https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/developing-social-emotional-learning-skills-camp

Welcome to summer camp, potentially the most rewarding job you’ll ever have! At camp, we are able to simultaneously help kids grow, make genuine connections with campers and fellow staff, and role...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/you-quit-how-get-most-out-your-summer-camp

I had just finished running a marathon and had flopped onto the grass to rest. I was so tired that I hadn’t registered that the tired runner sitting next to me was a former camp counselor. He had...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/four-cs-great-summer-camp

At its best, summer camp is a silly, spirited place. A place where the group who cooks the best outdoor meal wins a metal spoon that has been spray-painted gold (the golden spoon! ooooh, aaaaah);...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/easy-one-two-three-using-data-advance-equity-your-camp

Whenever we’re brought on board to support a camp in creating a greater sense of inclusion and belonging within its community, almost always, one of the first things we’re asked is, “How do we even...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/mitigating-long-term-bereavement-risks-addressing-family-grief

Bereavement camps for children are now commonplace around the United States (McClatchey & Wimmer, 2018). Some of these are recreational, and others are more clinically focused. Most do not...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/healthy-inside-out-role-mental-health-counseling-summer-camp

I spent my childhood summers at a sleepaway camp in Pennsylvania, and I loved it. When I turned 18 in 2021, I couldn’t wait to work as a counselor myself. I was following in my mother’s footsteps;...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/enhancing-inclusion-campers-sensory-processing-concerns-through-camp-counselor-training

Summer camps provide children an opportunity for goal achievement, a sense of community, and development of self-concept. Toward that end, goal-directed camp activities revolve around teamwork, as...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/safe-space-trauma-informed-trauma-infused-what-know-how-help

Across the land, schools and summer camps have embraced a movement to better understand trauma and how it affects a child’s ability to learn and self-regulate their behavior. As that knowledge...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/reframing-mental-health-camp

Mental health at camp has always been a challenge. But for many camps, it wasn’t until worldwide stressors started piling up in 2020 that this challenge became overwhelming.

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/fighting-wellness-youth-thrive-when-you-do

An Interview with Brittany Patterson, PhD