Category: Announcements

Free Summer Camp Helps Children with Life’s Challenges

ACH Child and Family Services helps children with emotional skill-building at Camp Thrive

FORT WORTH, Texas (June 8th, 2021)- ACH Child and Family Services’ Real Help for Real Life counseling program is providing a free summer camp for youth ages 10-17.  Camp Thrive teaches youth skills that will create better relationships for themselves moving forward and shows them how to self-regulate with their emotions and everyday challenges. These are skills many kids might have lost during the COVID-19 pandemic due to social distancing and spending an excessive amount of time behind a screen.

“These skills are important for youth because they lay the foundation for them to build off moving forward. This foundation is crucial to facing challenges day to day and interacting amongst their families and friend groups,” said Bethany Brown, ACH Skills Training Coordinator. “As child trauma expert Bruce Perry has said, we as humans need relationships to survive. Children must learn to express their feelings and learn what a healthy relationship looks like.”

Camp Thrive is divided into two sessions. The first session is July 15 at 6 p.m. for an intake session, and the camp is July 16 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.  The second session is July 26 at 6 p.m. for intake, and the camp is July 27 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Camp Thrive is free of charge and will be in-person using COVID-19 safety protocols. The intake includes parents or guardians, and the camp is for kids only. Free gas cards will be provided at the end of each session.

To register for Camp Thrive, call 817.335.4673 for top priority registration or visit https://achservices.org/skill-builder-classes/. Parents must respond and receive a confirmation before attending.

About ACH

With more than a century of experience, ACH, a Fort Worth-based nonprofit agency, brings needed resources and skills to children and families struggling with life’s challenges. Some of our 17 programs and services keep children and families together while others provide a healing home for children who cannot live with their families. Through the Our Community Our Kids division, ACH is leading the way in Community-Based Care in seven counties of the Texas foster care system. ACH has been accredited every year since 2003 by the Council on Accreditation and in 2018 Our Community Our Kids became nationally accredited. Our vision is for families to thrive and children to experience safety, hope and love.

A Message from ACH CEO Wayne Carson

We stand for safety, hope, and love for all. Racism is the opposite of everything ACH stands for. We love by striving for justice. By giving a voice to those who are not being heard.  By creating an agency with integrity and one we are proud to represent. Our mission is driven on empathy for children who come from hard places, and we will continue to work towards this mission with the openness and willingness to listen and learn.

Throughout the nation and locally, demonstrations continue and remind us of the inequalities that still exist in our country. George Floyd’s murder is one of many to become yet another reminder that the knife of racism continues to cut deeply in our society.

Establishing safety and stability for our youth and families remains our priority. We recognize racism and prejudices often add to the trauma many of our youth have endured from abuse and neglect. Our staff and supporters’ understanding and passion continues to be essential to driving our mission, especially in times of chaos and frustration.

We hope you will join us in seeking out diverse perspectives and feel reassured to show courage in difficult conversations. Change begins with us all.

Wayne Carson, ACH CEO