ACA's Service to Camps in Crisis
The ACA Crisis Hotline serves as a resource for camps in crisis and provides callers the opportunity to talk through their crisis with a trained third party. While the hotline is not a medical nor legal "expert" call line – it can help you think through your issues and discuss options.
If it is not a crisis, please call ACA 800-428-CAMP (2267) and we will direct you to the best resource.
Call the Crisis Hotline 800-573-9019
Top Resources
The ACA Camp Crisis Hotline was established in 1985. After 30 years of serving camps, the Hotline Team has found a number of go-to resources that seem to be popular year-after-year. We share these resources to help you prepare for your camp season:
For additional risk management resources visit the Core Competency Toolkits.
- Allegations of Abuse at Home: ACA Child Abuse Recognition and Prevention Resources
- Child Abuse Reporting Phone Numbers by State
- Understanding the Mandated Reporter Laws
- Allegations of Camper to Camper Abuse: ACA Child Abuse Recognition and Prevention Resources
- Bullying Resources
- Do Children Sexually Abuse Other Children? Stop It Now
- Preventing Child Sexual Abuse Within Youth Serving Organizations US Dept of Health and Human Services
- Camp Security
- Crisis Communications (including samples and templates)
- Death of a Camper or Staff Member
- Employment Issues
- Insurance
- Key articles on camp insurance from ACA's CampLine and Camping Magazine publications
- LGBTQIA+
-
Medical and Health Issues
- American Association of Poison Control Centers
- Bed Bugs
- Communicable Diseases and Infestations
- Cutting
- E-Cigarettes and Juuling
- Foodborne Illness
- Hantavirus
- Heat Related Illness
- Immunizations
- Legionnaires' Disease and Pontiac Fever
- Lice
- Management and Administration of Medication
- Medical Marijuana
- Mental Health - Find mental health support near you
- MRSA Infections
- Scabies
- Sexual Health Resources
- Suicide Prevention
- Ticks
- Teen Pregnancy and Support
- Waterborne Illness: Naegleria fowleri
- West Nile Virus
- Zika Virus
- Searching the belongings of campers and/or staff
- Transgender Campers/Staff
- Weather Resources
- Wildfire Resources
Annual Review of Lessons Learned
Each fall, the hotline team provides a written review of all of the lessons learned from the previous year of serving camps in crisis. The review includes trends, data, and case studies for camps to use to prepare for future crises. Learn from our previous years: