Community Care Resources & Training
Upcoming Community Care Events
Previous Webinars
Self Harm at Camp: Understanding How our Response Impacts Risky Behaviors
Anxiety and Parents WorkshopAnxiety Camper Staff Workshop
In This Section
These five principles are each aligned with a Jewish value so our campers can experience Judaism, Jewish tradition, and their Jewish camp as a framework to help support them over the summer. The five program areas are:
- Sukkat Shalom (shelter of peace) – A sense of safety
- Ometz Lev (inner strength) – A sense of calm
- G’vurah (strength/power) – Self- and communal-efficacy
- K’hillah (community) – Social connectedness
- Hesed (loving kindness) – Hope attained by reaching out to assist others
Each program helps campers gain an understanding of these values and principles for themselves and their communities through stories, activities, and exploration, all while strengthening their wellness and resilience. As a community, you will proactively strengthen their mental wellbeing while participating in fun “campy” activities.
Below you will find the programs broken out by value as well as supplemental resources. Your camp may choose to use the entire guide, pick out one value to focus on, or facilitate a single stand-alone activity!
La Bri’uit Program Resources
Program Guide by Topic
The FJC La-bri’ut program guide is adapted from The Jewish Education Center of Cleveland’s La-bri’ut Curriculum with support from The Covenant Foundation. The FJC La’bri-ut summer adaptation was made possible through the generosity of The Marcus Foundation as part of the Yedid Nefesh Initiative.
In summer 2022—the third summer impacted by the COVID pandemic—In the City Camps CEO Eileen Price and her colleague Danya Maloon (LMSW, LMAT), Camper Care Director, noticed that “the kids were not alright.” Campers and staff were struggling in ways they had not previously seen.
In the City Camps turned to noted psychologist Betsy Stone, Ph.D., and curriculum developer, Ellen Rank, to construct a strengths-based curriculum focused on emotional regulation; excavation, interrogation, and discovery of self; and strategies to guide staff on their journeys to help campers discover their unique and vital strengths.
This curriculum was created through a collaboration between Stone, Rank, Price, and Maloon. In the City Camps and the co-creators are honored to share these sessions for all to access—the edification of Jewish youth is the main goal, just as we know it is yours. Through the Yedid Nefesh Initiative, FJC is excited to help share this resource for camps to adapt and apply across the field.
Please use these documents as they are presented or modify them at your discretion. Feedback is welcome, we would love to hear how your camp adapted and applied these resources!
Mattan Staff Training Curriculum
FJC partnered with Matan to develop a staff training curriculum to use with counselors for both day and overnight camp. This curriculum is meant for your general staff and specialists to enrich their training on inclusion. The core philosophy guiding this training program is that camp works best when it works well for everyone—and that every single person at camp has a hand in supporting a culture of inclusion. Every learning opportunity and strategy covered in this program is designed to enhance the camp experience for all children, both with and without disabilities.
Full inclusion doesn’t happen overnight. We hope that camp professionals, Inclusion Training Program facilitators, and participating staff members will take on what feels manageable now, and plan to build upon those efforts as time goes on.
As we learn from Pirkei Avot (Ethics of our Fathers), “You are not obligated to complete the task, but neither are you free to desist from it.” Whether your camp has a long-standing program to include children with disabilities, or you are just starting out, we hope you will encourage your staff to explore how they can take the next step, think a little differently, and start to view inclusion as everyone’s job.
Inclusion Training Guide
The teams at FJC and The Ramah Camping Movement, and many helpful colleagues in the disabilities camping field have worked tirelessly to collect, organize, and bring online the many useful resources in this guide.
It is our sincere hope that this guide will evolve through use and feedback, as a regularly updated, hands-on, online resource assisting you in all aspects of your work with campers with disabilities. Please complete this form to submit comments and subscribe to updates.
Who should use this guide?
Camp directors, inclusion specialists, directors of a disabilities camping program, counselors, or activity specialists who want to feel more confident in their work with children with disabilities. This first version offers basic information on:
- the history of disabilities camping;
- models of camping for people with disabilities;
- benefits of camping for both campers with disabilities and the typical camp community;
- overviews of various disabilities; and
- useful tools for day-to-day work with campers.
FJC is grateful for the generous support of UJA-Federation of New York – Neshamot Fund, and our partner, the Ramah Camping Movement, on development of this guide.
Inclusion Training Program
The Foundation for Jewish Camp Inclusion Training Program is divided into eight core chapters to meet the training needs of both overnight and day camps. Recognizing that while there are similarities between these two environments and aspects that are specific to each, there is also a supplement for day camps and a supplement for residential camps.
Whether you complete all of these chapters during staff week, or intersperse them throughout your camp season, we are confident that your staff will develop important skills for working with every camper. Everything you need for the Foundation for Jewish Camp Inclusion Training Program is contained in these PDFs. We wish you a successful and inclusive summer!
Downloadable PDFs
Resource List
Building Upon YMHFA: Continuing Ed
Mussar Minutes breathing exercises
Camper Check-in Resource Guide
Mental Health Job Board: Open Positions: Mental Health – Foundation for Jewish Camp
Summer Camp Staff Journal – Created in partnership with The Blue Dove Foundation & BeWell
Keilim – A policy toolkit for creating safer, more respectful, and more equitable environments for those who work at and access your organization (by Sacred Spaces).
Shutaf: Inclusion Guide – Shutaf
Keshet: Keshet – An Organization for Individuals with Special Needs and Disabilities
Franki Bagdadi: Franki Bagdade M. Ed. LLMSW, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion-Focused Services: My mission through FAAB Consulting and Franki Bagdade Therapy is to ensure that education, parent support, mental health services, coaching, camp and recreation programs are accessible for those who are neurodivergent
The Jewish Braille Institute – Helping to bring people of all ages and backgrounds who are blind, visually impaired, or print disabled gain access to Jewish life, learning, and culture through braille, large print, and audio texts. JBI offers a wide range of free customized materials in braille, audio, and large print formats. For more information about producing accessible materials for your camp, please contact Daniel Gamble at dgamble@jbilibray.org.
Ease – Offering online staff training & camper education on Consent, Boundaries, Relationships & Sex Ed & more for people with Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities (Autism, ADHD, Down syndrome, Williams syndrome, etc.).
BBYO Center for Adolescent Wellness
BeWell (resources + request low- or no-cost trainings)
LEAD Inc. (Let’s Empower, Act, Do)
Dear Scout – An employee assistance program offering your camp staff HIPAA-compliant counseling teletherapy support
Brett Gurwitz Trainings & Coaching
Network for Jewish Human Service Agencies – JFS/Human Service Agency Locator