Outdoor Wellness Retreat North Shore

We have successfully eased the financial burden of purchasing equipment and camping for our community members and demonstrated the basics of camping like pitching tents and cooking while camping. We then allowed them to put into practice what they have learned while supervising to provide support if needed during the trip. Youth who attended the trips understand there are career opportunities in Outdoor Recreation and at the state parks and have grown an appreciation for nature through their close encounters in the wilderness over the course of 3 days. After each trip, we made sure to host a debrief to talk about what we experienced, how we feel, and what we are going to implement moving forward to live happier and healthier lives. We also provided a post-trip evaluation form that is required for the FamCamp program and used for our records to note any areas of improvement and leaving remarks from participants. We ensure that our objectives are being met by analyzing the responses, and adapting or adjusting our program structure to align better with what our goals are. This for us meant discarding activities, making extra space during the day for participants to take breaks between activities, providing more direct and clear guidance for each activity, and taking note of the hour often during the day to plan meals times well.

Through these trips free of cost and providing transportation to most community members, we have made these trips as accessible as possible while also provided residents stewardship education and experiences at the state parks. This program not only provides basic camping gear but also provides mini-clinics on leave no trace, conservation efforts within the state parks, and junior ranger programing with state parks to promote stewardship to elementary and secondary school aged participants. Participants do not need to pay for meals, equipment, transportation, or enrollment in order to join community camping trips which meets the goal of making outdoor spaces accessible to all. First time campers learned how to use equipment through instruction from our DRD Team members to ease their transition into a potential new recreational camping hobby. We also explore the possibilities of new nutritional habits by planning meals that are mostly nutritious and balanced during programming.

Yale University- Science of Well-Being Curriculum: Through partnership with Yale University, we brought evidence-based research to live happier and healthier lives into our communities. During our camping trips, we practiced meditation, mindfulness, disconnecting from news, debunking social media narratives, implemented healthy sleep habits, and exercise. All these are strategies discussed by Dr. Laurie Santos throughout her course. We also encouraged participants to take her free course if they were interested in learning more. We needed to learn how to strategize giving information in a fun and interactive way during the trips which came with challenges as much of the curriculum is centered around statistics and academic journals. We accomplished interactive delivery through asking questions and holding conversations with real life examples of ways we can implement these tips in our own everyday lives.

FamCamp Program- FamCamp partnered with us to magnify camping experiences for 6-8 families on each trip. Through providing tents, propane tanks, lanterns, sleeping bags, and all the other camping equipment, FamCamp allowed us to bring more people camping and teach them how to use the different basic equipment for trips on exclusive campsites reserved for our organization. We learned that FamCamp applications are open as soon as 8 months out, and in 2024 they will be including more offerings like interpretive programming and kayaking at select parks.

State Parks Interpretive Programming- Interpretive Rangers at the State Parks also partnered with us to take participants on hikes, and host workshops to describe the natural habitats and history of the parks as well as provide helpful information about the campgrounds and trails. At Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, Interpreter Michelle provided coloring books and crayons to all our Youth participants. In completing their workbooks or attending a hike they officially fulfilled a requirement to earn their Junior Ranger Badge. Interpreter Michelle awarded the youth participants with their badges after the hike. I learned that to have these remarkable and rewarding experiences, there needs to be planning well in advance to coordinate with the parks and rangers.

We infused our camping trips with The Science of Well-being curriculum where participants got hands on experience learning the curriculum on our wellness retreats. At the end of our camping trips, we encouraged participants to take her free course online if they were interested in learning more. Our core team has received certification from the Outdoor Recreation Leader Training to be authorized to use FamCamp equipment on 3-day, 2-night trips to the state parks. FamCamp equipment assists our staff to facilitates the learning process for first time campers on how to use equipment for their future family trips and provides campsite reservations and tools like Demonstration Videos for pitching tents. Interpretive Rangers at the State Parks also partnered with us to take participants on hikes, and host workshops to describe the natural habitats and history of the parks as well as provide helpful information about the campgrounds and trails.

A method that we use in our programming is prompting guests for the next activity. Communicating clear instructions when transitioning from activities to cooking or eating time to clean-up time is vital to ensure that campers know what is next and know we are not finished yet for the day. An unforeseen challenge was timing out our activities. It seems like we are always pressed for time and running behind schedule. After the ORL training, our team implemented FLOW methodology into our programs which allowed us to focus on our trips from a meaningful activity standpoint rather than a concrete list of things that need to be accomplished before departure day.

A successful method that was derived from ORL training was finding “Flow” with each individual group that set out on overnight trips. We implemented this after noticing that planned itineraries more often than not created anxiety within the participants, especially when they knew that we were slightly ahead of or behind schedule. An unforeseen challenge this year was short staffing in the summer that resulted in having to cancel one trip in June. At this time, there are no comments or recommendations on the improvement of the Outdoor Grant Program from our participants, just from our staff as we try to make each trip an even better experience than the past ones.