Not Just Play: Summer Camp and the Profession of Social Work

by Meryl Nadel, Susan Scher

Overview

Camps often provide children with a first taste of independence and freedom from the restrictions of home and school while offering a milieu full of opportunities for psychosocial development, creative interaction, and mutual aid. Though summer camps have simultaneously given current and future social workers educational, practice, research, and theory-development opportunities as they direct, staff, attend, and provide supervision, the field has received limited scholarly attention. Not Just Play focuses on the relationship between social work and the summer camp movement and provides a comprehensive treatment of this underappreciated area of practice. Social workers and camp professionals will value the many advantages and connections explored in the volume, which also incorporates case vignettes and core scholarly research. The text offers readers a multifaceted examination of social work and summer camp that broadens their professional and scholarly perspective.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190496562
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	05/20/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Meryl Nadel, DSW, ACSW, LCSW, is Professor of Social Work at Iona College. Susan Scher, MSSA, LCSW, is Professor Emeritus of Social Work at Ramapo College of New Jersey.

Table of Contents

Preface Introduction Section One. Nature, Growth, and Group Chapter 1. Natural Environment as Refuge, Nurturer, Catalyst Chapter 2. Resilience and the Strengths Perspective in Action Chapter 3. Community, Group, Group Work Section Two. Social Work and Summer Camp in Historical Perspective Chapter 4. The Beginnings of the Summer Camp Movement Chapter 5. From Fresh Air to Summer Camp: Social Work Enters the Picture Chapter 6. Growth and Development of Social Work Camps: 1920s-1940s Chapter 7. Expansive Growth, Changing Times: 1950s-1970s Chapter 8. The Therapeutic Camp: Trends in Camps for Children with Social-Emotional Challenges Chapter 9. The Group Experience in Camping: Observations from Schwartz and Shulman William Schwartz and Lawrence Shulman Section Three. Camps and the Social Work Profession Chapter 10. Roles for Social Workers Chapter 11. Recruitment to the Profession Chapter 12. Social Work Researchers Go to Camp Dana R. Dillard, Stacey R. Kolomer, and Katharine Hanavan Chapter 13. Group-Work Orientation in the Contemporary Summer Camp Section Four. Social Work and Camps Today Chapter 14. Camps for Many Populations Chapter 15. Social Work Students at Camp: Field Placements and Service Learning at Summer Camp Chapter 16. Opportunities and Issues

Editorial Reviews

"Not Just Play covers an important subject at an important time. The survival of summer camps run by settlement houses and other nonprofit organizations is threatened as costs mount and affordability, particularly for low- and moderate-income families, becomes increasingly challenging. Readers will be impressed with the tremendous impact summer camps have had not only on children but also on the staff whose skills were developed there and whose devotion allowed children to flourish." — Nancy Wackstein, MSW, Director of Community Engagement and Partnerships, Graduate School of Social Service, Fordham University; Former Executive Director, United Neighborhood Houses of New York

"In Not Just Play, the authors draw our attention to the profound and important ways-from individual to macro systemic benefits-in which camps have benefited clients and their families and advanced professional understanding of the interplay between environment, mental, and physical well-being." — Darrell P. Wheeler, PHD, MPH, ACSW, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, Iona College; Former President, National Association of Social Workers

From the Publisher