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Tagged: mental health
- This topic has 9 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 3 months ago by
Tracey Gaslin.
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July 4, 2021 at 2:21 am #42903
Kim Belcik
ParticipantI’ve been home a week from my 2 weeks of camp nursing and I’m finally feeling more emotionally balanced. Everyone and everything told me to prepared for the mental health and well being of campers and staff s/p pandemic. And I thought I was. I was mistaken. In all the of the 7 years I’ve been a camp nurse, the amount of anxiety, depression, and bullying I encountered was overwhelming.
We ask the parents to disclose information related to the health and wellbeing of their campers and many do. But some don’t and then I was faced with having to call and find out and why their camper still had enuresis at an age not usually seen. And that’s just one example. Parents want so desperately to get back to “normal” especially parents of children with psychiatric diagnoses. But I’m not equipped to deal with multiple psych diagnoses and neither is the young staff.
I voiced my concern to management and they know it’s an issue. We don’t have a system where documents can be shared before the camper comes to camp and so often we’re blindsided. It’s unsafe and difficult. I’m going to help them as much as I can buildout a system so we can screen better and be ready. Next time.
W
hat have you seen so far this summer? What could you have done to better prepare as a nurse? And more importantly what are you doing to care for yourself?
I admit I took on too much this summer (I’m in graduates school too) and I’m making adjustments but I’m not sure what I ccould’ve done differently.July 8, 2021 at 4:18 pm #42920Melissa Mauer
ParticipantYou are not alone. We are experiencing the same thing. This is the largest number of MESH issues (anxiety, depression, panic attacks, bullying, etc.) that I have ever seen in 25 years of camp nursing. I/we anticipated this because of the pandemic and had noted an escalation of these issues even pre-pandemic. Parents are not always disclosing appropriate and relevant information. These campers are monopolizing staff time and taking away from others. They require time and energy that is draining. No real answers. Always great to have someone in camp who is your key point person (such as LCSW or psychologist) to handle some of this. Staff education pre-camp about these matters is helpful.
July 9, 2021 at 1:10 am #42921Tracey Gaslin
MemberThanks for sharing these issues as we know the camp nurse often becomes the individual to address these challenges. We (ACN) want to do everything we can to help prepare camp healthcare providers and leaders about MESH. We teach classes at conference, provide webinars, have resources on the website, and hope to hear from members like yourself to adjust how we support you.
I just returned from camp myself and we had a great week. We did a great deal of preparatory work and education with parents prior to campers arriving onsite. They were well versed in not only our COVID procedures, but the arrangement and plans to manage MESH issues. No matter if it was anger, frustration, anxiety, or other behavioral variance, one of the best tools is to have a plan discussed with parent before the camper(s) arrive. We had a “runner” this year who only knew how to cope with his anger by running. By having a well-defined plan and knowing how to partner with this youth after talking to the guardian, we were able to have a really success week with him. He learned to use his words over his feet. It was a great experience.
I hope you are able to create a system of pre-planning and communication with parents before campers arrive. Preventative and preparatory work will save hours of effort in trying to intervene and rescue situations.
How can ACN assist? What might we do to help support/educate/prepare camp nurses for MESH challenges?
Best to you
Tracey GaslinJuly 9, 2021 at 8:24 pm #42925Mary Marugg
MemberThanks for good conversation. I suspect this is something we will continue to see at camp as the COVID impact continues. This may be a good time to pursue getting health forms in hand well before camp, so on opening day there are no (or fewer) surprises.
Consider the resource through the ACA Healthy Camp Toolbox to help guide your MESH discussion with parents: “Assessment of a Camper’s Behavior of Concern” The first part is about assessing whether a camper is ready for camp, but scroll down to the bottom for the part relevant to behavior at camp.
https://www.acacamps.org/resource-library/research/healthy-camp-toolboxBest,
Mary
July 12, 2021 at 11:41 pm #42938Kim Belcik
ParticipantThanks for the link to Assessment of Camper’s Behavior of Concern document. ACN does have so many great resources and sometimes it’s hard to know which one is the best. I’m sending this to my camp director for consideration for the rest of the summer and to wrap into our processes as we move forward.
The camp director and staff did so much pre-work including several virtual town halls with parents. I helped as much as I could but there’s always an opportunity to improve.
Kim
July 13, 2021 at 11:12 am #42939Tracey Gaslin
MemberKim:
ACN is glad to be of assistance – always. If there are other resources you are seeking, please don’t hesitate to ask. We may have something or if there is something we need to develop to support your work at camp, we are glad to do that as well.
Take care
TraceyAugust 6, 2021 at 3:56 pm #43065Ellen Johnson
ParticipantI will complete my 2nd week of camp and head home tomorrow. I confess to also being physically and emotionally exhausted. Plenty of MESH issues noted in both villagers and staff. And a challenging population overall that left little time for caring for self. I feel my patience wearing a bit thin and my supply of compassion and empathy being completely drained. A consistent problem has been a very, very small percentage of villagers taking a huge percentage of health care staff time and energy.
MESH issues identified ahead of time with appropriate treatment plans/meds/therapies and guidance in place have been much more easily employed at camp. There are even villagers seeing therapists virtually which has been very helpful-but they are certainly the exception.
One strategy implemented with some villagers is a mental health “check-in.” They have an actual health center staff appointment with defined beginning and ending times, usually 15 minutes. This gives us and them space and time to devote completely to their issues. It helps to have a defined ending time for the visit and to plan an upcoming check in.
Just one small strategy that has worked here……August 11, 2021 at 7:17 pm #43067Lisa Keeler
ParticipantI could not agree more and have found this season challenging with campers and staff. I am continuously suprised at what parents do not reaveal in our health docs or getting to know you docs. I am concerned that some campers with serious MESH issues are not safe to be at camp, and this is often not identified pre-camp. It has been a challenge on top of our Covid concerns!
October 30, 2021 at 8:00 pm #43313Fonda Kennedy
ParticipantI am relieved that I wasn’t the only nurse experiencing these situations this summer, it also makes me extremely sad to know how many children are struggling. After camp ended we had parent feedback on their children “not feeling emotionally supported” and that broke my heart. There was an abundance of behavioral issues, anxiety and self harm. Any advise on knowing what to say to parents who are unaware that their children are doing these things?
I also agree with a lot of you on the fact that parents are NOT disclosing enough on health records and are withholding information on the true mental health of their children. We are hoping to implement virtual visits with psychiatrists this upcoming year and I love the idea of having mental health “check ins” with the nurse.
Thanks for all the feedback.
Thankful New Member!!!October 30, 2021 at 10:04 pm #43314Tracey Gaslin
MemberWe understand there were complex psychosocial issues this summer. Campers who did not know how to socially connect and had difficulties with emotional regulation. Staff who were, in many cases, younger than the typical year and who were struggling with anxiety, low frustration tolerance, and emotional fatigue.
ACN is working diligently on these efforts right now to provide some new, updated, and diverse support and tools for camps who are focused on better addressing and managing behavioral health as a component of overall wellbeing.
Hang in there. We can work together and promote our best efforts in meeting these growing MESH needs.
Take care
Tracey Gaslin -
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