Health & Wellness
We prioritize the Health and Wellness of our entire community, and we are committed to creating a culture that supports the mental, physical, emotional, social, and intellectual well being of each student.
Relationships are the center of all that we do. We know that communities that foster healthy connections through dignity and acceptance thrive and create the emotional climate that fosters well-being, intellectual growth, and self-discovery.
At Beaver, we value connection, playfulness, mattering, and meaning. We do this by proactively connecting with students, and we promote a culture where seeking help or support is encouraged and welcomed.
Students reach out to us for a multitude of reasons. Because we proactively connect with students outside of our offices, students often email us or drop in our offices. Every student at Beaver has a “get to know you” meeting with one of the counseling teams to normalize reaching out for support if needed. Each day, numerous students meet with us for support around various emotional, psychological, or social challenges to seek support and guidance. We want our students to do hard things, make excellent mistakes, and discover that a well-lived life begins with healthy relationships, kindness, and facing difficulties head-on.
Wellness is integrated into the every day in grades 6-12.
Middle School Wellness
Our target focus for Middle School Wellness is to normalize the developmental challenges with which students face and help our students further develop their social and emotional learning skills to help them navigate the content of their lives.
Upper School Wellness
As students progress from 9th through 12th grade, we focus on nurturing their growth, ensuring they are equipped with the tools to thrive academically, socially, and emotionally—both now and in the future.
Health & Wellness Department
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Rick Wilson
Director of Wellness, Counseling, and Health Services
Rick Wilson
I have Midwestern roots and survived a middle school transition from Southern Indiana to Southern Connecticut. I started my professional life as a musician and audio engineer. Following a stint in pastoral ministry, I studied to become a clinical psychologist and have been working at Nobles for the past 15 years as well as keeping a small private practice. This journey has really shaped my willingness to embrace the twists and turns that occur in all of our lives. Life has an interesting way of unfolding!
I have been working as a clinical psychologist for eighteen years and combine my interest in positive psychology and clinical practice with helping high school students, families, and institutions discover and prioritize emotional and physical wellness. I value community, creativity, collaboration, and joyfulness. In my personal life, I have two adult daughters and live in Natick with my wife, Kim, and our two cats, Milo and Cricket. We enjoy gardening and cooking together. I am an avid cyclist, a Boston Bruins fan, and also play guitar and sing in an 80s cover band called Ghosts in the Machine. We play regularly around the Boston metro area.
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Ashley Garcia
Upper School Counselor, 9th Grade Team Leader
Ashley Garcia
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Tammy Graham
Associate Director of Counseling and Wellness & Middle School Counselor
Tammy Graham
Originally from California, I moved here with my husband 30 years ago, so New England feels like my home. I have worked as Beaver’s Middle School Counselor since 2015. I love being the counselor for our 6th-8th graders. I approach every student with compassion and understanding with the goal of helping students feel empowered to develop solutions to their problems. I provide individual and group counseling around mental health and social issues and offer day-to-day support as needed. Additionally, I am responsible for teaching wellness classes and providing lunchtime programming, such as RISE and Graham Dam. RISE is a program where I teach students ways to deal with stress in helpful ways. There is always a fun craft to make it a relaxing, creative, and supportive place for students during their school day. Students attend Graham Dam, a special lunch with me and a group of students, a few times a year. The goal of Graham Dam is for students to get to know me better so they will feel more comfortable connecting if the time arises when they need support.
I have a graduate degree in Counseling Psychology from Lesley University and a license in Child and Family Therapy. I started my career at Family Service of Greater Boston doing in-home family therapy and then worked at Boston Children’s Hospital for 10 years providing support to children and families. I also worked in Boston Public Schools and several Catholic schools on the North Shore, providing school counseling services.
In addition to being married, I have two adult daughters who are my pride and joy. We have two dogs, Shiloh and Millie, and one cat, Simba. It’s a small zoo at my house. I enjoy sailing on our sailboat, Enya, and being outdoors.
People always ask, “How and why do you work with middle schoolers?” My response is usually a smile followed by a small laugh and something like, “You never know what you are going to get.”
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Talia Ossowski
School Nurse