Experience Camps, a national non-profit organization that provides free, one-week camps for children who have experienced the death of a parent, sibling or primary caregiver, is highlighted in Sheryl Sandberg’s newest book, Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy.

After losing their father, Sheryl’s children attended Experience Camps (the California camp location), with other kids whose loved ones have died. Along with swimming, arts and crafts, and team sports, the kids take part in bereavement activities including sharing circles where they are encouraged to talk about their grief.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, approximately 1.5 million children are living in a single-family household due to the death of one parent. In the book, Sheryl talks about how her own children benefited from attending Experience Camps, week-long summer camps that bring together children experiencing grief; and the value of support groups connecting you with others who really get what you are going through.

Excerpt from Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy. Pgs. 1884 – 1885. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

“Support groups connect you with others who really get what you are going through. Deep human connection. It is not just ‘Oh, I feel bad for you’ but ‘I actually understand…….My kids also attended Experience Camps, a free weeklong program for children who have lost a parent, sibling, or primary caregiver. Two of the core values at the camp are building community and inspiring hope. In one exercise, kids went to stations to confront an emotion associated with grieving. For anger, kids used chalk to scrawl words that made them angry on the pavement. Some wrote “bullying”; others wrote “cancer” or “drugs.” Then on the count of three they threw water balloons on the ground to smear the words away and release their anger. At a second station, a camper held a brick representing guilt. As the brick became too heavy, another camper shared the burden of its weight. These exercises helped show my children that their emotions were normal and other kids felt them too.” – Sheryl Sandberg

“We are so honored to be mentioned in Option B and are appreciative of Sheryl’s impact on the conversation around grief and resilience. She will inspire more people to seek connections and support to help them get through whatever challenges they face,” said Sara Deren, Founder and Executive Director of Experience Camps. “At Experience Camps, we encourage children to find those same connections through the camaraderie and community of camp and by allowing them to realize they’re not the only ones who have experienced loss.”

In 2017, Experience Camps will have more than 450 campers at camps in Maine, California, New York, and Georgia.

For more information about Experience Camps, visit http://www.experience.camp. Follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

About Experience Camps

Experience Camps is a place where kids can laugh, cry, play, create, remember the person who died, or forget the grief that weighs them down.  It’s a place where they can feel “normal”, because everyone there has been through something similar and understands what it’s like to lose someone important to them. Along with swimming, arts and crafts, and team sports, the kids take part in bereavement activities including sharing circles where they are encouraged to talk about their grief. Experience Camps is a home away from home. And just about everyone will tell you…”It’s the best week of the year”.

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If you are struggling with your troubled teenager and you have exhausted your local resources, learn more about how residential treatment can help your teen. Contact us today for  a free consultation.

The post Summer Camps Bring Grieving Children Together first appeared on Help Your Teens.

Therapeutic summer programs are for teens that have recently started experiencing negative behavior. If your teenager has been having difficulty for over a year, it’s likely a 4-6 week summer program will not give them long-lasting behavioral changes. You may want to consider residential therapy.

Many teens today have been experiencing depression, anxiety, under-performing in school if not completely failing classes — we’ve even witnessed a rise in student’s that were once honor roll students that are now barely passing.

Internet and cell phone addiction has been a major contributing factor to young people’s mental wellness.

Is your teen:

-Rebellious, defiance, rage
-Entitled? Backtalk, nasty attitude, disrespectful?
-Drifted from family values?
-Cell phone addiction, video gaming
-Failed in school or poor academic performance?
-Hanging with a negative peer group?
-Vaping or experimenting with drugs or alcohol?
-Overall started making bad choices?

How can an alternative summer school help your teen?

There are therapeutic summer programs that are designed to give families a good foundation of what they are facing with their teen’s behavior. It can give immediate support and most will offer you an assessment or psychiatric evaluation to give you a determination of the treatment plan your child may require (either in the short-term or long-term).

This is a digital detox time when your teen can learn coping skills to manage their feelings of anxiety, anger and even rage when not having their cell-phone or gaming device. It also helps them develop a healthy and balanced relationship with technology. As we know, the internet is only evolving — it’s imperative our children learn to manage their screen-time effectively.

Summer camps dealing with defiance especially when our teen is removed from their phone, will help them develop coping skills through anger and stress management classes as well as positive peer influence and in many instances – behavior therapy including animal assisted therapy, music therapy and art therapy and more.

Help for teens in alternative summer schools include:

• Grade recovery
• Learning coping skills
• Anger and stress management
• Peer relationships offline
• SAT prep classes
• Self-esteem building (helps them make better choices)
• Overall healthy relationship with their devices

Why use an alternative summer school?

In some situations, maybe your teen may only need a summer boost, depending on the issues they are facing. It is important to realize if you have had behavior issues for over a year, it didn’t take 4-6 weeks to get to where you are, it’s unlikely the behavior will change with a short-term summer program.

Some parents feel more comfortable committing to a shorter version of a therapeutic program rather than jumping into a full 6-9-12 month school which is completely understandable. It can give them an opportunity to evaluate the program, therapists and staff. You are unsure if their teen needs a full therapeutic boarding school just yet.

The positive side of using a therapeutic summer program that is part of a therapeutic boarding school is so your child doesn’t have to switch facilities if you determine they need longer care. This can also be helpful if your child successfully completes the summer session, however months later starts to stumble in your home setting and you determine they need to go back. Therapeutic schools offer open enrollment all year round so they would be able to be there to assist you.

In some situations a solid 45-90-day program has been exactly what a student needed to get them back on the right path academically or at least give the family a sense of direction and a balanced home life.

Also read:

Does Your Teen Want to Drop Out of School

5 Benefits of Boarding Schools for Troubled Teens

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Contact us for more information on therapeutic summer programs for troubled teens.

The post Therapeutic Summer Programs for Struggling Teens first appeared on Help Your Teens.