Head of School Feb 9, 2024
Dear Seven Hills Families,
As part of our on-going commitment to promoting health and wellness, each year Seven Hills guidance counselors bring to campus skilled outside consultants who help provide the information our students need to make healthy, responsible decisions.
One such group, Healthy Visions, based here in Cincinnati, “provides educational programs and content … to empower youth to make decisions toward optimal health (social, emotional, mental, intellectual, and physical) for a happier, healthier, and more hopeful future.” Each winter and spring, a team from Healthy Visions visits Seven Hills to work with sixth, seventh, and eighth graders on social and interpersonal skills.
The sixth grade unit focuses primarily on communication and particularly on the healthy use of technology. The students learn the importance of body language, tone, and word choice and also how digital messages can be misconstrued. The seventh grade discussions focus on friendship. The students learn to identify healthy vs. unhealthy relationships and how to handle conflicts, set boundaries, and communicate with their peers in healthy and assertive ways. In eighth grade, the focus moves toward dating and relationships. They cover the characteristics of healthy relationships, the importance of consent and awareness of personal boundaries, and the difference between a crush, infatuation, and love.
This past week, as part of our health education and substance use prevention efforts, students in fourth, fifth, seventh, ninth, 11th, and 12th grades met with Glenn Hall, a prevention specialist from Prevention Solutions, part of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation. For the last 25 years, Prevention Solutions, formerly known as Freedom from Chemical Dependency (FCD), has provided education about alcohol, nicotine, and other drugs to schools around the world. Each year, they visit Seven Hills to prepare our students to make healthy and informed decisions about the use of alcohol, nicotine, and other drugs.
Prevention Solutions prevention specialists, who are themselves in healthy recovery from their own alcohol or other drug addictions, present the most up-to-date information available on the physiological and psychological effects of various drugs and provide a forum for discussing social, cultural, and personal issues that relate to the choices people make.
During their visit, Prevention Solutions prevention specialists:
- promote awareness of addiction, including alcoholism, as a progressive, chronic, and often fatal disease.
- empower young people to make healthy, responsible choices regarding alcohol and other drug use.
- educate students, parents, teachers, and school administrators on the physiological and psychological effects of alcohol and other drugs.
- teach students and adults to recognize the early warning signs of substance abuse and to intervene appropriately.
- encourage and support the non-use of alcohol and other illegal or illicit drugs during the growing years.
- provide our community with the guidance and training necessary to implement comprehensive, effective approaches to substance abuse prevention.
I am grateful to our counseling staff for providing these valuable opportunities for our students to discuss these — and many other — critical issues relating to their health and safety.
Christopher P. Garten
Head of School
Key Dates & Events
February — Black History Month
Friday, Feb. 16 — Faculty Professional Development Day. No Classes.
Monday, Feb. 19 — Presidents Day. No School. All buildings and offices are closed.
Wednesday, Feb. 21 — Board of Trustees Meeting, 6:30 p.m.