Ready to SNAP back to summer camp fun
CDI’s program helps give kids with behavioural issues a chance to learn and grow
In the Urban Dictionary, “snap” is defined as dismay, disbelief, surprise or joy.
At the Child Development Institute (CDI), a multi-service children’s mental health agency in Toronto, it’s an acronym for Stop Now and Plan — a “framework” that teaches children struggling with behaviour problems to control their actions, keeping them in school and out of trouble.
Every year, 3,500 city kids from 118 neighbourhoods across Toronto come through the program and Camp Wimodausis, helping them develop the skills they need to control anger and aggression as they grow into adulthood.
Last year, CDI amalgamated with Integra Foundation, a leading children’s mental health centre in the treatment of children and youth with learning disabilities and mental health issues. The Foundation’s Camp Towhee is also part of the Fresh Air Fund.
“We’re changing negatives into positives,” said Richard Mah, a family and child worker and the SNAP Boys and Wimodausis camp director, noting campers often experience conflict at school, in daycare, among their peers and even in their families. Weekly SNAP sessions are part of the traditional, yet highly structured, day camp offering children 6 to11an opportunity to discuss issues such as bullying or anger in order to learn what triggers such responses, anger management and impulsive behaviour.
“We provide a special camp experience for children who wouldn’t be able to maintain their behaviour at other camps,” explained Mah, adding kids also learn simple strategies to help solve problems and make better decisions. “We’re shaping the future by teaching life skills that will follow them into adulthood.”
It all happens while children are having a great time in the city playing sports, doing arts and crafts, swimming at local pools and visiting popular attractions such as the zoo and the Ontario Science Centre. “It’s all about children having fun in a safe, structured environment and feeling accepted,” said Mah.
And that doesn’t always happen in the real world, said assistant camp director Rissa Raposo-Ferreira. Some kids simply don’t interact with others, or they’re excluded because of their behaviour.
Wimodausis is where kids are kids, and where some counsellors are former campers who have become mentors for the younger children. While Raposo-Ferreira didn’t go to Wimodausis, she did participate in the Girls Connection program at the centre, which she attended with her mother. Later she joined the leaders in training program, developing professional and social skills while volun- teering in various capacities at the agency as well as at camp and in the community. By the time she was 16, her resumé read like a book. More recently, she was appointed assistant camp director.
The same opportunities are available to all the kids if they want to pursue them, she said, adding the most important job is as a youth mentor.
“For me, the LIT program had the biggest impact on my life,” she said, adding it’s also invaluable for kids who want to remain engaged in the program and community. Passing on the skills they learned and being good role models are keys to success.
“Keeping them engaged and taking them out of inappropriate activities — gangs, drugs — is very important and continuing that support makes all the difference.”