By Mark S. Young
NEW YORK — In the coming weeks, summer camps across the nation will reopen, providing a much-needed respite for young people, who have experienced tremendous disruption for more than a year, often isolated from their peers and learning remotely.
Most children and adolescents will undoubtedly delight in reconnecting with their friends, though striking numbers of young people have experienced mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. The uptick has occurred largely as a result of the ongoing pandemic, though these disorders had already been on the rise.
This is why JCC Association of North America is keenly focused on amplifying wellness safeguards in an array of its programs and institutions nationwide.
Jewish Community Centers and Jewish Community Camps (JCCs) – overnight summer camps in particular – are instituting new wellness safeguards to support both campers and staff, ensuring a successful experience for all. JCC Camps represent the largest network of Jewish camps in North America, at more than 170 sites. Well-being issues also have touched the lives of camp staff members, many of them in later adolescence themselves..
These camp-specific supports include additional staff training on mental health to best help with campers’ needs; additional staff support for mental health, including wellness programs designed for staff and time off for therapy; new rest/relaxation/yoga meditation spaces for staff and campers to recharge; and dedicated staffers to conduct an “intake” of campers’ well-being prior to arrival and subsequently coach counselors on any issues.
Camp Mountain Chai, a JCC overnight camp serving the San Diego community and nestled in the San Bernardino Mountains, has taken its efforts to the next level, thanks in part to a Yedid Nefesh (Hebrew for “beloved soul”) grant from the Foundation for Jewish Camp to “nurture mental, emotional and social health at camp.” The program, made possible by a visionary gift from The Marcus Foundation, seeks to elevate well-being through such efforts as qualified professional staffing, enhanced counselor training and novel programming.
“The grant specifically allows us to expand our culture of care,” Rachel Shyloski, associate director and camp social worker, said, adding that two co-directors of camper care, both of them completing graduate-level social work degrees, will be on board this summer. As a team, they will be able to provide much-needed professional support as campers and staff return to camp during a pandemic, with all the accompanying exhaustion, anxiety, grief and other emotions. Camp provides a safe space for young people to begin to process their experiences and become the “best version of themselves,” Shyloski said.
In addition, the Yedid Nefesh grant will allow Camp Mountain Chai to expand its self-care offerings. These include new yoga supplies and the planned creation of a second sensory tent, where campers can decompress by doing meditative activities such as sand art. Each cabin will also have a stocked “tool kit,” with decks of cards, craft materials and games, to promote teamwork and unity.
At the same time as it is instituting these camp-specific programs, the JCC Movement has increased its focus on the physical and spiritual well-being of entire communities. Toward that end, JCC Association of North America is collaborating with several partners in the field to help JCC professionals identify issues early on, support positive efforts to promote mental health, and encourage individuals to seek out additional help they may need, either for themselves or for other staff and/or community members.
Other recent efforts include:
- Completion of the Awareness in Action program by staffers at the Lawrence Family JCC, Jacobs Family Campus in La Jolla, California, who also are active in JResponse®, a signature program of JCC Association. The Awareness in Action program, part of a partnership with the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, seeks to relieve stress, build resilience and to encourage professionals to take care of their own mental, emotional and social health, allowing them to be their best selves both during and outside work.
- JResponse’s® recruiting a new cohort for Hineni (Hebrew for “here I am” or “to step up”), its foundational training for JCC professionals who wish to become JResponders, a cadre of colleagues trained and ready to respond to a crisis or disaster in JCC communities. Participants include staff members from the Lawrence Family JCC. The seven-hour training, which occurs over a four-week period, includes both live and video sessions and provides an introductory understanding of necessary skills. Hineni also incorporates tools to build participants’ resilience, which can in turn help them to bolster the mental health of others.
- A pilot partnership between JCC Association of North America and BBYO’s Center for Adolescent Wellness (CAW) that is helping five JCCs across the country strengthen existing operational systems—policies, procedures and practices—in their work with young people, ensuring that individual JCCs can effectively support and address mental health needs. Funded by the Jim Joseph Foundation, this Youth Wellness Assessment Initiative comprises an individual, eight-week experience for each JCC facilitated by the director of BBYO-CAW, 15 hours of customized consulting services and two staff training sessions to address recommendations and updates resulting from the assessment.
- A Youth Mental Health First Aid course that certified more than 25 JCC professionals. JResponse® offered the course, which enables staffers to identify early signs of struggle and apply Mental Health First Aid skills as appropriate. The program was provided with support from the Jewish Teen Funder Collaborative and at no cost to JCCs.
- An ongoing partnership of JCC Association with the Jewish Teen Funder Collaborative and the Blue Dove Foundation that offers workshops for Jewish community professionals to strengthened individuals’ knowledge and ability to support mental health.
- JCC Association’s promotion of the Collective Compassion 2021website to JCC professionals. The site “offers the broader Jewish community events and experiences designed to support all aspects of wellness: mind, body, spirit.”
We remain optimistic that we are entering better times, though the mental health challenges that have arisen or been compounded by this era will persist. With that thought in mind, JCC Association remains firmly committed to championing and increasing access to meaningful tools and resources for staff and constituents to amplify their overall well-being during this unprecedented time.
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Mark S. Young is director of JResponse® at JCC Association of North America and the author of Bless Our Workforce.