Wednesday, June 13th

After nearly two weeks of intense staff training, Pine Tree Camp officially opened its gates yesterday.

Before the first session of Pine Tree Camp even begins, 60 staff and counselors from all over the world participate 13 jam-packed days of training with topics ranging from camper care and lifting and transferring to supporting camper’s in programming and communication styles.

Pine Tree Camp was able to pull from internal Pine Tree Society experts to assist in training.  Shelley Zielinski, the Director of Pine Tree Society’s Adult Support Services and Stephanie Bell, led a five-hour NAPPI training.  This verbal de-escalation training empowers frontline staff to address behavior challenges the moment they surface.

“It’s so valuable to pull in our Pine Tree Society colleagues to be a part of our training at Pine Tree Camp,” said Dawn Willard-Robinson, Pine Tree Camp’s Director.  “We had two successful weeks of training and it showed opening day.”