Therapeutic camps are our Christmas activity. The camps are designed to be preventative interventions and aims to guide children and teenagers who have been exposed to AOD issues by family members and/or their peer network.

For young people it can be a struggle when going through childhood and/or adolescence. Our Camp is run out of a Big4 site in Caloundra. The camp is set next to the beach and close to a forest in order to give the participants a back-to-nature experience while helping them cope with individual issues.

These camps teach positive values like self-reliance, confidence, responsibility and respect. Whilst at the same time, help participants resolve issues through interactions with our volunteers. These issues could be personal, within the family, school or community.

Our Camps have a big focus upon learning new Skills. As the activity is conducted at our chosen campground, a participant will be taught basic camping and outdoor survival skills that are very useful given the landscape here in Queensland. A young person will also learn aspects of basic first aid training along with other fundamental skills associated with the outdoor activities that form the structure of the camp.

Our Camps have a strong focus on building healthy coping strategies and resilience in young people, while also connecting them to the appropriate help and support services in the community if they exist.

The New Children’s pathways team are always looking to increase the opportunities to run more camps and engage with a larger number of children. We are currently leading a Local drag and Alcohol Team (LDAT), with the assistance of the Australian Drug Foundation (ADF) in order to create more opportunities for this work to be complete.