Camp Stuff 2008 – Maritime Conference Camp Training Event

I spent last weekend at Camp Stuff – an even put on by the Outdoor Recreational Ministries Unit of the Maritime Conference of the United Church.  It was a great weekend with lots of sharing and learning.  You can see photos of the weekend here.

I did a talk about Creating Safe Spaces At Camp – Making Camp a Sanctuary in a World of Noise.

We spend our summers trying to create an amazing summer camp experience for the campers at camp, but how often do we really think about what is a safe space?  Do we talk about safe spaces with our staff during training – with our board during meetings?  We need to think and talk about things to help bring them into our everyday conversation.

On the day I flew out to Nova Scotia I had an interesting experience with a turtle.  I was driving my children to day care in the morning and just down the road from camp I came across this turtle trying to cross the highway.

I felt that it was my duty to help this turtle finish it’s crossing before a car or truck came by and shortened his life span.  I got out of the car – my kids watching through the window and I tried to lift the turtle by the sides of it’s shell to move it to the other side of the road.  Boy can those snapping turtles move their heads really fast.  I didn’t get bit, but did spend about 10 minutes kicking the turtle to safety.

It got me thinking that what we need to do most when creating safe spaces is to make sure that the people we are creating them for – the staff, campers or others – know that we are trying to help them.  The turtle had no idea what I was trying to do.  The turtle apparently did not see it’s friend who had been crushed into the road – less than 20 feet away.  We need to communicate to people why we are trying to make them safe and what safe means.

More in the next post.