News
Westside Psychological Services Hosts First In-Person Youth Campers
In July, Westside Psychological Services at Roberts Wesleyan College successfully held its first ever one-week long therapeutic summer camp for children ages 8-12. The camp utilized a modified version of Coping Cat, an evidence-based manualized treatment for anxiety, and included a combination of instructional/learning time, sharing, and exposures. The campers also engaged in games and hands-on activities.
Five children from the local community participated and three Roberts doctoral students ran the camp with psychologist support/supervision. The doctoral (PsyD) students shared that they learned a lot and definitely grew as clinicians because of their participation in this camp. On the last day, the campers reported that they were sad that camp was ending and shared that they wanted to stay longer. Two of the five parents reached out to share that they had already seen improvement in their child’s functioning by the end of the camp and one parent requested individual services for her child moving forward. The PsyD students put a lot of time and energy into planning this ahead of time and it showed!
Given these successful results, Westside Psychological Services is excited to continue this good work and is currently preparing to run a full 14-week CAT Project (the teen version of Coping Cat) therapeutic group for teens ages 13-17. The camp will held in early September and Roberts practicum/PsyD students will run the camp with psychologist supervision.