New Teletherapy Booths Augment Ramah’s Support of its Campers

At Ramah New England, we are committed to the physical, mental, and emotional health of our chanichim (campers), our staff, and the community. This year, we took an important step forward by installing three new teletherapy booths, which help to support the emotional well-being of many of our chanichim.  

Over the last decade, Camp Ramah New England has expanded its Camper Care team – led by Director of Camper Care Talya Kalender – to ensure that we are meeting the varying needs of our chanichim. Last year, Dr. David Kieval, a psychologist with deep roots at Ramah and experience working on our Tikvah and Camper Care teams, joined our team as our Camper Care Specialist. Talya and David work year-round to closely coordinate the forms of support that will enable our chanichim to thrive while they are in camp. When appropriate, David prepares individualized support plans for some of them; over the summer, with other members of the Camper Care team, David ensures that the plans are implemented.   

When a family or Ramah staff member identifies a child who may benefit from support during their time at camp, David speaks to the family, the child and, when appropriate, the child’s therapist in the months leading up to camp. These conversations touch on aspects of the camp schedule and environment the child may find challenging, the coping skills that a child is learning at home, and how the child can use these coping skills at camp. Often, there is an acknowledgment that the child would benefit from continuing their relationship with their existing therapist while they are at camp. With these considerations in mind, the child’s individualized support plan may include an arrangement for weekly or monthly teletherapy sessions from camp – or an arrangement where a child can arrange for therapy sessions as needed.  

This summer, Ramah purchased three teletherapy booths – with privacy film on the glass doors – to facilitate the ability of our chanichim to speak with their therapists. The booths, which are currently located in the Misrad (the main office), provide chanichim with private and easy locations for continuing their conversations with their therapists while they are in camp. The booths are stocked with paper, markers, and fidget toys to enable them to use their own coping skills when they are talking to their therapists. The conversations cannot be heard outside the booths. The booths provide one additional and important tool in our comprehensive system to support the needs of our chanichim.