Online Safety Is Child Abuse Prevention
Enhancing Camp Safety: Principles of Conflict Prevention, Anonymous Threat Response, and Bystander Reporting
Protecting Youth and Camps: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse
Stop It Now! is a a global leader in preventing child sexual abuse providing unique one-stop-shop for resources and services to help youth, parents, adults, and youth serving organizations prevent child sexual abuse before a child is harmed, including child to child sexual harmful behaviors. In this workshop, participants will be introduced to the Stop It Now! program and resources, including WhatsOK for youth, encouraging a hopeful perspective that views child sexual abuse in youth serving organizations is preventable, not inevitable – and can be managed by actively addressing both behaviors and environments where children are vulnerable early, with safety plans and organizational polices, professionals strengthen children’s protective factors.
Enhancing Camp Safety & Security: Federal Resources & Best Practices for a Safe Learning Environment
Enhancing Camp Safety & Security: Federal Resources & Best Practices for a Safe Learning Environment
This recorded webinar addresses the complex set of dynamic and evolving security risks summer and year-round camps face. The presenter shares research-informed strategies and recommendations that enhance safe and supportive learning environments through collaborative, holistic, and actionable approaches.
The webinar focuses on the information, resources, guidance, and evidence-based practices available from the federal government on a range of safety topics and threats. Members of the camp community will also learn about federal resources and guidance to prevent targeted violence, encourage bystander reporting, promote online safety, and respond to threats of violence.
Crisis – It Really Could Happen to You 2023
The ACA Hotline is a year-round, twenty-four-hour-a-day service provided to any camp or individual who needs help in a crisis. Each year, ACA analyzes hotline issues and provides case studies and resources to assist in crisis management, staff training, and preparation for the unexpected, providing valuable lessons every camp can learn. This webinar explores situations from the ACA Camp Crisis Hotline that arose over the past year. This year’s topics will include issues related to: staffing and personnel, health/medical, abuse allegations (at home and at camp), camper behavior, and other special situations.
Building Safe Spaces for Campers and Staff, Abuse Prevention
Whether you are a Camp Director, Educator, Aquatic Staff or Camp Counselor, this webinar will provide you with valuable resources and actionable insights for building a safer summer. You will have the opportunity to ask questions and interact with our experts, making this a truly engaging and informative experience.
Crisis Communications — All of the Accidents, Traumas, and Challenges of Summer
Join us to get up to date on triaging crisis communications, identifying your spokesperson, and determining your audiences. Come and learn more about responding to media inquiries and how to determine if a situation will require professional help. We’ll share practical direction for camps on how to establish your crisis communications plan, how-to steps on what to do, and most importantly what not to do. We’ll also share best practice examples of communication with parents, staff, campers, and the communities we serve. Ultimately, you will gain new insight on managing social media crisis, threats, and trolls.
Creating a Culture of Abuse Prevention at Camp
Abuse prevention at it’s core is creating a camp environment where staff, campers and caregivers know that the organization not only has policies and procedures in place to prevent abuse but, knows the steps and actions to take to mitigate abuse before it happens. This webinar is for the camp professional who is eager to learn more about understanding what you can do this summer to create a proactive environment around abuse prevention. Together we’ll learn more about the policies, education, and communication needed to create a roadmap to better serve campers, and staff this summer and beyond.
Key takeaways will include having a better understanding how an abuse prevention roadmap is an excellent form of risk mitigation and a way to create safe spaces.
The Role of Just Culture in Safety at Camp
What is Just Culture? Why is it important? How does it influence safety? And what does it have to do with my camp? This workshop will address these questions. We’ll explore how Just Culture is defined, its interconnection with broader safety culture, and its connection to systems-informed risk management. Participants will leave with an understanding of how to assess and improve the presence of Just Culture in their camp, and how this can improve their safety outcomes.
A U.S. Secret Service Agent’s Guide to Creating Safe Camps
This webinar is meant to provide participants with concepts to proactively develop and/or improve safety and security at their camps and outdoor venues. The presentation will include discussion about threat assessments of facilities, continuity of operations planning, standard operating procedures, training for staff, and other important features. Participants will feel that they can proactively and positively promote a safe and secure outdoor venue without imposing on the serenity and ambiance of their location.
Presenter: Jason Wells
CEC's: 1.0
Camp Risk Management Tips That Are Sure to Make Your Insurance Company Happy!
Having good risk management practices at camp can help produce a positive camp experience, and also help reduce the likelihood of you needing to file a claim with your insurance carrier. What better way to learn what insurance carriers might expect from your risk management program than listening to an experienced insurance loss control specialist? Risk management strategies need to support camper and staff safety, protect property, and help facilitate business continuity.
Presenter: Michael Swain
CEC's: 1.0
Camp Staff Safety in the Age of #MeToo?
It is a story that has been unfolding for over a year: the exposure of often long-standing sexual abuse and harassment of both male and female victims by mostly men in various positions of power. Camps have done a terrific job of creating a safe environment for campers. What is needed now is a clear, nuanced approach with staff that distinguishes between healthy interest and unwanted advances, overtures or worse. This timely webinar is aimed directly at staff. Markel is giving all camp professionals the opportunity to preview it this May! It can be shown to your own staff during orientation and it comes with a guide for directors for creating a powerful, clear training that has universal application to camps far and wide. Harrassment is an issue that will be on the minds of staff everywhere. This thoughtful presentation and the training guide by Bob Ditter will help you be ready!
Presenter: Bob Ditter
CEC's: 1.0
Child Protection 101: Responding as a Camp Professional
Being prepared for risks a camp may face during the summer is an important component of a good risk management strategy. Understanding historical trends and emerging issues can help with the preparation process. This workshop will analyze some of the historical loss activity that has occurred in a camp setting, exam some of the emerging risk management concerns camps will face during the summer, and offer a risk manager's insights on steps camps can take to control these issues to help support a positive camper experience.
Presenters: Linda Ebner Erceg, RN, MS, PHN and Ann Franke, Esq.
CEC's: 1.0
It Can Happen to You: 10 Things You Can Do to Tighten Security at Your Camp
With 3 sites, 14 individual day camps, 500+ acres and more than 5000 campers and staff on our grounds each day, the Henry Kaufmann Campgrounds has spent the last 5 years focusing on its unique security challenges. In doing so, HKC has become a leader in camp security. At this session, hearing from the perspective of a camp professional as he talks about the improvements HKC has made in securing the grounds and what they’ve able to do with a limited budget, you will walk away with at least 10 new implementable ideas for ways you can improve security at your camp.
Presenter: Lenny Silberman
CEC's: 1.0
Keeping Camps on Campus Healthy: Best Practices and Suggestions to Minimize Illness and Outbreaks at Camp
Each year camps across the country are faced with the challenge of keeping campers and staff healthy while living and working in close quarters. Come learn from medical experts and longtime camp staff to help you put best practices in place to help keep your campers and staff healthy and participating in camp activities.
Learner Outcomes:
- Learn what can be done before camp begins to reduce the likelihood of an outbreak.
- Learn what good practices to put in place that help minimize the spread of illness.
- Learn how to handle an outbreak on camp.
Presenters: Dr. Michael Ambrose, MD and Tim Huchton
CEC's: 1.0
MESH Health Fair Series
Sensitively responding to campers and staff with MESH (mental, emotional & social health) needs can be challenging. Balancing the desire to be as inclusive as possible with the reality of your camp’s capacity and the fact that most camp staff are not mental health professionals often creates a tough push-pull situation. This is exactly the focus of ACA’s Healthy Camps Committee. The content of this presentation is designed to build out your toolbox so you are more comfortable assessing and working with both MESH information and the people who have challenges in this area. The session includes orientation to a new tool, “Assessing a Camper’s Behavior of Concern.”
Presenters: Erceg, Soule, Winthrow-Clark, and Amylon
CEC's: 3.0
MESH Proactive Camps: What Are Their Secrets?
Are you challenged by mental, emotional and social health (MESH) needs of campers and staff? Would you like to add to your understanding and skills of this challenging topic? While wanting to be inclusive, camp professionals also balance the MESH capacity of their camp, the expertise of staff, and the nature of the camp’s program with the MESH needs of camp participants. Addressing this concern is a focus of the Healthy Camps Initiative. Led by two members of this group, the webinar highlights strategies identified by the initiative. If MESH concerns challenge your leadership, then this is for you!
Learner Outcomes:
- Identify strategies that address both camp and personal MESH concerns; and
- Improve staff processes to pro-actively address and support MESH elements.
Presenters: Linda Erceg and Tracey Gaslin
CEC's: 1.0
Practicing and Teaching Mindfulness
Mindfulness is the practice of being fully "present," right here, right now. It's the opposite of mind-FULL-ness, or feeling constantly distracted. Camp offers the perfect setting to teach and practice these skills. The benefits include decreased stress, improved problem-solving, and more positive relationships. Learn techniques appropriate for any age and setting.
Learner Outcomes:
- How to define, practice, and teach mindfulness
- Benefits and application of mindfulness in camp and year-round
- Techniques to incorporate mindfulness in multiple settings
Presenter: Susan Fee
CEC's: 1.0
Preparing for Risks This Summer
Being prepared for risks a camp may face during the summer is an important component of a good risk management strategy. Understanding historical trends and emerging issues can help with the preparation process. This workshop will analyze some of the historical loss activity that has occurred in a camp setting, exam some of the emerging risk management concerns camps will face during the summer, and offer a risk manager's insights on steps camps can take to control these issues to help support a positive camper experience.
Presenter: Michael Swain
CEC's: 1.0
Remain Calm: Diffusing Angry People
When confronted by an angry person, two common reactions are to run or attack, but neither is effective. Arm yourself with tools to de-escalate an angry person, and learn how to effectively respond to intimidating behavior, lying, accusations, and threats.
Learner Objectives:
- De-escalate an angry person.
- Respond to threats, lies, and intimidating behavior.
- Monitor for signs of potential violence.
Presenter: Susan Fee, M.Ed.
CEC's: 1.0
Trans Two: The Next Level
Camps have had exposure to learning more about serving transgender campers and staff, but what happens when you still face questions and challenges in this developing topic? This session will go beyond the basic transgender 101 and take the second step in learning about common situations camps might be dealing with. We will dive deeper into questions camps are experiencing as they become more inclusive of transgender campers and staff. Receive information on policy development, review case studies and identify resources specific to your camp, board and stakeholders.
Presenters: Jessica Weissbuch and Kayla Ryan Weissbuch
CEC's: 1.0
Trauma-Informed Care at Camp
In ACA’s 2017 Emerging Issues Report, the top issue facing camps is campers’ Mental, Emotional, and Social Health (Browne, Bialeschki & Wilson, 2017). Considering national statistics of childhood adversity, this is no surprise. The Center for Disease Control reports that 64% of individuals experience one Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) before reaching 18 (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016). When ACA reaches their goal of serving 20 million campers in 2020, they’ll be providing care for 12.8 million campers impacted by trauma. During this webinar, the National Director of Camp HOPE America, a national camping and mentoring program specifically for children impacted by the trauma of child abuse, family violence, or sexual assault, will give participants a general overview of trauma and its impact, explain how trauma-informed care can be approached within a camping context, and offer practical solutions, techniques and approaches. These tools will empower leaders at camp to care for campers who have faced adversity, and to adequately equip and train their staff to do the same.
Presenter: John Hamilton
CEC's: 1.0
Wildfires in the West
The threat of wildfires impacts camps in the west more each year. This webinar explores wildland fire preparation, response and recovery from four critical perspectives: Public Policy, Fire Service, Insurance and Camp Experience. Our panel of experts will answer your questions and provide insight and practical information for camps to proactively manage the risks associated with wildfire. We will also dedicate time for participants to share their own knowledge and learn from each other in a virtual meet up discussion at the end of the event. This program is designed with western region camps in mind and all are welcome.
Presenters: Wildfires in the West Team
CEC's: 1.0