Assistant Director of Camper Care (Summer 2025)

Position Description: The Assistant Director of Camper Care helps to lead the Agassiz Village Cabin Staff Team, providing key leadership and support to our summer staff team, modelling our culture and philosophy, and ensuring that campers are behaving appropriately. Our Director of Camper Care ensures that each of our campers receive the best possible care within our camp environment.

The Assistant Director of Camper Care is responsible for supporting the mental, emotional, and social well-being of all campers ages 8-17. This staff member will serve as a critical component of our Camper Care Team and guide Agassiz Village in creating an environment that’s welcoming for all. The Assistant Director of Camper Care will assist staff members with managing the social dynamics and behavior of their campers, while assisting them in meeting camper needs.

Together with a team of talented individuals, the Director of Camper Care will help to ensure the attention to and support of each camper’s well-being while in our care, including our community members’ Mental, Emotional, and Social Health (MESH) needs. This is a great opportunity to leverage previous professional experience in a role that offers seasonal flexibility and the opportunity for a mental health professional to work alongside year-round Professional Staff and a seasonal youth leadership team to employ strategic thinking, problem-solving, thoughtful, and intentional care and guidance, and the delicate and expert touch needed to help ensure the highest quality of care of our youth participants. With the primary goal of supporting campers, the Director of Camper Care will provide hands-on care to campers, with a focus on being a resource to staff members in their work with children at camp. The Director of Camp Care may also be a key point of contact for parents during the summer. Central to this position’s success is the educational and practical experience and insight regarding contemporary practices related to child development, social work, group dynamics, adolescent behavior, behavior management, and other related areas.

Responsibilities:

· Be an active presence on-site at camp as a part of the community.

· Camper Development: Leads the charge on making intentional decisions to help our campers learn and grow. Works closely with the Director of Camper Care to ensure that every staff member is regularly thinking through our Camper Development and approach to ensure the most impactful possible camp experience. Provide on-going guidance and support to staff when responding to situations that arise with campers, including camper adjustment issues and/or separation anxieties, bullying, teasing, homesickness, moments of sadness, or other mental health concerns. Provide on-going support to staff in determining the appropriate response to campers’ behavioral /emotional/ mental health needs. Build a strong and positive relationship with campers: help every camper make friends, become acclimated to camp life, grow toward his/her potential, and become a part of the community

· Cabin Dynamic: Help the cabin to set and adhere to the cabin rules. Meet with cabins in your village as a whole to ensure a healthy team dynamic free from bullying, race issues, and negative language. Provide support and guidance to campers and/or staff after camper disclosures, crises, or stressful/traumatic events. Crete a system for tracking personal items and lost and found are created and maintained in a fun and creative manner. Be sure each cabin has a method in place to ensure that our facilities remain clean, tidy and that the responsibilities are equally shared amongst campers and staff.

· Camper Engagement: Demonstrates how to effectively use each moment of the day to build relationships with campers and make every part of the day fun. Helps to brainstorm ways to make downtime, mealtimes, bedtime, etc. as engaging as possible.

· Community Building: Helps to give support and insight into building meaningful connections with and between campers.

· Behavior Management: Works with cabin counselors to complete the daily camper logs appropriately and then checks the logs daily to address and troubleshoot challenging behavior situations according to our program philosophy. Also, provide extra support to campers who need it. Make recommendations to the Camp Director for campers to go home who may not be emotionally mature enough to handle the camp environment. Develop behavioral plans, schedules, trainings and strategies for working with campers in order to ensure that the physical, social and emotional well-being of participants is being met.

· Routine Management: Weigh in on best practices to create meaningful routines within cabin groups. Aid in Cabin Pride protocol in your village and rotate throughout daily activities.

· General Management: Model our philosophy and values, encouraging a positive culture and staff dynamic. Contribute positively to our camp environment. Communicate all relevant information to the Camp Director. Ensure camper safety is maintained according to relevant policies and procedures. Help to ensure that the camp facility is well-cared for and kept clean. Collect and supervise the completion of weekly paperwork. Complete any other tasks required to ensure a meaningful and exceptionally fun camper experience Attend all management meetings with Director of Camper Care.

· Staff Training: Playing a leadership role in the planning and implementation of staff training and ongoing staff learning related to mental, emotional, social, and spiritual health (MESSH).

· Communication: Managing information about camper needs, and communicating those to staff, as well as documenting communication and plans as appropriate.

· Collaboration: Work closely with the Camp Director, Program Director, Village Leaders, Social and Emotional Interns, and Health Center staff to monitor the overlap of the physical and emotional wellbeing of campers.

· Prior to Camp Starting: Reviewing camper files pre-season, and document camper care/situations at camp. Consult with parents, mental health professionals, and/or other appropriate person(s) to address any concerns, in making appropriate accommodations prior to campers’ arrival.

· Serenity Cabin: Help maintain the Serenity Cabin which can be utilized as home base but the expectation is that this position is active in the community during busy program times.

· Participate as a driver if needed to escort a camper home.

· Participate in covering for staff time-off on an as-needed basis.

Qualifications:

· Graduate-level or higher degree in a mental health field. Including, but not limited to: social work, mental health counseling, psychology, youth psychiatry, family therapy, etc.

· Minimum 3-5 years of post-graduate work experience in a related field.

· Prior camp experience in working with young children is preferred.

· Exceptional skill and capacity for engagement and relationship building with young adults, children and their parents.

· Proven ability to provide emotional support to a wide range of ages.

· Strong understanding of, and a willingness to be creative with, strategies to ensure campers of varying needs can be part of a mainstreamed program

· Demonstrated ability to work in and lead others in a team atmosphere to ensure that the physical, social and emotional needs of campers are met.

· Driver's License required

Who We’re Looking For:

We are looking to recruit a team of people whose strengths, skills, and backgrounds are as diverse as those of our campers. We are keen to have people join our team who are:

· Committed to consistent learning and growth.

· Team players, willing to help in all areas

· Willing to support a strong and positive team culture

· Organized

· Strong communicators

· Competent and creative problem solvers.

· Passionate

· Energetic and silly

· Kind and compassionate

· Flexible and able to adapt quickly

· Able to stay calm in high-pressure situations.

· Able to work LONG and challenging days

Reports to: Director of Camper Care

Our Staff Culture: We work hard to establish a collaborative and positive community where we treat one another with kindness, understanding, and give one another the benefit of the doubt. We celebrate new ideas, encourage making mistakes and trying again, and emphasize effort rather than perfection. At Agassiz Village, performing well at your job means also contributing positively to our team and environment. We teach our campers how to be compassionate, how to build connections, help them to build their confidence, and help them to bounce back when things don’t go their way. That means that we need to be strong role models of these qualities as well. Most of all, we emphasize constant growth and improvement and are always striving to find a better way to do what we do.

About Agassiz Village: Agassiz Village is a nonprofit youth development organization whose mission is to “prepare youth for life’s journey.” Through our exceptional summer camp experience and year-long programming, youth develop and practice critical leadership and life-shaping skills that positively impact their futures. For 88 years, children from under-resourced communities in New England have come to our 330-acre lakefront overnight camp in Poland, Maine to experience unique learning opportunities, be challenged to discover interests, uncover new skills, make lifetime friendships, and connect with inspiring mentors. In addition, teens in our year-round program are supported to graduate high-school and prepare to be career/college ready.

We have a variety of other positions available on our team as well, more information about staff positions with us is available at https://agassizvillage.org/summer-camp-staff.

Job Types: Full-time, Contract, Temporary

Pay: From $400.00 per week

Benefits:

• Paid time off

Work Location: In person

Salary : $400