https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/when-staff-mesh-impacts-camp

Everyone has a mental, emotional, social health (MESH) profile. For most of us, our MESH profile is within a “normal” range. Some days are better than others. Some things push our buttons, others don...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/there-reason-understanding-challenging-behavior

I once worked with cat. Not a “meow” cat, although that’s how she identified herself to me. She was a thirteen-year-old girl who insisted she was a cat. You can imagine how hard it was for her at...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/youth-objects-or-partners-advancing-opportunities-camper-leadership-decision-making

Disenfranchised by Design? Nearly 40 percent of ten- to eighteen-year-olds report insufficient levels of involvement in camp (ACA 2006). That statistic surprised most camp...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/family-camp-impacts-family-functioning

Introduction Families are a foundational structure of society that play a critical role in the health and well-being of communities. Every aspect of the American family is experiencing change,...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/creating-camp-narratives-enhance-emotional-growth-hiv-youth

Because of the ignorance and stigma which still sadly surrounds HIV, children born with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) experience additional psychosocial stressors beyond those commonly...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/what-now-understanding-supporting-campers-mental-health-issues

What's Going On? Are you finding youth more complicated and challenging to work with? Did you know that today one in five youth ages ten to twenty-four years is diagnosed with a defined mental...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/martin-his-friends-counseling-skills-effect-change-camp

Martin was sitting in the office of the boys' head counselor again. He'd been playing "Ga Ga" when another camper got him out. In what had quickly become an all-too-typical response for nine-year-old...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/time-our-lives-how-summer-camp-tames-transition-trouble

It is a common refrain that the college years best represent "the time of our lives," replete with newfound independence and denoting fulfillment of academic, social, emotional, and workforce...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/children-need-play-can-they-get-it-camp

When I was a child, in the 1950s, children were far freer than they are today. By the time I was five, I could go anywhere in town, on foot or bicycle, without adult accompaniment. My family moved...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/tears-rain-disciplinary-debacles-summer-camp-lessons-learned

The sometimes heavy rain on the last and closing days of camp only accentuated the tears of sadness shed in this closest of communities. Some were tears borne of the profound sense of loss that the...