A CALL TO
CARE AT
SUMMER CAMP
As DMV camps enter a third year of the COVID-19
pandemic, supporting campers’ mental and emotional
health is more important than ever
W hen Focus Family Martial Arts Academy welcomed children back to camp
last summer, staff noticed something odd. Children in kindergarten and
first grade did not know how to line up, and they were not sharing toys
with other campers—behaviors typical for that age group.

In what was the first summer back at camp for many children after about 12 to 18
months, camp leadership noticed developmental delays, more emotional reactions and,
in some cases, an increase in mental health needs.

“Everyone who touches the camping industry had raised the flag that mental health
was on the rise,” says Havi Goldscher, CEO of Capital Camps, a Jewish overnight camp
with its headquarters in Rockville, Maryland.

It’s hard to say what the impact on children’s mental health will be when the dust
settles from the COVID-19 pandemic, but the summer of 2021 provided a window
into what was needed: more mental health professionals, better communication with
parents and grace to meet children where they are, says American Camp Association
President and CEO Tom Rosenberg.

16 WashingtonFAMILY JANUARY 2022
BACKGROUND AND LEAF: RUSANOVSKA/DIGITALVISION
VECTORS/GETTY IMAGES
BY LINDSAY C. VANASDALAN



CAPITAL CAMPS & RETREAT CENTER
FOCUS FAMILY MARTIAL ARTS
Here’s what steps local camps in the DMV took in 2021, Training and Support
and will continue to take, to ensure mental health is Some problems, however, stem from more clinical
accounted for this summer.

issues. Trends of intensified anxiety, anorexia and
suicide ideation are affecting both schools and
camps, Goldscher says.

Focused Attention
To address it, camps have invested in additional
Goldscher noticed campers’ communication with
staff or training, as well as provided more
one another was different in 2021.

“When you spend (a year and a half behind connections to families’ home mental health
a screen) and all of a sudden you are in a high- providers virtually or over the phone.

Capital Camps had already been a leader in
intensity social situation with your peers, it takes
different skills and different muscle memory to camper care, with specialists in place for at least
two decades, but it intensified its program last
return,” she says.

Some camps saw children who were more
emotionally reactive or had attitudes that were
not as group-focused. It takes practice with peers
to develop these social-emotional competencies,
Rosenberg notes, which many haven’t been able to
do being away from camp.

Calleva helped campers adjust with more one-
on-one staff attention, says Julie Clendenin,
director of the outdoor-focused day camp with
multiple locations in the DMV.

Rachel Dolan is the owner of Focus Family, a
Jewish martial arts academy in Fairfax, Virginia,
which runs a day camp in the summer.

To get younger campers up to speed, Dolan says,
coaches needed to take 15 or 20 minutes with them
once or twice a week to talk about how to be a good
friend, kindness, respect and following directions.

Older campers only required a few times to smooth
over interpersonal conflicts and get them talking
to each other.

For Goldscher, last summer was about meeting
campers where they were and not expecting them
to be on track yet.

“We just really believe it’s about setting
expectations up front,” Clendenin adds. If camp
staff meet them where they are with compassion,
they adapt quickly.

Focus Family
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