Camp for a teenager: a new angle

A trip to a summer camp is a very special, irreplaceable experience for a child. Away from their parents, children learn to establish social contacts and become more aware of their problems. Autonomous “swimming” in the company of unfamiliar peers helps them get to know themselves – to understand whether they are able, for example, to cope with psychological or physical discomfort, are they able to resolve an unpleasant situation without turning to elders for help?

Moreover, the orientation of the camp does not play a big role in obtaining this valuable experience of growing up. Language or sports, science or adventure, dance or music – the programs of the best of these camps are invariably saturated to the limit – competitions, role-playing games, interest clubs, night quests and camping trips. In principle, any outreach program developed by talented teachers develops in children such useful skills as independence and sociability, responsibility, teamwork and a willingness to become a leader. (The fact that a team of professionals works in the camp and the safety of children is ensured, in this case, we will leave out of the brackets as a matter of course.)

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But today we want to pay attention to camps that are ready not only to organize an interesting holiday for children and a rich developmental program, but also to provide them with serious psychological support. Their creators, professional psychologists, undertake to solve much more complex and responsible tasks.

Such camps for children and adolescents are arranged, for example, by the psychological center “Here and Now” (unfortunately, this summer the program is closed); the family psychological tent camp “Emerald City” of the Institute of Integrative Family Therapy, the children’s intelligence camp “Moscow Lights” are operating. Outreach programs for teenagers are also organized by the Crossroads Center for Support of the Growing Generation. We talked to one of the center’s employees, psychologist Ilya Khlomov.

Psychologies: What distinguishes a “psychological” camp from an ordinary health camp? What is its program?

Ilya Khlomov: One of our main ideas is that in the modern world there are a lot of boundaries, labels, frames, and a teenager, before agreeing with the labels hung on him by someone else, must first decide for himself. Understand: what am I in reality? That is, before becoming a bore, a hooligan, one-of-one-nothing-will-work out, it would be good for a teenager to try to be both like that and different. And to see: how does the world react to him, so different? And which “I” suits him better, does he like it better? Therefore, all our programs include situations that involve choice. All the guys live in tents, they cook their own food. Let’s start simple – what kind of food will you cook for yourself for lunch? Which workshop do you prefer? What strategy will you choose in the economic game? We do not call on a teenager: “make the right choice!” This is the “age of a thousand choices”, let him try! By the way, in one of our programs, each child receives a quest written specifically for him. He should try to perform some unusual task for himself, for example, “goofing around and inventing pranks.” A good opportunity to do what you would seem unusual, and look at yourself from the outside.

But in order to offer such tasks, counselors must know their charges well.

THEIR.: Yes, this is the difference between our programs and the usual camp: we are very attentive to children. Before the child goes to the camp for the first time, we conduct an interview with him and with his parents. We try to understand what his family situation is, to find out the features of his character and behavior. We find out under what circumstances the teenager begins to conflict and how he reacts to criticism, what he and his parents expect from life in the camp. Thus, not just a child appears in our team, but a child with his own story, which helps the counselor to respond correctly to his various manifestations. Taking into account the personal characteristics of adolescents, we form groups of different ages – this is a very painstaking and responsible business. We assume for each child in the detachment one or two future friends: people who are somewhat similar to him or who may be interesting or who may be useful in that they have qualities that he lacks, and he can learn from them. So pretty soon we can evaluate this or that situation: for someone to sing a song is a mischief, but for someone it is a feat.

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Your programs are thought out separately for older and younger teenagers. What is their difference?

THEIR.: The main emphasis in working with adolescents aged 10–12 is on the development of independence. Each participant comes up with or chooses a skill that he would like to learn, and masters it during the camp. In addition, it is important for us that the younger teenager begins to notice others and relate to them. So that the children can listen not only to themselves or an adult, but also to other children. So that they learn to work in a team and have the opportunity to throw out their aggression without harm to their neighbor. To do this, we organize role-playing games with a lot of fighting, a special space for duels. Another point that is fundamental in working with younger teenagers is the rules. We don’t have many hard limits in the camp, but we insist that they be respected. And when the guys see that the rules really work, they learn to keep themselves within the limits.

But in working with older adolescents (13–17 years old), we pay attention to their ability to reason and take a certain position in relation to a particular situation. We raise sharp questions and invite the guys to discuss. Is it okay to humiliate someone if they don’t look like you? Can I gamble, for example, during lunch watch? Children reason, draw conclusions and learn to listen to the opinions of others. And the situation is changing.

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In addition, we actively support the ideas of events that are of interest to the children themselves, and help to implement these ideas. But we do not do it for them, this is also very important. Older teenagers come up with the coolest projects: a musical group, role-playing games, an independent newspaper and much more.

By the way, during the camp, psychologists, who are the majority in our team, always give the child feedback, tell how they see him from the outside. And after the end of the shift, we always talk with parents, we can advise them on successful strategies for interacting with the child.

Is it possible to say that such a trip is a kind of short-term therapy? Do “problem” children come to you? And what kind of problems can be solved here?

THEIR.: We make visiting programs absolutely for all teenagers. We take a few guys with some special needs to the camp, in this sense this is an integrative project. But today there are fewer “difficult” teenagers in the usual sense of the word – active hooligans are increasingly being replaced by “gadget addicts” and guys with communication difficulties. We create a psychologically comfortable environment for them, saturate it with a variety of opportunities – everyone has a chance to prove themselves, speak out, try, make mistakes. For some of the children, the camp can provide real therapeutic support, for some it can’t, it’s impossible to say for sure. But in any case, our teenagers are becoming more independent and feel that adults sincerely accept them for who they are, communicate with them respectfully and on an equal footing. It seems to me that the experience of such free and trusting relationships will become a support for them for many years.

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