https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/girls-camp-overcoming-relational-aggression

Author's note: The names and certain identifying characteristics of the campers on which this article is based have been changed to protect their privacy. The resulting thoughts...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/strategies-managing-risks-food-contamination-communicable-disease-camp

It is easy to become casual about food preparation and food safety. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website, each year one in six Americans, roughly 48 million...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/bullying-behavior-boys-what-do-about-it

Ty, an eleven-year-old returning camper, is sitting on the porch of your cabin. You have brought him out away from the other boys, just as you were trained to do, because he has been relentlessly...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/reflections-hiring-camp-staff

Hiring young women and men who are prepared to put campers' needs before their own is by far the most important thing I do each year. With year-round programs offering short-term residential...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/determining-competency-essentials-interviewing

"What you have to do is get them talking in such a way that they are unguarded. It could be anything they happen to be into, like their favorite baseball team or a dream they have about doing...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/mind-part-1-what-directors-need-know-about-staff-mental-health

Hiring young adults to care for other people’s children seems like folly, from a neurodevelopmental perspective. Nobody’s brain is fully developed, many activities are dangerous, the weather can be...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/expand-your-mesh-capacity-summer-begins

Consider these scenarios: A parent calls: “My child has ADD and takes medication for depression. Can she come to camp?” A counselor dashes into your office: “We need you at Cabin 5. A camper...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/childrens-mental-health-camp-what-our-role

Few children's issues have drawn more attention, or been more controversial, than those involving their mental health. For example, in the past twenty years, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/mind-part-ii-what-staff-need-know-about-their-own-mental-health

Think, for a minute, about the adults to whom you were most strongly attached as a child. Can you see their faces and remember how they treated you? Perhaps you see parents, teachers, coaches, clergy...

https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/evolving-risks-employment-practices-sexual-harassment-unlawful-discrimination

In 2015, there was a sharp increase in the number of calls to the ACA Crisis Hotline about accommodation and inclusion of individuals, both staff and campers, who identify themselves as transgender,...