Community Care Resources
Programs and Initiatives
Yedid Nefesh Yashar Initiative
Resources, Training and Community Organizations
Strengths-Based Staff Curriculum
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
Inclusion Resources
Welcome to the INCLUSION TRAINING GUIDE FOR JEWISH SUMMER CAMPS. Proudly, we see that attention to including campers with disabilities is exploding as a priority across movements, and organizations with interest in overnight camping, day camping, vocational training programs, family camps, and more!
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. 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 use the form below to submit comments and subscribe to updates.
Currently you can download the guide in its entirety or by individual chapter.
We would like to offer a list of professionals and other organizations in the field serving people with disabilities. Please complete this form so we can include you and your organization in future updates to this guide.
WHO SHOULD USE THIS TOOL?
Whether you are a camp director, inclusion specialist, director of a disabilities camping program, counselor, or activity specialist, there is something here for you! We see this project growing and expanding over time. 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
- useful tools for day to day work with campers
We have created this online resource guide to share information and resources which will help you feel more confident in your work with children with disabilities.
- Camp directors may want to take a look at sections pertaining to inclusive camping for people with disabilities, successful inclusion in Jewish summer camp, inclusive camps, specific disabilities and related activities, communicating with parents, staff training, and people first language.
- Inclusion Coordinators will find it particularly useful to access certain materials like intake forms, people first language and general information on inclusive camping before the summer, while other materials like staff training (role-plays, sensitivity activities, values based on Jewish texts, and people first language) may be useful while camp is in session.
- Counselors, division heads, inclusion coordinators, program directors and camper care teams may find such tools as social stories, visual schedules, and tips on managing camper behavior, and speaking to the bunk about inclusion and disabilities to be particularly useful.
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DOWNLOAD THE GUIDE BY CHAPTER
- INTRODUCTION
- CHAPTER 1: Inclusive Camping for People with Disabilities
- CHAPTER 2: Successful Inclusion in Jewish Summer Camp
- CHAPTER 3: People First Language
- CHAPTER 4: Pre-Camp Resources
- CHAPTER 5: Summer Communication
- CHAPTER 6: Text Based Jewish Values for Inclusive Communities
- CHAPTER 7: Staff Training- A Treasure Chest
- CHAPTER 8: Specific Disabilities and Related Activities
- CHAPTER 9: Anticipating, Understanding, and Managing Behavior
- CHAPTER 10: Visual Schedules, Social Stories, and Other Planning Tools
- CHAPTER 11: Speaking to the Bunk about Inclusion and Disabilities
- CHAPTER 12: Glossary
- CHAPTER 13: Bibliography and Sources
FJC is grateful for the generous support of UJA-Federation of New York – Neshamot Fund.
This guide was developed in partnership with Foundation for Jewish Camp and the Ramah Camping Movement. 
MESSH Intern Projects
Pocket Affirmations Guide Created by Cassidy Orange and Joelle Newman
Post camp emotional unpacking journal for staff Created by Illanit Abraham and Carly Hurvitz
Maintaining a Bunk After Camp Created by Josh Hertz and Benny Klein
Staff Mood Playlists Created by Noa Fidel and Noy Okashi
Stretch It Out – Stretching and Meditation Guide Created by Natalie Ryba and Dalya Block
Packing List of Tools for First Year Staff, Created by Mitchell Friedman, Shari Goldberg, and Matthew Ghan
On Camp Day Off Ideas and Considerations, Created by Carly Chessin and Hannah Spevak
Gratitude Journal, Created by Anna Levine and Lucie Waldman
Mental Health Through the Ages, Created by Gabi Burkholz and Morgan Froke
LGBTQ+ Inclusivity Toolkit, Created by Jillian Bandler and Tally Levy
Guide to use the FJC Staff Self Care Pinterest Page, Created by Aric Acopa and Shayna Kling
Pocket Grounding Guide for Staff, Created by Hannah Gilman and Julia Frankel
Staff Appreciation Bank of Ideas, Created by Amanda Leventhal and Hannah Via
Time Off Guide for Staff, Created by Zachary Ellis and Lili Litnovetsy
Mood Playlists, Created by Noa Landau-Camarillo and Amanda Thompson
Understanding and Navigating Camper Boundaries, Consent, and How It Relates to Mental Wellness, Created by Shmuel Berman and Charlotte Cooper
Sensory/Quiet Room, Created by Julia Parnes and Tiffany Padron
Self Care Checklists, Created by Harrison Bromberg and Elana Rebitzer
Social Emotional Skill Building, Created by Lindsey Kessler and Hope Phillips
Space Audit Checklist and Action Plan, Created by Eve Haras and Elisheva Malomet
Lunch N’ Learn Resource Guide, Created by Ben Shovers, Leia Withee, and Izzy Namath
CIT/SIT Training Curriculum, Created by Lexi Dockman
Building a Brave Bunk, Created by Erica Jonas; Alyssa Glucksman
Back Pocket Coping Activities for Campers and Staff, Created by Morgan Morris, Shoshana Maniscalco, and Ellie Lustigman
What is your MESSH Message? Created by Dani Sobel and Ciara Gouldsboro
FJC Mental Health Awareness Month Social Media Plan, Created by Gala Gonsalves and Hannah Aronow
The Great Escape, Created by Warner Morales
Social Emotional Skill Building, Created by Kayla Brumer and Maddie Starkenburg
Understanding Tisha B’Av Through Empathy and Allyship
Evaluation of FJC Ruderman/Alexander Inclusion Initiative
Summer 2017 Evaluation of FJC Ruderman/Alexander Inclusion Initiative intended to identify, define, and evaluate inclusive camp practices and explore best practices for inclusion and accessibility for people in the camp community with disabilities.
Including Campers with Disabilities: Learning from the Work of Inclusion Coordinators at Jewish Summer Camps
PRELIMINARY RESEARCH ON SPECIAL NEEDS IN JEWISH OVERNIGHT CAMP
The field of Jewish camp has become increasingly aware of and responsive to the numbers of children with special needs and physical disabilities in recent years. As a first step towards initiating field-wide changes in this arena, Foundation for Jewish Camp (FJC) is engaged in a research project mapping current, potential, and desired services available to children with emotional, intellectual, and physical disabilities at nonprofit Jewish overnight camps across North America
Laszlo Strategies delivered the results of the research (conducted in early 2013), the first of its kind in the Jewish community. The survey garnered results from 170 camp staff members (from 124 camps), 262 parents, and 141 campers.
Inclusion and Disabilities: Human Dreidel
A game of dreidel that allows participants to move their bodies and have agency over how they participate.
Download: Inclusion and Disabilities Human Dreidel_KC_Ariella Rosen
Inclusion and Disabilities Track 1: 4 Children Activity
An exploration of difference using the 4 children from the Passover Haggadah as a framework.
Download: Inclusion and Disabilities 4 Children_KC_Ariella Rosen
Inclusion and Disabilities: Sukkah Building
An activity involving different ways of making spaces accessible and inclusive, using the Sukkah as a framework.
Download: Ariella-ST3-Handout-3, Ariella-ST3-Handout-2, Sukkah Building_KC_Rosen