Camp Carmangay’s summer camps for Youth commence in March and end in October.
Camp Carmangay’s community mission starts in October and ends in April. The ultimate goal is to, throughout the winter campaign, register street youth into a “decompression camp” that would better prepare that person as per what to expect from within and on the journey to sobriety. So many people stay away from detox registration because of what can best be described by the addicted Youth I speak with as an intimidating de-humanizing experience from the very onset at the “Admitting Desk”. There’s a gap between the addict and a comfortable willing desire to enter into rehabilitation.
By providing Life Skills to youth, Camp Carmangay is providing both an immediate impact and a lifetime value of knowledge. Cooking, cleaning, and managing a household are value based skills that when lacked are connected to homelessness; an inability to manage a home. When work ethic and skills have been developed and referrals for emotional needs are in place, a young person can move forward and choose when to draw from the knowledge and the resource base acquired. The end goal is to contribute to the opportunity these youth deserve to be a part of mainstream society.
The power of mentorship and discovery through experience is best observed within our Western Horsemanship program. Individual youth will adopt a horse and develop a bond throughout his or her repeated visits. Benefits include: insight into the requirements of establishing a positive relationship such as compromise, understanding, caring and compassion. Learning how to be assertive without being aggressive, facing personal challenges and overcoming fears builds character. In many cases, the relationship with the horse is the first real opportunity some of our youth will have at understanding the requirements involved in building trust and the value of finding a balance between giving and taking.
We don’t guarantee success but we do guarantee an opportunity to succeed. To succeed in embracing the notion that one can become the master of their own destiny and change the course of life’s journey onto another path. The path of discovery and to embrace that each one of us has greatness within.
Horses and wide open spaces. The freedom to gallop across the diverse prairie where you can discover yourself at your own pace in the richness of a land inspired by its natural state and magnificence. It’s the simplicity of life at Camp Carmangay and in such the discovery of the basic essential needs for survival like food, shelter and a means by which to earn enough to be able to contribute to a community.
Camp Carmangay offers recurring camp visits. Our environment is unprejudiced and promotes dialogue that is neither clinical nor forced.
Find out what’s happening now on Camp Carmangay’s Facebook Page.
