Behavior Support Specialist Paid Internship
Living and working for Camp Augusta for a summer (or more) can be a great opportunity for anyone who wants to work with youth in the future or those who are currently studying education, sociology, outdoor recreation, or environmental education.
About Camp Augusta:
We are a nonprofit residential summer camp in northern California that offers a truly unique summer camp experience for campers (age 8-16) and staff alike. Camp Augusta is not your average summer camp. We are seeking experienced, hardworking, enthusiastic, and passionate counselors for our small summer community to create an epic and life-changing experience for campers. We are focused on counseling skills, creativity, tight-knit community, excellent programming, and camper choice - see more about our vision and approach.
Personal & Professional Growth:
The training, mentorship, practice, and experience you will get working at Augusta (outlined below) far surpasses that of most (if not all) camps in the nation. We seek high quality candidates for our roles, and promise a high caliber experience.
Notably, our staff training and camp programs were developed by our director who has multiple doctorates in psychology, and our training has been offered as multiple accredited courses at Prescott University.
Here are some things that are included for all of our positions:
- 300+ Hours of Experiential Training: Pre-arrival preparation and 3.5 weeks of on-site training that includes:
- 90+ hours of experiential learning in youth mentorship philosophies and approaches, including humanistic behavior management approaches, nonviolent communication, rationale-emotive behavior therapy, group facilitation, social emotional learning (SEL), success counseling and more
- 70+ hours learning your choice of our 150+ activity offerings
- 140+ hours of learning camp by doing camp (programs, activities, clinics, cabin life)
- 9 Weeks of Summer Practicing: Being responsible for cabins of 5 campers at a time, and applying all the skills above to camp activities and discussions.
- A Skilled & Dedicated Supervisor/Scaffolder: With no more than a 1:8 ratio, this person emphasizes your growth and works with you to develop your skills working with kids
This is the place for you if you…
- Are overjoyed to build close relationships between and facilitate a meaningful overall experience for 5 campers, and especially if you have had and plan to continue to work with children throughout your life
- Have the depth of emotional and physical stamina to joyfully engage with a community of 95 campers and 60 staff members for 9 weeks in the summer, working from 7:00 AM - 10:00 PM six days a week.
- Love to play and are eager to explore the creation of magical worlds with enthusiastic character roles
- Are dedicated to guiding/counseling children utilizing emotionally intelligent, thoughtful counseling techniques (to be learned/practiced in detail throughout pre-camp and staff training)
- Love community, and the idea of supporting the growth, interests, and emotional well-being of the other counselors and staff within your village, as well as the camp-wide community, is exciting to you
Minimum requirements:
- Must be at least 19 years of age by June 1st, 2023
- Must be available during our summer dates: from May 16th to August 12th 2023
Must have two of the following:
- at least one summer of experience at a residential summer camp
- over 100 hours of direct mentorship work with youth
- A major or background directly related to working with youth
- Ability to commit to 5-10 hours of pre-camp onboarding work a week from when you are hired to when you arrive, and maintain open and prompt communication about that work
Preferred qualifications:
- A history of ‘meaningful’ work and a variety of experiences with youth
- A plethora of interesting hobbies, passions, and life experiences that you’re excited to share with us
- A GPA of 3.0+ with a true excitement for learning and writing
Though an internship track is not required to work with us, it is available and can accommodate many majors (here is a page about our collaborative, individualized internships).
We work with you and your university to cater and fulfill any internship requirements or requests that you need - whether for course credit or otherwise. You get the paperwork to us and let’s figure it out:
Behavior Specialist - Camp Augusta Summer 2023
After 300+ hours of dedicated training within a closely-knit 150 person community, I acted as a primary caretaker for 5 campers with 24-hour responsibilities including behavior management and child development. This role included significant training and practice in skills including facilitation and debriefing, Non-Violent Communication, success counseling, 1st aid / emergency preparedness, and teaching various activity areas.
About Being a Counselor:
After the training and preparation, the campers arrive for either 1 or 2-week sessions in our 9-week summer. Discover the wish, wonder, and surprise of living with and supporting five campers in a cabin in the woods, and learn more than you ever thought you could about relating to children in a manner that empowers their growth and independence. In a single day at camp, you'll:
- Create magical, intentional special wake ups and evening connection-building activities for your cabin on a daily basis
- Facilitate camper ideas for a daily creative cabin activity
- Teach four activity blocks per day from the 150 clinics that you chose to learn in training
- Run a unique, themed daily activity that draws upon your personal creativity and skills; “sell” these activities through playful skits
- Play in epic Evening Programs, from full-camp capture the flag to immersive night time events. Be a character in our games and bring other-worldly magic to life.
- Create and offer two gifts from the heart per camper, per session: a special wood cookie honoring and a thoughtful Parent Letter
Counselors are the heartbeat of camp, and the words we use are critical to bringing our hearts to theirs. Most counselors spend a session or two outside of the cabin as well, contributing to programming or other areas of interest. See our page on counselor life for more information on the role and how it differs from most other camps.
Next Steps
Either apply through handshake and connect in messaging, or skip ahead and take 5 minutes to fill out our interest form so someone from our hiring team can reach out to you.