When middle school students at Friends School of Baltimore visit their school counselor, licensed clinical social worker Laura Locher, they also get attention from Stossel, the golden retriever-lab retriever mix. Locher describes him as her therapy associate.
“The kids are obsessed with him,” she says. “If a student is crying in my office, he’ll lick their tears.”
Stossel is just one reason why students feel comfortable seeking counseling with Locher or with her lower-school and upper-school counterparts at the independent pre-k through grade 12 Quaker school in Baltimore.
Teachers and school officials “do a lot of work around reducing stigma by continually talking about mental health,” she says.
“It goes back to the fact that we are a Quaker school. We focus on deep listening and reflection. From a young age, we’re talking about mindfulness with students. We explicitly teach that mental health is just as important as physical health.”
Other independent schools throughout the region take a similar approach, recognizing that mental health plays an important role in student life and working to help students protect their mental health.
Many schools now introduce students to instruction with a mental health focus in the elementary years, often in health classes. As a result, the stigma around mental health struggles is eroding.
One important goal is for students to recognize signs of mental distress in themselves and in their peers, and to seek help when necessary, without worrying that a diagnosis will somehow be embarrassing.
They’re also taught how to find their way in a stressful world of academic, peer and social media pressure. Discussions and lessons focus on how to navigate relationships and conflicts, how to manage stress, and how to recognize the perils of social media.
“For us as a school it’s important that we think about our students holistically,” says Roland Park Country School’s Elisha James, assistant head of school for culture, community and belonging. “I’m really proud of us as a school community, that we are not sacrificing academics for student wellness and we’re not sacrificing student wellness for academics. They’re both important.”
Students at Roland Park Country School are taught to be inclusive and supportive of their classmates, she says, and to nurture their own mental health, particularly when facing the inevitable stresses of student life.
“We want our students to have self-awareness, to really know themselves well,” she says. That means knowing when they need to get out for a walk, recognizing when they didn’t get enough sleep, and being aware of when and how to seek support.
“Right outside of my office on my bulletin board is a counseling resource list and a hotline number,” says James. “Our students know that if they have a friend who is in crisis, they can come and share that information. It’s confidential.”
Students in all grades take wellness classes taught by counselors or teachers, she says. These include workshops for middle school students that teach about leadership and collaboration.
Programs such as the annual Doug and Carol Croft Linde colloquium bring nationally recognized health and well ness experts to collaborate with students, parents and faculty on projects related to physical and mental health. One recent expert was Chrissy King, author of “The Body Liberation Project,” who spoke about body positivity, diversity and nutrition in sessions with students and with families. Other sessions have focused on adolescent depression, cyber bullying and mindfulness.
Interest in the mental health of young people certainly isn’t new, but it has taken on added urgency in recent years, in part because the COVID-19 pandemic took a toll on adolescent mental health, with studies finding alarming increases in depression and anxiety among teenagers.
Responding to this ongoing need, Garrison Forest School recently opened the Amabel Boyce ‘70 Center for Learning and Thriving, leveraging the school’s licensed counselors and academic specialists and bringing together academic support and enrichment, counseling and wellness resources to create a holistic approach to student wellness.
“Kids can come in during the day, check in and get support,” says its inaugural director, Shannon Schmidt, who was head of Garrison Forest School’s middle school for five years before taking on the new role.
The Owings Mills school also revamped its social and emotional learning curriculum, with a focus on wellness, says Schmidt. Taught by counselors, it includes units on nutrition, healthy relationships, decision-making, identity and navigating friendships. Students also gain tools for helping them navigate social media, which can be a valuable tool for connection, but also a source of anxiety, cyber bullying and body image issues. “We talk a lot about digital wellness, establishing healthy boundaries,” says Schmidt.
Mental health is not simply a subject to be studied—the messaging permeates the school. The first Wednesday of every month is Wellness Wednesday, with themes that have included neurodiversity and the power of play.
Rachel Simmons, an expert on helping girls become leaders and the author of such books as “The Curse of the Good Girl,” is on the Boyce advisory board, and recently hosted workshops on campus for students, teachers and parents.
“She talked a lot about building girls’ discomfort tolerance,” says Schmidt. “When something is difficult, we don’t stop because it’s uncomfortable.”
The same could be said about making sure students know about mental health, how to recognize it and, perhaps more importantly, how to achieve it.
This article is part of our 2025-2026 Guide to Baltimore Independent Schools.
