Crisis — It Can Really Happen to You 2025
No camp is immune to crisis — the question is, are you ready when it happens? This on-demand course reveals key trends from the ACA Crisis Hotline and shows you how to prepare your camp, equip your staff, and respond with confidence. Ideal for camp directors, executive leaders, program managers, and risk management teams, this course provides actionable tools, strategies, and staff training resources to keep your camp strong when the unexpected strikes.
Measures of Readiness for 2SLGBTQIA+ Inclusion at Camp
Culture and Climate: The Collective Marks of Trauma on the Identity of Camp
Explore the concept of collective trauma and its profound effects on individuals and communities in this insightful recorded webinar. As we enter the transformative space of camp, we often overlook the shared experiences that shape our identities. This session examines how significant cultural and climate-related events resonate within a group, influencing both psychological and physiological responses.
Discover how these collective experiences impact our work and contribute to the holistic development of our well-being. Gain valuable insights into navigating and supporting individuals affected by shared traumas, and learn how our shared histories shape our present and future.
Strategies for Cultivating a Culture of Staff Retention This Summer
Together we will cover 5 ready-to-implement strategies that will support you in retaining your staff throughout this summer and also looking ahead to next summer.
The strategies that will be discussed include creating leadership opportunities for staff, giving and receiving honest feedback, providing genuine and timely individual praise, understanding staff member expectations, and cultivating staff connections with intentionality and precision.
Presenter: Daniel Shore
CEC's: 1.0
Quality Improvement in Action Series
Camp is a setting where many young people feel safe to be themselves and supported to engage in new and exciting activities. This doesn’t just inherently happen, but instead must be created through intentional staff practices. The ways in which staff, activities, and culture create the environment of camp is called program quality. But how do you create high quality programs? Through initial training and continuous improvement!
This webinar will focus on two concepts, program quality and continuous improvement, and real examples of introducing them at a camp organization. Come learn about what camp program quality looks like in action and how to engage with continuous improvement in this context.
How Safe Property Enhances the Camp Experience
Current Trends in Business Operations: Results from ACA’s CampCounts Survey
CampCounts, ACA’s business operations and development survey, which collects key data on camps, camp programs, campers, staffing, financials, and facilities. If your camp has ever wondered how your registration fees, staff salaries, staff retention rates, staff benefits, and more compares to other camps, this recorded webinar is for you.
Learners will hear results from the latest CampCounts and get a look into ACA’s new CampCounts data dashboard.
Courageous Conversations at Camp with Candace Doby
A coworker makes a racially insensitive joke. A board member resists changes that foster inclusion. A supervisor's communication style impedes belonging. Hard conversations within the camping profession are real and waiting on you to engage them to help your teams (and yourself) tap into possibility and elevate to the next level. In this course, speaker and coach Candace Doby helps participants uncover beliefs and leverage techniques to help them have courageous conversations.
Critical Things Staff Need to Know about Bullying Prevention
Bullying is here to stay in summer camp and this course is designed to help you be prepared and ready to act this summer as well as between the seasons. Bullying can happen in 4 ways: physical, verbal, relational, and cyberbullying (through technology). You may face some or all of these situations with campers and staff. The way you respond to bullying and role model appropriate behavior sets the stage for a great summer or one that that can lead to very unhappy consequences. The goal for this course is to help you learn the right ways and avoid the wrong ways to manage bullying problems and create a great camp experience for your campers and staff.
Presenter: Joel Haber, Ph.D.
CEC's: 1.0
Effective Supervision Skills for Senior Staff
ACA is pleased to announce a new online course for the camp and youth development communities targeting supervision skills of upper-level staff. Effective Supervision Skills for Senior Staffcovers essential skill areas and best practices of the most effective supervisors at camp.
Presenter: Bob Ditter
CEC's: 1.0
Marketing Essentials For the New Economy Series
Emergency and Disaster Readiness for Camps
Emergency and disaster preparedness is critical to the safety and success of camp programs. Preparing staff, campers, and the broader community requires proactive planning, informed decision-making, and real-world insight. This recorded webinar features a panel of ACA business member insurance partners who bring deep expertise in the types of emergencies camps may face and how to prepare for and respond to them effectively.
Through discussion of real scenarios and practical considerations, learners will gain a valuable perspective to strengthen their preparedness efforts and head into the summer season with greater confidence.
Immunization Recommendations for Summer of 2026
Immunizations have historically been an important consideration in building a healthy camp structure. The requirements and recommendations for immunizations are currently being considered, and this recorded webinar will discuss immunization best practices and practical strategies for camp programs. Learners will explore how state regulations, camp policies, and public health guidance interact, and how to communicate immunization expectations clearly and confidently with families and staff.
No Outbreaks Here! Simple Strategies for Reducing the Spread of Communicable Disease at Camp
This short course is rooted in lessons learned from the ACA Health Camp Study. Beginning in 2006, and continuing through the summer of 2010, the American Camp Association undertook a five-year surveillance study of injuries and illnesses in day and resident camps. This project, called the Healthy Camp Study, is to date the only example of a long-term illness and injury surveillance study conducted with a representative sample of U.S. summer camps.
The purpose of this course is to help you have less communicable illnesses this summer and to realize some strategies for making your campers and staff more resilient to sore throats, the common cold, and other communicable illnesses
Presenter: Linda Erceg
CEC's: 0.5
Recognizing and Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect
This course provides critical information for directors and frontline staff on the process of reporting possible child abuse and neglect, including an overview of types of abuse and neglect and possible indicators. The course explains the importance of conducting the correct type of "interview" with a child when abuse or neglect is reported. Resources for identifying state laws on reporting requirements and locating penalties for failure to report are provided.
Presenter: Mary Fuller Everhart
CEC's: 1.0
A Counselor's Role in Healthcare
POWERFUL PROGRAMMING: How to Build Great Character Qualities with Outstanding Program Planning and Leadership
Join bestselling author and educator Michael Brandwein for a practical, high-impact virtual recorded webinar focused on building character through intentional program design and leadership. Packed with ready-to-use tools, examples, and activities, this session will help camp leaders strengthen kindness, confidence, respect, responsibility, teamwork, and relationship-building across their programs.
Designed for program directors, site directors, assistants, and camp leadership teams at camps of all sizes, Michael’s signature “use it immediately” style ensures you’ll leave with strategies you can plug directly into your existing programming, along with fresh inspiration for your strongest season yet.
Connection All Summer: Everyday Moves that Build Belonging
Belonging doesn’t happen by accident; it happens through intentional everyday actions. This interactive recorded webinar explores how to weave belonging into the rhythm of camp life through adaptable, relationship-building practices. Learners will experience the Harmony Curriculum’s Everyday Practices (Meet Up and Buddy Up), Quick Connection Cards, and Summer Learning Program, all of which promote perspective-taking, communication, and problem-solving to help campers and staff feel connected.
Youth Development Building Resilience Through Relationships Series
Youth development webinar series discusses the core developmental stages of children over time and explore strategies for building meaningful, supportive connections with them every step of the way.
The three-part series, presented by Rachel Schwartz and Jennifer Streicher of JCC Chicago.
Camp Is for the Camper v.3
ACA's #1 Best Selling Course and Book!
It is imperative that counselors see themselves as role models for campers and act accordingly. Parents place a great deal of trust in camps and camp counselors when they send their children to camp. Wouldn't it be great if staff could think about this aspect of camp before they even arrive at camp? Well now they can! ACA most popular online course will help you with the responsibility of training camp counselors.
The Camp Is for the Camper Online Training, Second Edition gives staff a jumpstart in considering their roles and responsibilities before arriving at camp. The program content draws from the best selling book, Camp Is for the Camper.
Presenters: American Camp Association and Paul Schlag
CEC's: 2.0
Designing Quality Youth Programs
If you believe your program offers a quality experience for your participants but also think doing even better is ideal, this course is for you. Designing Quality Youth Programs takes you through an eight step process focused on a rewarding journey of organizational improvement that recognizes each setting is different, every program is unique, and each improvement requires a targeted set of strategies.
This course can be supplemented with the companion book, Designing Quality Youth Programs. Regardless of whether you choose to use the book or just want to stay with the online course, get ready to venture out of your comfort zone, get into a “stretch” position, and learn how to take a critical look at your program’s potential!
Presenter: American Camp Association
CEC's: 1.0
Accreditation Volunteer Update 2025
This brief, interactive course offers details regarding updates to the Accreditation Process Guide (APG) that are effective November 1, 2025. All accredited and accreditation volunteers are required to complete this course by June 1. 2026.