https://www.acacamps.org/blog/want-improve-your-response-mental-health-challenges

Camp professionals often ask what they might do to more effectively respond to staff and camper mental, emotional and social health (MESH) needs. This often arises from a desire to be as inclusive as...

https://www.acacamps.org/blog/instilling-meshages-marginalizes-toxic-stress-camp

As the Healthy Camp Education and Monitoring Program (HCEMP) committee studies MESH and its implications, I was interested to see some foundational work in this area. In...

https://www.acacamps.org/blog/school-breaks-shouldnt-be-break-learning

School breaks are not the time to take a break from learning. Unfortunately, this is what often happens, resulting in a significant drop in students’ mastery of core concepts. The ...

https://www.acacamps.org/blog/moderating-childhood-stress-through-camp

Exposure to adverse childhood events (ACE) can lead children to drinking alcohol, smoking, illicit drug use, overeating, and other maladaptive behaviors (Stevens, 2015). These children can experience...

https://www.acacamps.org/blog/why-lgbtq-camp-programs-are-important

LGBTQ+ leadership camps allow LGBTQ+ youth to be themselves and feel accepted and loved in a summer camp environment.

https://www.acacamps.org/blog/what-know-about-demographic-evaluation-questions-how-make-them-count-part-1

Wheewww! Summer is about over, if not over for most camps, which means that it's time to reflect on another eventful and exciting season. Along with a bit of a breather, this time of year brings lots...

https://www.acacamps.org/blog/3-weeks-summer-camp-what-i-learned-educator-being-camp-parent

I feel like I just spent three weeks at Jewish summer camp. I experienced the highs of color war, the exhilaration of kayaking in the lake, the fear of the high ropes course, and the spirit of...

https://www.acacamps.org/blog/whats-impact-gender-inclusive-cabins-campers-friendships

That question was one that I and my collaborator Leila Bighash sought to help answer in our...

https://www.acacamps.org/blog/want-independent-confident-resilient-kid-camp-can-help

While it’s easy to think of ways to teach our kids to do laundry or solve math problems, finding a way to instill important character traits isn’t as simple. The way we model traits we want our...

https://www.acacamps.org/blog/too-much-screen-time-four-ways-summer-camp-can-help

Children between eight and ten years old currently spend nearly eight hours a day on media. Adolescents average nearly eleven hours per day, seven days a week, on screens. The negative impact of this...