Mental Health Benefits of Summer Camp

By: Staff | Friday, February 16, 2024 | Summer Camp

Kids outdoors, smiling.

Each summer, as families arrive at camp to drop off their kids, staff wonder if these adults know the incredible impact they are making on their children by choosing to send them to camp. We know that families consider several factors when choosing a camp, such as activities, location, accreditation, and staff-to-camper ratios. They’ll also wonder if their child will make friends, will they be good at archery or will they eat enough at lunch. Beyond arts and crafts and swimming, is there a lifelong benefit to sending a child to camp? 

There are huge and unmistakable mental health benefits to sending children to summer camp. Children who attend camp develop self-esteem, improve their resilience, spend time in nature, and refine their social competence. These four things have a tangible impact on a child’s mental health: 

Self-Esteem

Having high self-esteem can help to safeguard a person’s mental health. According to the National Institutes of Health, “Adolescents with high self-esteem suffer fewer symptoms of anxiety/depression and attention problems over time, indicating that self-esteem acts as a resilience factor against such symptoms.” As adults, higher self-esteem leads to being happier in your job, having better social relationships, and generally, a more positive sense of well-being. 

To encourage self-esteem, camp provides a supportive environment for children to try new things. From novel activities rarely found outside of camp like rock climbing, songs, and sailing, to more mainstream activities like swimming, camp provides opportunities for children to take on risks without the fear of social stigma. At school, children may be afraid to move out of their comfort zone because they don’t receive the same social support as they do at camp. By training our staff to not only be supportive but also to build a culture of inclusiveness within the camper population, each child can navigate failure without fear. When they succeed, or even fail when trying their best, they gain a positive sense of self. 

Resilience

In life, stress is unavoidable. Uncontrolled stress can have deep psychological effects, including anxiety, sadness, depression, panic attacks, and irritability.  Katie Hurley, LCSW writes “When kids have the skills and the confidence to confront and work through their problems, they learn that they have what it takes to confront difficult issues. The more they bounce back on their own, the more they internalize the message that they are strong and capable.” When children have the resilience to confront their stress at a young age, they are more likely to develop healthy mechanisms to confront their stress as an adult. This resilience will serve them well into adulthood. 

Our staff become role models to our campers, helping them to navigate difficult problems and facilitating opportunities to try again. Camp also emphasizes sportsmanship - and while winning a competition is fun, our philosophy is the game is more important than the outcome. By learning to lose with grace, campers become resilient and will try again in the next game.

Time in Nature

Hundreds of studies show spending time in nature, whether at our outdoor day and sleepaway camps or a park down the street from the Y, improves mental well-being and aids in recovering from stressful situations. It also increases concentration and focus. The United States Forest Service writes “One experiment asked two groups of people to perform a mentally strenuous task, such as a math test. One group is asked to take their break in a green space, outside in a park, while the other takes their break near a busy street intersection. The results suggested that the group in the natural setting showed increased focus and higher levels of concentration than the second group.” Over and over again, we see how nature positively affects our campers. 

At camp we recognize the deep benefits of spending time outdoors.  Our screen-free camps provide huge mental health benefits to campers. Our day camps spend as much time as possible outside - with free play, exploration, nature activities, and more taking place under the blue summer sky. We also encourage campers to make a habit of spending time outdoors when they are not at camp by introducing them to new outdoor activities or improving their prowess at sports. These healthy habits can have lifelong benefits to our campers and their families. 

Social Competence

At camp, kids are grouped by age and interest to help them meet people who have similar interests. They all have at least one thing in common - they’re at camp! Our staff and campers come from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds, expanding campers’ worldviews. Campers gain more social competence and the ability to make friends. All of this can lead to increased empathy.

In conclusion, attending summer camp can have numerous mental, social, and physical benefits for children. From building self-esteem and resilience to developing social skills and empathy, summer camp provides children with a unique and supportive environment to grow and learn. Remember that it’s more than just arts and crafts and swimming – it’s an investment in their mental and social well-being.

Mental Health at the YMCA

At the Metropolitan YMCA of the Oranges, the mental, emotional, social, and behavioral health of your children is just as important to us as their physical health. We’re proud to tell you about our efforts to support your child’s well-being at camp this summer.

To support the emotional and behavioral health of your children, all camp staff receive training that helps them understand the diverse needs of youth and respond to those needs with compassion. Select staff are trained and certified by the National Council for Mental Wellbeing in Youth Mental Health First Aid. This training equips staff to recognize when youth and adolescents aged 12 – 18 may be struggling with a mental or emotional challenge, relate to that challenge, and offer support and referral to services if needed/desired.

Additionally, the Metro YMCA has recently expanded our Mental Health Team. Our Mental Health Specialists are available to assist camp staff in providing emotional and behavioral support for all youth at our camps by offering activities intended to promote social and emotional well-being, as well as by partnering with camp staff to respond to campers who are having individual struggles with big emotions or behavioral challenges. They are also available to provide families with resources and referrals to address individual needs upon request.