Six school counselors attended, one assigned to each village, at roughly 24 to 30 students per counselor. Two co-leads from Sunset High School organized the team. Two partner consultants worked alongside them: Jenifer Trivelli of WiseMind Educational Services, who trained the counselors in a body-based stress-management curriculum, and Cherie Clark of Oregon Employability Skills.
The counselor job description:
Monitor student wellbeing across a five-day overnight program
Lead the WiseMind sessions and daily check-ins
Hold individual and small-group conversations about careers, training and next steps
Reinforce the employability skill of the day
Lead professional-learning conversations for adults during non-contact time
Before camp, the counselors’ questions were practical. What do we do when we are not in a scheduled session? How many students each? Will there be a daily team check-in? Will other teachers reinforce WiseMind, so it does not live only with counselors? They asked for markers, colored pencils, butcher paper for village signs, large sticky-note posters, cards and games, night lights or headlamps for students who struggle at night, and sensory items for a regulation tent. Prizes from industry, they suggested, would help; the program director replied that corporate donations had been hard to get that season.
On the ground, the plan bent. “I tried to do the lessons, but all the villages were busy,” said Heather, a counselor assigned to one of the villages. The work became small-group conversations, and reflecting back to students the coping skills she had just watched them use: “This is what I saw you do. This is how I saw your coping strategies.”
At a session with the WiseMind trainer on Tuesday morning, the counselors were candid about day one. Some groups had too little to do in the heat. Students’ phones had nowhere to charge. Some lead teachers had not known about the forms students needed to fill out. Career conversations at 9:30 p.m., after a long day in the sun, felt forced. And several counselors had just learned that the short CPR block would teach skills without issuing certification, which was not what some families and schools had expected. They asked for two things: a visible mental-health tent alongside the medical and admin tents, so that the camp would treat emotional wellbeing as seriously as physical health, and protected time during the day for one-on-one check-ins.
Lessons from year one:
Define the counselor role and daily rhythm before camp, including what counselors do between sessions.
Name one lead counselor who sits in the command structure.
Engagement with the WiseMind certificates was uneven, and not all came back signed. Consider one combined counselor session each day instead of separate WiseMind and career blocks, and move career conversations earlier in the evening.
Give counselors a dedicated, comfortable space.