Empowering Staff with Trauma-Sensitive Strategies for Responding to Reports

The manner in which staff reacts to a camper’s first telling of an incident of sexual misconduct can make all the difference in the experience of the camper, as well as the effective resolution of the matter. While a serious allegation of sexual abuse will often require external assistance to navigate, the first disclosure at camp is typically made to a counselor or more junior staff member.

This session is for camp leaders to consider how to best prepare junior staffers to respond appropriately should a camper make such a disclosure. Led by trauma-informed camp legal advisors and former prosecutors, this session offers a deeper dive into how to educate junior staff to recognize a disclosure (it may not always be plainly stated), what to say and not to say to the camper during the conversation and the importance of quickly escalating the disclosure to leadership so that additional steps can be taken.

*This webinar will not be recorded and shared with registrants. Please plan to join live.

Presenter Bios:

Rena Paul and Margaret Gandy are camp alums and the co-founders of Alcalaw LLP, a women-owned law firm that specializes in sexual misconduct and child safety matters.  Alcalaw serves as legal counsel to camps, guiding them on issues related to reports of peer-to-peer harm and behavioral issues, staff misconduct and other matters involving camp safety.  Alcalaw’s SummerSafe program provides camps with a primer on best practices for abuse prevention and a roadmap for preparing staff to respond to reports of harm.