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Smores by Campfire

Download LEAD’s “Full Menu of Programming” for summer camps of all sizes.

Want even more? Visit LEAD’s Camp Resource Page for exclusive, FREE access to previously-recorded mental health & DEI-related webinars, guides, blogs, and tools.

Mental Health & Inclusion Training for Summer Camp Professionals

LEAD empowers camp professionals with no-fluff mental health and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) education to proactively meet the MESH needs of campers and staff and improve the wellbeing of camp communities.

LEAD provides camp counselors and staff with practical skills, tools, and strategies to prevent mental health crises and ensure safe and high-quality summer programs. All evidence-based courses are designed to move camp professionals “beyond talk” with their tangible takeaways, moving the needle on critical competencies and building resilience in camp communities around the world.

Explore Key Features & Benefits of LEAD’s camp programming, including (1) Peace of Mind; (2) Customization; and (3) Accessibility.

Since LEAD believes price should never be a barrier to critical mental health and DEI education, we encourage summer camps that require financial assistance to complete LEAD’s Scholarship Application Form.

Camp & Staff Certification

In-Person | Virtual | Become an Instructor

4-Hour Camp Mental Health Certification

Target Audience: Camp Counselors, CITs, & Seasonal Staff

Mode: In-Person, Virtually Via Zoom, or Blended (2-Hours of Asynchronous Prep Work Followed by 2-Hours of Live/Virtual Training)

LEAD’s Camp Mental Health Certification (CampMHC) introduces camp counselors and staff to the risk factors, warning signs, and prevalence of mental illness in adolescent campers. CampMHC is the nation’s first early intervention certification tailored to summer camp and outdoor recreation settings.

Through interactive discussion,  role-play activities, and an ABC action plan, LEAD empowers camp professionals to respond to signs and symptoms of mental illness in non-crisis situations and to connect campers to appropriate professional support in crisis situations.

How is it Different Than Youth Mental Health First Aid? Topics related to mental illness and unique to the camp community, such as medication vacations, homesickness, and social media withdrawal, are also introduced to participants in a 4-hour, rather than 8-hour format. By the end of the course, each participant leaves with a personal toolkit featuring tangible self-care strategies to promote mental health in their own lives and in the lives of other campers and staff. This means that LEAD will empower participants to maximize their camp’s existing mental and physical health resources, many of which are likely being paid for and grossly underutilized. 

Additionally, yMHFA is more focused on empowering participants - often youth themselves - to support other youth in their camp community, rather than their own mental health at camp. If yMHFA is provided for leadership staff, LEAD strongly recommends pairing it with CampMHC for all other camp counselors and staff to ensure everyone knows how to set appropriate workplace boundaries, prevent burnout, and avoid developing compassion fatigue over time.

Watch this fun animation to learn about the research that inspired LEAD’s 4-Hour Camp Mental Health certification!

Want even more? Visit LEAD’s Camp Resource Page for exclusive, FREE access to previously-recorded live mental health & DEI-related webinars, guides, blogs, and tools for summer camp professionals.

Camp Mental Health Certification - Group of Staff

Participants Are Empowered To:

  • Recognize the difference and relationship between mental health and mental illness at camp. 

  • Promote camper mental health and model proactive self-care strategies for campers.

  • Apply a three-step action plan to both crisis and non-crisis mental health situations.

  • Connect campers and camp professionals to camp-based, self-help, and professional resources.

Participants do not learn to diagnose or provide therapy or counseling.

Additional Information for Camp Directors:

  1. LEAD can extend the length of CampMHC to five or six hours to provide extra time to practice applying the ABC Action Plan to crisis and non-crisis situations and to emotionally debrief with participants ($275/hour). 

  2. If 75% of staff are present at the Camp Mental Health certification (CampMHC), both the participants and the camp receive certification. Moreover, the camp receives a framed certificate to display in their office, as well as a digital CampMHC Badge to display on their website and marketing materials. If less than 75% of staff are present, each participant receives individual certification. 

20-Hour Train-the-Trainer Program for CampMHC Instructors

Target Audience: Camp Directors, Professionals, & Consultants

Mode: Self-Paced Train-the-Trainer program, coupled with Virtual Practice Sessions

Duration: 20-Hour Minimum (Instructors are required to complete LEAD’s 10-Hour Camp Academy & One of Three 10-Hour Allyship E-Certifications/Year)

Enroll in LEAD’s Camp Academy to become a LEAD-credentialed instructor, empowering yourself to certify camp counselors and staff in 4-hour Camp Mental Health in your camp community.

LEAD’s Camp Academy provides instructors-in-training with free and unlimited access to LEAD’s three Allyship e-certifications to ensure CampMHC is taught in a culturally-competent, trauma-informed, and inclusive way (30+ Hours of FREE PD).

LEAD’s Allyship E-Certifications include:

  1. Tip of the Iceberg: BIPOC Mental Health, Cultural Humility, Anti-Racism, & Allyship

  2. Love is Love: LGBTQIA2S+ Mental Health, Inclusion & Allyship

  3. Triggered: Trauma-Aware, Sensitive, Responsive & Informed Care

After completing the Camp Academy, at least one Allyship E-Certification, and one virtual MHC Instructor Practice Session, instructors-in-training receive their CampMHC teaching materials, a comprehensive Instructor Manual, a framed certificate, and free continuing education from LEAD HQ.

8-Hour Youth Mental Health First Aid Certification

​Target Audience: Camp Directors, A-Team, Head Counselors, On-Site Nurses, Leaders, & Fulltime Staff

Mode: In-Person (8-Hours) or Blended Learning (2-Hour Self-Paced Pre-Work & Five Hours Live Virtual Training) (30 Participant Max)

Duration: 8 Hours In-Person OR 7 Hours (2-Hours Pre-Work + 5 Hours Live Virtual)

Youth Mental Health First Aid (yMHFA) is designed to teach youth-serving professionals how to help adolescents (age 12-18) who are experiencing a mental health or substance use-related crisis. The program introduces specific mental illnesses like anxiety, depression, disorders in which psychosis may occur, disruptive behavior disorders (including AD/HD), bipolar disorder, eating disorders, and addictions in young people (ages 12-18). 

The yMHFA program, designed and accredited by the National Council for Mental Wellness, provides participants with a 5-step ALGEE action-plan to respond to mental health crisis situations in their community. Youth Mental Health First Aid not only offers concrete tools and skills, but also answers key questions like “What can I do?” and “Where can someone find mental health help?”

YMHFA USA introduces participants to the risk factors and warning signs of mental health challenges common among adolescents, including anxiety, depression, psychosis, eating disorders, AD/HD, disruptive behavior disorders, and substance use disorder. 

YMHFA uses role-playing and simulations to demonstrate how to assess a mental health crisis; select interventions and provide initial help; and connect young people to professional, peer, social, and self-help care.

How is it Different from Camp MHC? Topics related to mental illness and unique to the camp community, such as medication vacations, homesickness, and social media withdrawal, are NOT introduced to participants in the 8-hour, YMHFA format, even though camp-based role-play scenarios will be used. Additionally, yMHFA is more focused on empowering participants - often youth themselves - to support other youth in their camp community, rather than their own mental health at camp. If yMHFA is provided for leadership staff, LEAD strongly recommends pairing it with CampMHC for all other camp counselors and staff to ensure everyone knows how to set appropriate workplace boundaries, prevent burnout, and avoid developing compassion fatigue.

Youth Mental Health First Aid -- A camper in a helmet holds onto a rope

Participants learn to support a youth developing signs and symptoms of a mental illness or in an emotional crisis by applying a core five-step action plan:

  • Assess for risk of suicide or harm

  • Listen non-judgmentally

  • Give reassurance and information

  • Encourage appropriate professional help

  • Encourage self-help and other support strategies

Be the one to make a difference

Custom LEAD Workshops

Live & Virtual Professional Development Tailored to Your Camp Staff

Custom Professional Development

Target Audience: All Seasonal & Full-Time Camp Professionals 

Mode: In-Person or Virtually via Zoom

Duration: 1-Hour Minimum (60, 75, & 90-Minute Options Available)

LEAD workshops typically involve a combination of both content delivery and “foundation building,” as well as various hands-on, activity-based, and interactive components to meet critical and customized learning objectives.

Custom, virtual workshops empower participants by offering them opportunities to build community with their teams, practice skills, engage in scenarios, and solidify newly-gained knowledge. Workshops are designed to (1) stand alone as Lunch & Learn courses; or (2) be combined in an à la carte continuing education program following a participant’s or camp’s certification. 

For every workshop, LEAD provides partnering summer camps with the following complimentary resources: 

  1. Custom workshop flyer -  to advertise the event and boost attendance! Check out flyer example one & flyer example two!

  2. Post-workshop resource sheet -  to provide participants with topic-specific resources and learning materials like videos, articles, books & infographics for continued learning. Check out this example!

  3. Workshop Recording (Expires after 7 Days) - for staff to watch the workshop recording if they couldn’t attend live. 

Staff turn desks together to collaborate

For a full list of topics that can be taught by LEAD, check out LEAD’s Workshop Topics Menu. For even more, explore LEAD’s most popular workshops (COMING SOON!), organized into three training categories for your convenience and ease of use:

  1. Mental Health & Mental Illness at Camp

  2. Diversity, Equity, Justice & Belonging DEI(JB), Cultural Competency, and Anti-Racism at Camp

  3. Trauma Aware, Informed, Sensitive, & Responsive Camps

Want even more? Visit LEAD’s Camp Resource Page for exclusive, FREE access to previously-recorded live mental health & DEI-related webinars, guides, blogs, and tools for summer camp professionals.

Custom Lesson Plans - Post-Workshop Facilitation Tools

Target Audience: Camp Directors, Leadership Staff, Bunk and Activity Leaders

Mode: Online PDF Lesson Plan Document (with links included) → Lesson Plan Facilitation Modes Vary

Duration: 60-Minute Lesson Plan 

LEAD can provide your camp’s leadership with custom lesson plans to facilitate ongoing conversation and skill-building for your staff after they have received training from LEAD. Custom lesson plans are created by LEAD’s expert curriculum development team with the goal of empowering your camp leaders to lead internal debriefs to solidify newly learned topics.

Each custom lesson plan features a 60-minute in-person/virtual activity with:  learning objectives, facilitation instructions, “deep dive" and open-ended questions to ask, reflection prompts for staff, key takeaways, and a post-activity evaluation tool.  Check out this LEAD lesson plan example (MIT) →  

Want even more? Visit LEAD’s Camp Resource Page for exclusive, FREE access to previously-recorded live mental health & DEI-related webinars, guides, blogs, and tools for summer camp professionals.

Lesson Plan #1 of 2 Customized by LEAD, Inc.

LEAD’s Learning Lab

Asynchronous E-Courses & Flipped Classroom Opportunities

Self-Paced E-Courses & Mid & Post-Session Debriefs

Target Audience: All Camp Professionals

Mode: Self-Paced E-Course(s), Coupled with Virtual or In-Person Debrief(s)

Duration: Self-Paced E-Courses range from 90-minute to 10+ Hours; Session Debriefs Are 60-Minutes

Using LEAD’s Learning Lab, empower your staff with a continued education program, consisting of various online, self-paced professional development courses that maximize learning, reinforce healthy practices, and set the stage for long-term habit formation.

All e-courses are hosted on LEAD’s Self-Paced & Online Learning Lab and are paired with mid-session and/or post-session LEAD-facilitated debrief(s). For your convenience, LEAD’s e-courses and their learning objectives are listed below. All e-courses are provided to participants with lifetime access and are regularly updated to incorporate the latest knowledge, statistics, and trends. 

The following e-courses are available on LEAD’s Learning Lab, categorized by focus area but all with a common thread of mental health and inclusion-based education.

Mental Health & Mental Illness at Camp:

DEI(JB), Cultural Competency, and Anti-Racism at Camp:

Trauma Aware, Informed, Sensitive, & Responsive Camps:

Mid & Post-Session Debriefs

LEAD’s 60-minute, mid and post-session Debriefs are provided after staff have completed their assigned e-course during a set period of time. Think of LEAD’s Debriefs as book clubs where LEAD facilitates a live discussion and reflection on the e-course material with participants.

LEAD debriefs utilize a “flipped classroom” approach that combines both the convenience of asynchronous learning with the engagement and experiential learning that can occur in a live, group Debrief facilitated by a LEAD instructor. 

LEAD can also provide partnering camps with a  complimentary “Game Plan” (Example to the Right) that serves as a guidebook for participants to complete certain sections of their curriculum over a pre-set period of time. Your camp is also given one free progress report per e-course, on a date and time of its choice. This progress report includes a list of registered participants and individual reports that have lecture progress and quiz scores. 

E-Course Learning with LEAD

BONUS Camp Modules:

LEAD's e-courses feature BONUS “Camp Modules” with strategies and tools tailored to camp professionals, in addition to School and Sports modules.

Why? LEAD uses a human-centered and strengths-based approach when developing curricula. We believe a "one size fits all" is ineffective when providing proactive, practical, and meaningful mental health education to vulnerable communities and the adults who serve them.

Camp-specific modules enable LEAD to tailor all courses to specific environments and their unique challenges, in addition to providing general tools to individuals on the front lines of their communities. All modules are available and optional for every participant, enabling youth-serving professionals who wear "many hats" to learn from a variety of perspectives at their own pace.

 

During LEAD-facilitated Debriefs, participants are empowered to:

  1. Make space to “debrief” and reflect on LEAD’s e-learning material. 

  2. Solidify newly-learned knowledge and skills for participants.

  3. Discuss difficult topics with other members of their community, in a safe and respectful environment.

Want even more? Visit LEAD’s Camp Resource Page for exclusive, FREE access to previously-recorded live mental health & DEI-related webinars, guides, blogs, and tools for summer camp professionals.

LEAD On-Call & Ongoing Consulting

Individualized & Ongoing Support for Camp Professionals, Leaders, & Organizations

Don't Go At It Alone. Secure LEAD's Mental Health & DEI-JB experts on retainer for our on-call, non-clinical crisis support to overcome this summer's most daunting MESH crises & DEI-JB (diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and belonging) challenges?

LEAD-On-Call is a 24/7, non-clinical crisis support and consultation service, operated from June through August by ​LEAD's expert​​ ​MESH, DEI-JB ​& Restorative Justice consultants.

​​LEAD On-Call empowers summer camps with:

  • Five hours/month of on-call (24/7), non-clinical crisis consultation with a LEAD expert​​ ​MESH, DEI-JB, & Restorative Justice ​consultant, available within 6-hours for a 30-minute Triage Call (campers or staff), followed by a 60-minute Crisis Debrief & Strategy Session (with camp leader) within 24 hours after a crisis occurs. The five hours/month does not roll over to the next month. 

    • Additional hourly consulting (past the five hours included per month) is available for LEAD’s typical rate of $275/hour.

  • One 60-minute post-season ​​MESH & DEI-JB Debrief in September with camp leaders and expert LEAD consultants.

Note: LEAD On-Call does NOT provide clinical diagnoses or therapeutic support to individuals, though our consultants will connect you, your staff, campers, and their families to the appropriate professionals and/or emergency help.

LEAD On-Call consultants include, but are not limited to:

LEAD On-Call - 24/7, Non-Clinical Crisis Support & Consultation

Duration: 5 hours/month from June through July 2022

Mental health and inclusion experts predict this summer to be the most mentally draining, violent, and difficult for campers and staff, that we've ever seen.

Who will you go to for triage support, consultation, and recommendations to move forward, when a camper or staff member experiences:

  • a MESH (mental, emotional, and social health) crisis, like a panic attack, nonsuicidal self-injury, or suicidal ideation?

  • severe homesickness or symptoms of mental illness, like anxiety, depression, ADHD, or a substance use disorder?

  • discrimination, racism, or an identity-based microaggression?

  • sexism, deadnaming or misgendering?

  • abuse or neglect by a staff member or at home?

  • collective trauma, like a peer making violent threats or fighting at camp?

Help any member of your camp community through their most daunting crises and challenges this summer.​ All retainers begin on the first day of​ your camp's​ in-person session or on a date of your choice.

LEAD On Call for Summer Camps
“Never become so much of an expert that you stop gaining expertise. View life as a continuous learning experience.”
— Denis Waitley

Consultation with LEAD Industry Experts & Mental Health Clinicians

Target Audience: Camp & Program Directors

Mode: Virtually via Zoom

Duration: Five-Hour Minimum

LEAD can provide 1:1 ongoing and project-based consulting to aid camp partners with creating polls and evaluation tools to discover the biggest needs, interests, and programming goals of the community being served.

LEAD’s specialists will identify problem areas, challenges, and goals, make diagnoses and give recommendations, assist with implementation of recommended solutions, build a consensus and commitment around corrective action, and facilitate client learning—that is, teaching clients how to resolve similar problems in the future.

Examples of Ongoing Consulting include empowering camps to:

  1. Maximize their current internal mental health and DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) training efforts.

  2. Establish leadership buy-in for mental health and DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) training efforts and camp-wide culture shifts.

  3. Strategize the build-out of meaningful mental health and burnout prevention programming for the next fiscal year.

Consulting with LEAD Inc

Want even more? Visit LEAD’s Camp Resource Page for exclusive, FREE access to previously-recorded live mental health & DEI-related webinars, guides, blogs, and tools for summer camp professionals.

Coaching with LEAD, Inc

Examples of Project-Based Consulting include empowering camps to:

  1. Create marketing materials to promote training and resources being provided to staff, thus promoting high attendance at all programming provided by LEAD and/or full-time staff in the future. 

  2. Establish a Mental Health and/or DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) Committee and help it to diversify Camp Name’s client recruiting strategies, update internal policies and hiring protocols to be more equitable, and promote the mental health and wellbeing of camp professionals and campers.

  3. Develop employee Resource Groups and help Camps support staff by providing a safe space where staff can bring their whole selves to the table and foster workplace success.

LEAD, Inc. has an experienced Board with clinical and camp wellness and diversity, equity, and inclusion experts, ensuring all training curricula are evidence-based, effective, safe, and tailored to the individuals being educated.

For more information about LEAD, watch our animated founding story and explore our team of staff and instructors. Moreover, read LEAD’s Statement of Inclusion and learn how we do the work because modeling self-care and an unfaltering commitment to DEI matter! 

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