Ensure a Successful Summer at Overnight Camp

At Affiliates in Counseling we often get asked to provide therapy for children and their parents to help alleviate anxiety associated with going to overnight camp.  Often children start expressing fear in the spring as the excitement/fear of camp approaches.  We coach parents to: 
1) Establish small opportunities in the months preceding camp for the child to have successful experiences being away from you (i.e. sleepovers).
2) Increase familiarity with peers, older campers, and counselors. 
3) Communicate with their child about their fears. 
4) Recognize and manage their own anxieties about their child going to camp.
5) Create a safety plan with their child to cope when they feel anxious.

Even when parents do all the right things to help their children prepare for overnight camp, there are still children who are wrought with anxiety.  Our therapists work with these children to develop skills that reduce the anxiety, increase self confidence, and to replace worries with positive thoughts about the camp experience.

Overnight camp can be an incredibly rewarding and confidence building experience for children and our therapists enjoy working to help them get there!  Please see our website for information about these and other service that we offer.  www.affiliatesincounseling.net