Biting My Nails: Revisiting Staff Anxiety

It was three years ago when I first wrote about the increasing levels of anxiety that camp directors were seeing in their staff (Ditter, 2016). At the time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta had been reporting that anxiety in children ages 13–18 was at a 40-year high (CDC, 2011). In a survey conducted by the American Camp Association’s Healthy Camps Committee after the summer of 2015, camp directors indicated that anxiety was their number one concern when it came to staff (Gaston, 2015).

Three Different Roads That Led to Working at Camp

Working at summer camp helps young adults learn skills that will be valuable in their future careers, including leadership, communication, and more.

Outside Camp Customers and Inside Camp Customers

Camp owners always remember their outside customers (camp parents and campers), but inside customers (camp staff) are just as important.

Overcome Common Barriers to Making Your Camp Staff Feel Valued

Ah, the annual review at work. Or, in our camp settings, the end-of-session/summer evaluation. What a wonderful time for me, as a supervisor, to finally tell a staff member how I think they generally did for the entire time period prior to the evaluation (at least based on the few times I saw them in action and what I heard from others). Finally, a chance to tell this staff member that even though they were never Counselor of the Week or an All-Camp Event Team Captain, they did some things well.

Repetition, Repetition, Repetition: One Reason Camp Is a Unique Professional Experience

Summer camp jobs can teach camp staff important lessons, such as how to fail and bounce back — an important professional development skill.

Camp Staffing: We Can Avoid a Crisis!

Over the past few years, directors all over the country have reported struggling with the fact that good staff are harder to find. They also indicate that it is much more difficult to convince quality applicants to accept summer camp jobs and stay for the entire summer. In the late spring of 2018, with minimum wage issues, the shortage of male candidates, low unemployment rates, and the increased number of internships, we heard more urgency. In some circles, the staffing situation was being labeled as a “threat to our industry.”

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NOLS Risk Management Training 2018 - Orlando, Florida

You can step forward in the industry by actively managing the risks to your participants, staff, and organization. Risk management planning is critical for any organization taking people into remote environments, whether close to home or across the globe.

In the two-day NOLS Risk Management Training, you will build a prioritized action plan to improve your organization’s risk management practices. You will identify your program’s strengths and areas for growth. You will also learn a framework for designing risk management systems that meet the unique needs of your program.

NOLS Risk Management Training 2018 - Portland, Oregon

You can step forward in the industry by actively managing the risks to your participants, staff, and organization. Risk management planning is critical for any organization taking people into remote environments, whether close to home or across the globe.

In the two-day NOLS Risk Management Training, you will build a prioritized action plan to improve your organization’s risk management practices. You will identify your program’s strengths and areas for growth. You will also learn a framework for designing risk management systems that meet the unique needs of your program.

NOLS Risk Management Training 2018 - Denver, Colorado

You can step forward in the industry by actively managing the risks to your participants, staff, and organization. Risk management planning is critical for any organization taking people into remote environments, whether close to home or across the globe.

In the two-day NOLS Risk Management Training, you will build a prioritized action plan to improve your organization’s risk management practices. You will identify your program’s strengths and areas for growth. You will also learn a framework for designing risk management systems that meet the unique needs of your program.

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