The Camp Counsellor Training program helps participants develop the knowledge and techniques they need to function as effective camp counsellors in a day camp or residential camp. It also helps provide qualified staff for Montreal East organizations that offer day camps.
The Y has a long history of running residential and day camps, and these camps have always provided a way for the Y to develop leadership in youth, as campers or counsellors. The Camp Counsellor Training program draws on this experience to meet the needs of different organizations in Montreal East that run day camps but do not have the resources to train counsellors themselves.
The Counsellor Training Program gives youth aged 15 to 25 the knowledge and skills they need to work as counsellors at day camps, residential camps, or similar activities (such as after school programs). The program includes 27 hours of group training in the form of lecture courses and workshops, as well as a 20 hour internship.
The majority of counsellors in training attending the program are referred by their future employers, with successful completion of the program as a condition for hiring.
The program content combines The YMCAs of Québec’s educational approach on the 40 Development Assets and the Hands Up! program on children’s rights, together with a segment on accommodating children with special needs.
For more information, please contact Brigitte Crevier at the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve Y centre,
514 255-4651, ext. 2236.