The Human Development Institute was founded in 1988 to provide an annual conference for counselors, deans, teachers, nurses, and Human Development teachers to come together and explore the personal, social, and ethical issues that are affecting the lives of our students and our schools. Each conference is designed to present specific content, programs, and curriculum. The conferences also include small group work to help participants share, evaluate, and strengthen current programs. The opportunity to become part of an ongoing network of professionals who address these issues in our schools is an essential part of each conference. Over time, the Human Development Institute has grown and incorporated other services to schools, including consulting, presentations and workshops for schools, and in 1997, a research project: The Independent School Gender Project.

Sessions include large group presentations, small group discussions, exercises and curriculum sessions. Time is set aside each day for relaxation, exercise, conversation, rest and reflection.

CONFERENCE DIRECTORS

Ellie Griffin - Ellie has been Director of Health and Counseling Services at a K-12 day / boarding school in Massachusetts. She developed the nationally known Human Sexuality and Relationships Course, "Changing Roles" for students in grades 10 — 12, and has created and led counseling and sexuality education programs for the past twenty-three years. Ellie also teaches an AP Psychology Course to juniors and seniors. Ellie has been a consultant and faculty trainer leading adult workshops on Human Development issues for numerous schools nationally and internationally. In 1997, with Carol Hotchkiss, she created the Independent School Gender Project, a seven-year study to explore equity issues for girls and women in Independent Schools. Ellie was published in 1991, in the Independent School Bulletin for her research on self-esteem and identity in black and Hispanic young women, and has presented numerous times at the NAIS annual conference. She has presented at the Independent School Health Association conferences and has been published in their magazine. Ellie has been on the staff of the Milton Academy Boarding Staff Conference since 1980, and has also worked with the Mind/Body program at the Deaconess Hospital in Boston, to develop curriculum for their school initiative program teaching adolescents how to manage stress. In 1997, she and Carol Hotchkiss created the Independent School Gender Project, an ongoing study to explore equity issues for girls and women in Independent Schools. Ellie is on the staff of Independent School Management’s summer institute where she leads workshops for Deans of Students, and for Women Administrators and has presented at the annual conference at TABS, The Association of Boarding Schools

Carol Hotchkiss-Eliot - Carol, Director of the Durango Institute, established in July of 1991, provides workshops and seminars in Durango, Colorado to interested educators on many issues, including using Quests and Quandries. Carol consults to many schools on issues of importance, including coaching students with ADD. She as been the Assistant Head at Conserve School in Land O Lakes, Wisconsin, Dean of Residential Life at Saint Mary’s School, a girls’ boarding/day school in Raleigh, North Carolina, and the Director of Counseling Services at Millbrook School, The Peddie School, and Cate School. She is on the teaching faculty of TABS, The Association of Boarding Schools, and has published work on residential life, community systems, and social and ethical education. In 1997, she and Ellie Griffin created the Independent School Gender Project, an ongoing study to explore equity issues for girls and women in Independent Schools. Carol was the founder and coordinator of Cate School’s four-year Human Development program and has worked with individuals and schools across the country on Human Development curriculums, Attention Deficit Disorder, and residential schools. She is the author of Quests and Quandaries, a workbook text for Human Development courses.

CONTACT US

Ellie Griffin: hdi_isgp@yahoo.com

Carol W. Hotchkiss-Eliot: carol@durangoinstitute.com