Category: Youth Development

While traditional definitions of “at-risk youth” focus on the socioeconomically under-served, others seem to point to a broader perspective. At-risk.org, a resource for parents and other adults, states, “Today’s youth face more serious and critical risks than any previous generation”. ALL young people (and in particular teenagers) are susceptible to stress, and coupled with a lack of grit and resiliency skills needed to successfully navigate their world’s today, are at risk to succumb. (According to the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) almost 21% of children and young adults have a mental health or substance use disorder, many of those go undiagnosed and untreated.)

A fundamental truth behind prevention, identification, and reduction of negative risk behaviors among young people is that the relationships they have with peers, parents, and other caring adults are particularly effective. Support, empowerment, boundaries and expectations, constructive use of time, achievement motivation, positive values, social competencies, and positive identity have been identified as developmental assets. Significantly these are all fundamental constructs of the camp experience.

Young people are known to be positively motivated by relationships with adults (including parents, teachers, mentors and camp counselors) when five components define their interactions.

1. Expressing care

2. Challenging growth and continual improvement

3. Providing support

4. Sharing power in decisions

5. Expanding possibilities and connecting to opportunities

Caring relationships are key to communicating confidence in a young person’s ability to bounce back from adversity. That ability, also known as “grit,” is a hallmark of resiliency and transcends into young adulthood (and likely beyond) and can be measured. University of Pennsylvania psychologist Angela Duckworth and her team found that grit significantly contributed to successful outcomes.

The Resilience Project (an educational intervention to promote psychological resilience in university students) was set up in 2014 to test a unique resilience training curriculum that, if used in the camp setting, could help campers by:

1. Leverage the power of expectations

2. Resist discouragement

3. Use the power of habit to achieve individual goals

4. Self-modulate in the face of adverse events

5. Learn to accept unpleasant feelings/ outcomes and to move beyond losses

6. Express gratitude for personal gifts and opportunities

7. Define one’s mission in life

The CARE National Advisory Board (a national collaborative of institutions and organizations committed to increasing positive youth outcomes and reducing negative risk behaviors) noted that “Skills such as these go a long way toward helping a young person grow, mature, accept responsibility, and move on to the next stage in life, such as transitioning from high school to a demanding yet fulfilling college life and beyond.” 

This short-term research shows that the resilience training achieves reductions in anxiety and depression among youth of 60% and 35%, respectively, these actions just might be considered seven survival skills to be learned from participating in a high quality, intentional summer camp program.

Thoughts on Learning Resilience at Camp from Madeline McArdle, student member of the CARE National Advisory Board, camper and junior counselor:

1. Leveraging Expectations – Having older campers and counselors as mentors was incredibly helpful, because I knew they understood exactly what I was going through when trying to balance all of my different responsibilities. I remember always feeling able to approach them when I needed advice, if I wanted to hear their experiences with a certain activity or project, or learn how much I could realistically accomplish during the summer. Additionally, as I grew older and moved through our teen leadership program, I greatly enjoyed being on the other side, where I was the older role model to whom campers and junior counselors came for advice.

2. Willpower – While camp fosters independence and self-discipline, it does so by administering a lot of rules that can have many adverse consequences if broken. It’s much easier to avoid punishment for breaking a rule by not letting yourself be in a situation that could lead to it. It’s harder to be the person who has to say, “Hey, this is against the rules.”

3. Self-Explanatory Style – Learn your own style of explaining unfavorable events and how the stories we tell ourselves affect resilience and opportunities for success. Although many of my peers and I had the same responsibilities and requirements, we also experienced completely different summers. We were affected by different things, developed different relationships with others, and had different home lives. This disparity meant that although I might find sympathy and comfort in talking to them about what was getting me down, I also needed to learn how to be self-reliant after something went wrong. Camp was the best place for this to happen to me, because I knew I had so many people I could lean on if I needed extra support. It was also a place where I felt strong enough to be my own support system.

4. Acceptance – Learn to accept unpleasant feelings associated with unmet goals or experiences without becoming paralyzed or giving up. For me, camp was an incredibly supportive place that allowed me to recognize when I did not succeed in pursuing a goal, because there were opportunities to consider what I could do next time to succeed. The people I was surrounded by at camp never dwelled on the failure. Instead, they helped me look forward to other opportunities to achieve goals.

5. Letting Go – Learn how to get past losses. A key phrase that my friends and I used frequently was, “You can’t win them all.” While it seems a little hokey, it’s a completely valid motto to keep in mind. It allows campers to realize that, while they should always challenge themselves and go after ambitious opportunities, it’s incredibly important to be able to shrug off disappointment when they do not achieve as much as they had hoped to. Having friends who supported me at camp even when I failed helped me feel more comfortable with myself and even more confident in my abilities, because I was never afraid to keep trying.

6. Gratitude – Learn to be grateful for gifts and opportunities by imagining losing things you often take for granted. There are kids at camp from all over the world, often with diverse backgrounds and value systems. Because I met campers with lives and values different from mine, this diversity helped me to recognize things I took for granted in my life and never gave a second thought to. Additionally, camp teaches kids to place a higher significance on less-materialistic things, such as friendship or a handmade bracelet instead of a computer or fancy clothes, because these are deeper.

7. Finding Your Mission – Develop a personal mission statement for your life and use it to stay strong, focused, and smart about decisions you make while moving toward your future. At camp, I was able to learn about myself in ways that other environments didn’t allow. School is tough because while adolescents are in their schooling years, they are going through big developments while also focusing on their schoolwork and doing well. In contrast, camp allows you to really concentrate on yourself and what you love. It’s a place where campers get to make a lot of their own decisions, such as what they want to concentrate on and what they want to spend their free time doing. At camp, there isn’t the pressure to always be doing homework or getting ahead for the next class. Rather, you’re able to really focus on learning what you love to do and then doing it! Then that becomes your mission.

REFERENCES

• Have fun
• Achieve personal growth and learn more about themselves
• Improve their self-esteem and feel they are making a difference
• Gain a better understanding of other cultures and develop a greater appreciation for diversity
• Feel more productive and have a better attitude at work
• Enhance their relationships with their own children

Summer Camp has a significant role to play in managing the growth and development of the campers who enjoy the program and environment summer after summer. To understand quite HOW camp can positively impact this growth and development, it is important to understand some of the challenges that face our teenagers, irrespective of their personal backgrounds.

The Brain Science Perspective 

Brain science, which has been greatly enhanced by our ability to look directly at the brain with the help of various imaging technology (PET scans and fMRIs), has increasingly been shaping the way we think about adolescent development. We know, for example, that the brain develops from the bottom up and from back to front. What this means is that our so-called ‘reptile brain’ which includes the amygdala — the brain circuit for processing fear — develops way ahead of the prefrontal cortex, the seat of reasoning and executive control. The result is that adolescents have a brain that is wired with an enhanced capacity for fear and anxiety but is relatively underdeveloped when it comes to calm reasoning (Ratey, 2001; Friedman, 2014).

It also means that the ‘top down’ control that our frontal cortex exerts over our impulses and fears is far less robust in teenagers than it is in adults. In fact, the orbital frontal cortex (OFC) — the part of the brain that sits directly behind the eyes and is responsible for such things as understanding the emotional consequences of our actions and for judgment — is the last part of the brain to develop fully. In women it tends to be fully developed by age 22 and in men by age 25 (Ratey, 2001).

Dr. Richard Friedman, author of  ‘Why Teenagers Act Crazy’ (Friedman, 2014) suggests that the rise in anxiety and depression in adolescents is directly correlated to the fact that the frontal cortex in adolescents is not well developed and therefore doesn’t permit the kind of topdown control we expect to see in adults.

An Alternative Perspective

Some people have a different way of thinking, however. Robert Epstein, the author of the popular book ‘Teen 2.0’ is one of them. He suggests that: In more than 100 cultures around the world, teenage turmoil is absent. Such cultures don’t even have a word for adolescence. If the teenage brain were responsible for the turmoil of our teenagers, we would see it everywhere. We don’t.

This alternative perspective suggests that the turmoil of our teenagers is due entirely to the societal practices that infantilize young people and isolate them from responsible adults, trapping them in the frivolous, media-controlled world of ‘teen culture’. Anthropological research also demonstrates that when Western schooling and media enter cultures where teenagers are highly functional, they typically take on all the pathological characteristics of American teenagers within a decade. The problem is our society, not the brain (Epstein, 2014). Dr. Ellen Galinsky, who has studied children and teens for many years, suggests that the adolescent brain is also hard-wired for social interaction and for bonding with caregivers. Teens, she states, are hungry for significant relationships with adults who care about them. She interviewed more than a thousand children that led her to write her book, ‘Mind in the Making: The Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs’ (2010). She found that teens long for more time with their parents, even when they seem to be pushing them away! This longing is a desire to be influenced by caring and interesting adults who consistently provide them with a sense of value, purpose, and hope.

What Camp Can Offer Teenagers

Summer Camp feeds that longing by creating an environment filled with adults who truly take an interest in the camper, support his curiosity, creativity, and his healthy choices. Summer Camp also brings into play several other factors that can have a profound impact on the level of anxiety, depression, and self-control adolescents exhibit. One such factor is the removal of technology. Parents often view the brief respite from technology and social media that camp offers to be an advantage to their children. It is common for teenagers to reference social media as both a blessing and a curse. They love the fact that they can be in touch with so many of their friends no matter where they are. But they admit that social media creates anxiety in many ways. Consider the fear of some picture or unpleasant remark showing up on their friends’ phones from an enemy out to embarrass them. Or the pressure to keep up with all the kids whose social media image seems so perfect and idyllic compared to theirs.

Then there are the benefits of a solid, positive camp program, especially if the program challenges teenagers to go outside their comfort zones, under an umbrella of support, guidance, and safety. Camp programming that challenges teens or offers ways to take true responsibility, such as in a counselor-in- training (CIT) or leader-in-training (LIT) program, are tremendous antidotes to what has been called ‘the frivolous, media-controlled world of teen culture’ (Epstein, 2014). And camp programs that give teens an opportunity to give back by performing a service for others can be equally as powerful.

Perhaps above all, the defining ingredient in a positive camp experience for teens is the culture at camp. Camps that cultivate respect and genuine support in the way the adults interact with their campers can be the most powerful element in a child’s camp experience. For example, when camps give permission for campers to show their vulnerable side and come to understand that vulnerability is not the same as weakness — and that without it there is no true growth or creativity — they are providing a life lesson that is truly priceless. When the counselors and other adults encourage kids to try new things they might never try at home in an environment of support and acceptance, then failure becomes an accepted part of learning rather than a source of shame.

A strong, positive camp culture is the true ‘medicine’ for the adolescent brain: meaningful, authentic connection with caring adults; an opportunity to take healthy risks and master new skills ; and the chance to develop one’s emerging sense of self.

References
Epstein, R. (2010). Teen 2.0: Saving our children and families from the torment of adolescence. Fresno, CA: Quill Driver Books.

Epstein, R. (2014, July 6). [Letter to the editor]. The New York Times Sunday Review.

Friedman, R. (2014, June 9). Why teenagers act crazy. The New York Times Sunday Review.

Galinsky, E. (2010). Mind in the making: The seven essential life skills every child needs. New York, NY: Harper Collins.

Ratey, J.J. (2001). A user’s guide to the brain. New York, NY: Random House.

Bob Ditter (2012). Camping Magazine.

Strong academic skills are important, but they are not the only thing a child needs for success in life. What else is necessary and how can it be cultivated? A new report, Foundations for Young Adult Success: A Developmental Framework, seeks to provide some answers.

Written by researchers at the University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research, the report emphasizes that being prepared for success means more than educational attainment. It also means that young adults have the potential to fulfill their goals as well as what the report calls the “agency” and “competencies” to influence the world around them, along with a clear sense of who they are — an “integrated identity.”

The report offers a framework for understanding people’s progress from early childhood into early adulthood and describes four “foundational components” children need to develop:

Self-regulation, awareness of oneself and one’s surroundings, and management of one’s attention, emotions and behaviors to achieve goals.

Knowledge and Skills, information or understanding about oneself, other people and the world, and the ability to carry out tasks.

Mindsets, beliefs and attitudes about oneself and the world, and the interaction between the two.

Values, enduring, often culturally-defined, beliefs about what is good or bad and what one thinks is important in life.

The way adults can nurture the development of these components is twofold, according to the report:

• Providing children and teens with rich experiences, and
• Ensuring that young people have opportunities to reflect on these experiences.

A key problem, the report says, is that disadvantaged youth often face extra challenges, including fewer opportunities for consistent, positive developmental experiences and relationships.

Do you ever feel you and your family spend too much time connected to technology and not enough time outdoors enjoying everything nature has to offer?

Read More: Nature Deficit Disorder: Why modern kids need old-fashioned freedoms