GENERAL FAMILY CAMP INFORMATION LOCATED BELOW THIS SECTION!

Marvellous Moms’ Cabin

Moms have been attending camp as staff for years, but here is a new twist on an old idea. I love this! It was birthed out of conversations that occurred at a Nancy Thomas training held October 2009 and the needs that were presented by different camp directors. This is what we came up with: a cabin set aside for Marvellous Moms that are raising RAD children.  Marvellous Moms have the opportunity to work beside the staff and attend trainings as well as observe/work with families at camp, including the privilege of being part of a separate debriefing time each evening.  This time should be a time to heal, encourage each other, and come up with even more great ideas. We have room for 8 Marvellous Moms.  If you are interested please email Marie Sherwood at Marie@LongFacesHappyHearts.com. The cost of $500 in all inclusive and includes everything at camp (your training, lodging, airport pick up, and meals.) Fees are based on actual costs for this cabin.

The Latest Tools for Difficult Children Seminar

With Nancy Thomas

29 & 30 July 2010

Who is Nancy Thomas?

Nancy Thomas,  mother,  grandmother,  adoptive  mom and foster mom, has worked as a Therapeutic Parenting Specialist with children who had AD, RAD, PTSD, Aspergers, ritualistic abuse, FASD, ADD, ADHD, ODD, Tourette’s Syndrome and Bipolar Disorder.  Nancy and her husband Jerry live in the mountains of Colorado in a home centered around healing the hearts of children.  She has shared her life and home for over 30 years with severely emotionally disturbed children.  She has an 85% success rate with these high-risk children, which is one of the highest in the country.  An author and educator specializing in bonding and conscience development, she has trained over 50,000 parents and professionals throughout the world in her effective methods.

Nancy is the founder of the non-profit organization Stop America’s Violent Youth (SAVY) She dreams of having people united with peace, love, and laughter. Nancy believes we can make a difference and so do we!

Two Day Seminars

Rebuilding the Broken Bond (Two Days)

Want to know how to build a heart to heart connection with a child? We can make a difference with these challenging children when we have the know-how.  Nancy Thomas will share with professionals and parents her know how in this laughter filled seminar! You will leave understanding Attachment Disorder and what you can do about it.

Day One

      Spotlight on the problem

      Building brilliant brains

      Overview of effective interventions

      Conscience development

      Questions and answers

Day Two

      Rebuilding the foundation

      Understanding defiance

      Solutions to behavior problems

      Specific interventions to help challenging children

      The future outlook

      Questions and answers

Location:         Echo Lake Bible Camp: Qu’appelle Valley, Saskatchewan (an hour \northeast of Regina.)

Cost:                $250

Dates:              Thursday, 29 & Friday, 30 July 2010

Includes:         Two night’s accommodations: Participants are welcome to arrive the afternoon of Wednesday, 28 August 2010. All food and snacks are provided.

 Please print off seminar brochure: The Latest Tools for Difficult Children Seminar brochure

Contact:          Marie Sherwood at Marie@LongFacesHappyHearts.com for more information and to send in your application form (located on the back.)

Please make cheques out to: Shalom Ranch

Application deadline is 15 June 2010.

If mailing application form, please send to following address:

Long Faces and Happy Hearts Equestrian Centre

PO Box 1446, Yorkton, SK, S3N 3G3

Here is the camp registration form:

Nancy Thomas Family Camp registration form 2010

Please find the printable RADical Attachment Camp Brochure. Do not hesitate to call for additional information. Brochure for RADical Attachment Camp 2010

Many children who experience a break in the first three years of their lives will react by coming hyper-aroused. This puts them into their brain stem and kicks in the fight or flight response. Children who experience a prolonged about or trauma will teach their brains to stay in that hyper arousal, will miss read cues, and react to their circumstances in a negative manner.

RADical Attachment Camp:

Many programs are set up for only the child, but RADical Attachment Camp understands that the family unit is affected by the difficult child. The attachment techniques taught at the camp help the whole family come together as a unit, in addition to providing the parents with the unique tools needed to help these children down their healing journey. The camp has the privilege of having Nancy Thomas at its helm. Ms. Thomas has over thirty years of working with some of America’s most violent children. She boasts over 85% success rate with this population; these numbers are unheard of in the industry. This is the only camp in Canada that is privileged to have Ms. Thomas’ savvy techniques in how to deal with difficult behavior on a daily basis, in addition to helping these precious children fully heal.

 RADical Attachment Camp also has a separate program for the siblings of the difficult child. This program addresses the struggles and frustrations of living with a difficult child. The siblings work through experiential exercises with the horses of Long Faces and Happy Hearts Equestrian Centre. This week long program is set up as a fun cowboy/cowgirl camp, but has a therapeutic purpose. The work follows the empirically proven program and is the only empirically (quantitative research) proven program running in all of Canada and one of a handful in the United States. The quantitative research that has proven the usefulness of horses (Russell-Martin, 2006; Schultz, Remick-Barlow, & Robbins, 2007; Trotter, Chandler, Goodwin-Bond, & Casey, 2008) is so limited and recent that many programs have not had a chance to update their curriculum. At RADical Attachment Camp, we have closely monitored the research and bring you the latest and best proven methods.

 The difficult children also benefit from the presence of the horses by taking part in the Equine Facilitated/Experiential Bonding program with their parents. This program is unique to the difficulties that are particular to displaced children and their families. EF/EB uses the theories of Dr. Bruce Perry (among others) by targeting different parts of the brain in order to help the brain heal itself. This program is only available in Colorado and Saskatchewan with Marie Sherwood of Long Faces and Happy Hearts being the creator. Ms. Sherwood is also a PhD candidate that continues to do research into the best practices to heal families with difficult children.

 The camp will run from 31 July - 6 August 2010. We will have our camp at Echo Lake, which is located just outside of Fort Qu’appelle, Saskatchewan. It is a beautiful rustic facility with regular camping activities.  The accomodations are rustic cabins. There is sporadic internet and cell service.  

I am an Equine Facilitated/Experiential Trainer and as such we will have this type of therapy also available. It really helps in getting the kids to open up rather quickly. The attachment therapy can, therefore, be done more effectively. We will also run a horsemanship course based on CHA programming for the non-RAD kids aged 7 to 12 years old. The non-RAD kids end up having a very relaxing time. For the 13 and up crowd we have a waterfront program available.

  The Basic Registration cost is $650 per person; this includes everything at the camp, there are no hidden costs. If you have children that are non-RAD you are welcome to bring them also. Families of four can come for $2400 all inclusive.

  Refunds:

 1. Full refunds minus 10% up until 15 May 2010

2. Partial refunds (50%) up until 1 June 2010

3.  No refund after 1 June 2010 unless we can replace your family with a waiting family.

If you have any questions, please feel free to call Marie Sherwood at 306-728-2900.

24/7 Therapeutic Parenting Support
Do you need help now? Are you frustrated with how your difficult child is running your home?

If you answered yes to both these questions, then you need support.
Marie Sherwood is a Certified Advanced Parenting Trainer through Families by Design and has studied extensively under Nancy Thomas. She has been director of two family camps and equine director at three camps. She has seventeen years experience with difficult kids and is the mother of a healed RAD child. In short, she understands your situation. She is also a PhD candidate in Psychology working toward becoming an Attachment Psychologist.

24/7 Therapeutic Parenting Support allows you to have Marie Sherwood on-call any time of the day. She will provide you with a toll free number and a cell phone number so you can get a hold of her day or night.

How much does all this cost? Marie Sherwood only takes on 10 families at a time. In this way, she can provide the needed services and attention that families need. You reserve Marie Sherwood for a three month period for $160 USD up front. The charge for the first hour is $40, with subsequent hours costing $30 USD, with billing being done on a monthly basis.

Please email Marie for more information: Marie@LongFacesHappyHearts.com.

We saw little miracles all week. We laughed and cried with our families as we witnessed the bonding that so many parents had longed for. All but one child made the decision to bond to their parents. We are still praying that this child makes that decision.

Our equine staff worked hard mirroring the family dynamics, giving healed children rides and equine facilitated bonding. We salut our horses: Mac, Jolie, Gretchen, Pawnee, and Tulsa. Everyone loved their gentle nurturing spirits. We salut those moms that overcame their fear of horses to ride, bond and learn from these great creatures. I big kudo to awesome mom Linda.

I want to thank the hard working staff who bonded as a team in order to help the parents and children turn their hearts toward each other. Sis and Brad, thank you so much for the great meals. I want to thank the following people:

Miss Nancy

Mr. James

Miss Anna

Miss Raychel

Miss Melissa

Miss Robbin

Miss Judy

Miss Dana

Miss Kelli

Mr. Scott

Miss Chantelle

Miss Debra Lee

Miss Jordan

Part-time staff: Miss Adriana

You all contributed to the success of the camp.

Signed:

Miss Marie

Camp Director

For those of you still looking for funding to come to camp, I have found representatives for post adoptive services. Please go to: http://www.nacac.org/about/volunteers.html. in order to look up the representative in your area. Please let me know if the person was any help. I would like to create my own list of those that actually help families out.

American families can find funding through the information in this handout: Funding the Services you Need for your Challenging Child

Canadians, please call me for specific foundations and methods to find funding.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any additional questions or concerns.

Here is the camp registration form. Please copy and paste and then email to Marie@LongFacesHappyHearts.com.

RADical Attachment Camp registration form 2010

Here are some pictures from last camp. The people in these photos have signed a release for their photos to be on this website.

Nancy and sweetums

A tender moment.

Skit Night: What a good time!

Wow, I can trust mom.

Bonding Time

The Awesome Team

Please stay close dad.

Click on the link below in order to see the DVD from Shalom Camp 2007.

2007-camp-dvd-nero

Do you trust me?