collaboration with the Medical Director, develop and track appropriate metrics which evaluate student social well-being and mental health, and develop programming to address student body needs identified by the metrics.
• Establish and maintain positive relationships with a network of local and regional mental health providers to ensure timely assessments or ongoing off-campus care, when needed. Help facilitate student access to telehealth therapy services for chronic mental health support when virtual visits are preferred by the student and family. Maintain policy compliance with Montgomery County, PA Department of Public Health, and any federal agencies.
• Develop and maintain a comprehensive clinic schedule as well as after-hours on-call counselor schedule for all nights and weekends when school is in session. Provide on-call coverage in rotation with mental health counselor colleagues; be available during on-call shifts to arrive on campus within 30 minutes for urgent mental health needs and support the on-call mental health counselor when assessing students with safety concerns. The successful candidate will be expected to complete work during academic breaks. 
• Collaborate with the Medical Director and Business Office on the Counseling Center budget.
• Performs other duties as assigned to support the overall success and mission of the institution.

Qualifications

• Master of Counseling or Clinical Psychology; Ph.D. in Psychology or Psy.D. is preferred.
• Experience in residential school or university counseling is preferred but not required.
• Active Pennsylvania licensure required for mental health counseling.
• 7+ years of experience as manager or supervisor with responsibility for policy and procedure formation.
• 7+ years of experience providing clinical care with adolescent population.
• Excellent verbal and written communication, including interpersonal skills with a collaborative approach.
• High level of competency with relevant medical technology and software.

Committees

Serve on the following committees and teams:

• Medical Leave Committee
• Executive Committee
• Student Support Team
• Safe2Say
• Safety Committee

Attitude and Demeanor

• Publicly support the mission and vision of The Hill School in a positive and professional manner.
• Work as a dynamic team member in a professional collaborative environment.
• Energetic and organized enough to thrive in an extremely fast-paced environment while collaborating with a growing team to produce great work.
• Ability to wear many hats, learn new things every day, and have the ability to switch from a variety of roles with ease and excitement.
• Communicate effectively with warmth, sensitivity, humor, and understanding as they deal with administrative colleagues, teachers, students, alumni, parents, faculty, staff, and program associates.
• Possess a "service attitude" - willingness to be flexible to meet the needs of the department and school.

Application Materials

• Resume/CV
• Letter of Interest
• Statement of philosophy of counseling adolescents within a school setting

About The Hill School

Since its founding in 1851 and for 168 years, The Hill School has provided a traditional liberal arts education to its students. Although The Hill’s curriculum continues to evolve, we have never strayed very far from a proven, rigorous blend of humanities, classics and modern languages, social sciences, mathematics, science, and the arts. For our students, we have prioritized broad knowledge in our steadfast belief that this comprehensive foundation best prepares students for “college, careers, and life.” The Hill School also has begun implementing an ambitious STEM curriculum, which includes one of the most extensive secondary school engineering programs in the nation. We have bolstered our fine arts programs with courses in digital media, video production, design technology, rapid prototyping and fabrication, and design thinking. And, we are offering pre-professional, co-curricular programs in business and entrepreneurship. Over the coming years, we will continue to affirm what we already do very well while honing curricular and co-curricular programs such as leadership training, service learning, experiential education, and interdisciplinary studies. We will find improve...d ways to teach all Hill students 21st century skills such as critical thinking and problem solving, collaboration and leading, agility and adaptability, initiative and entrepreneurship, effective oral and written communication, accessing and analyzing data, and curiosity and imagination. We are working with our Faculty and Staff to become both the most traditional and the most innovative boarding school in the country, simultaneously. The Hill was founded as The Family Boarding School and when you visit campus, you might note that we are still a bit traditional, despite our emphasis on innovation! We follow a dress code, our students regularly sit down with faculty members for family-style meals, we gather twice a week at Chapel for thoughtful reflection; many of our students study Latin and Greek; and we pride ourselves on a student-written Honor Code and demanding code of conduct. We enjoy historic and blossoming traditions such as 130-year-old athletics rivalries, revered a cappella vocal groups, school-wide service projects, community team-building events, small group meetings with caring faculty advisers, and a very special jump in the Dell pond after graduation! Over the next three to five years, the Hill School is set to achieve several accomplishments sure to leave their mark on the School’s history. The School’s Advancement Office is a 25 person-strong organization driven to achieve the goals set forth in the current “Strength of All” capital campaign which is entering its fourth year of the five- to seven-year campaign. The capital campaign will fund many efforts, including a significant increase in our financial aid and faculty compensation endowment. In 2018-2019, we expanded the seating capacity of our historic dining hall and completely renovated our food service and preparation areas used by our food service contractor, Sodexo. In 2019-2020, the School will construct the Quadrivium Center (a STEM facility) where our science, engineering, computer science and mathematics classes will be housed. The School has developed property adjacent to our main campus by recently erecting beautiful new homes for our faculty in our East Faculty Village. This Faculty Housing expansion is likely to continue with additional property available for housing construction to ensure The Hill School offers the very best of this important housing benefit to our residential faculty. One of our most ambitious goals is to be a driving force in the economic revitalization of Pottstown and our immediate neighborhood and through our Hobart’s Run Community Development program and participation in Pottstown CARES, we are finding traction in ways both small and large.

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