Nurses as accessible, helping adults within schools have daily opportunities to reach adolescents with unmet mental health needs. Understanding the relationship between frequent clinic visits or somatic complaints as a sign of underlying problems, which may be organic or psychoemotional in origin, requires the unique skill set of the school nurse. The welcoming school nurse, who cares for students with acceptance and emotional availability, nurtures the development of trust and meaningful personal connection. It is through this relationship that effective care and case finding occurs. Attachment to the school nurse as a responsive adult fosters a sense of school connectedness, which is associated with academic success. Intentional Interviewing is a person-centered, evidence-based approach that can be used by school nurses in this important work.

Adolescents who attend high school as preparatory boarding students are growing up and learning to care for themselves in a very different set of circumstances than those who live at home with their families. Although this choice may present myriad opportunities for personal growth and academic advantages, nurturance and support from caring adults is necessary to foster health and well-being. Our model of a collaborative relationship between nursing and counseling in providing health services to the adolescents in our care at St. Mark's School is designed to effectively meet this challenge. While it is true that a very small percentage of adolescents attend preparatory boarding schools in the United States, this article is an attempt to present our working model for consideration by other school nurses and counselors in our field of practice, especially since there is a lack of professionally relevant current literature for reference.