A camper may be engaging in self-harm talk or actions. Now what?

Does your camp have a decision-making process of what to do, for whom, and when? How did you come up with your process? What factors led to the creation of these policies? Does your camp send a camper home if they are in acute mental health distress? Does your camp try to assess and keep the camper, where possible?

To be fair, these are questions that many camps have not yet answered. We'll start by breaking it down simply. For a more detailed analysis, see this blog post from Fall 2024.

Let's use a couple of examples:

1) A camper tells a staff member that they have had thoughts of suicide that come and go, including while they are at camp. The camper does not want to leave camp.

2) A camper tells you that they suspect another camper is harming themselves by making cuts on their forearm.

Factors to consider: is this the first time you have heard of this issue with this particular camper? Does the camper have a history of mental health struggles that the camp is aware of? Has the camper been known to discuss these topics? Whom on your team will speak to the camper first? How will you approach the camper when you speak to them?

The following is a simple graphic to get you thinking about what you would do and how you would handle such a situation. Where does your camp fall on this graphic? How much information, if any, are you gathering in making these decisions?

Does everything depend on each circumstance, or can/should you make larger policy decisions?

Are your camper families aware of your general approach to issues like this? Have you talked to outside parties about what your strategy is (insurance, attorney, consultant)?

Regardless of what you decide, EVERY camp should do the following: document the incident and the follow-up conversations. Ensure it is date and time-stamped, which is easy when taking notes in online camper files on most camp software packages.

I realize this might leave you with more questions than answers. It takes time to think through these decisions.

For more on drawing a roadmap that works for your camp and getting on-call help in the summer, feel free to reach out to nick@fairwindsconsult.com.