Like a public-library pool party, a crowd of about 60 summer camp counselors-in-training work together to keep a dozen balloons bouncing through the air. The rules: they have to stay seated, and they can’t touch anyone around them.
It’s not just a fun break from training — the counselors are practicing a game they can use to help refocus campers when Missoula Parks and Recreation’s summer camp series begins. When schools close for summer break, kids can lose the mental health support they rely on. A new collaboration in Missoula is aiming to close that gap.
Partnership Health Center therapist Rebecca Hamler runs the counselors through a slew of tricks they can use to help campers stay engaged and regulate their feelings. It’s part of a partnership between the health center and the city. The program will embed eight clinical therapists in Missoula’s summer camp program for the first time ever.
Hamler says those counselors will support kids where they are during summer, instead of making them seek out behavioral health support.
“And we want our summer programs to flourish,” Hamler says. “So, when kids have the support they need, they will succeed.”
Missoula Parks and Rec’s program expects between 300 and 600 campers every day this summer. Coordinator Meg Whicher says the collaboration with Partnership Health Center will bolster the camp experience for everyone.
“It means that staff are better supported. It means that working families in our community are better supported. And, most importantly, it means that kids are better supported,” Whicher says.
The city’s summer camp series runs until the next school year begins.
