Short Break Stories

Over The Wall Family Camps - Scotland

A story by Over The Wall

We provided a weekend camp (Friday 17th May – Sunday 19th May) for the whole family who have a child with a serious illness or condition.

Using our Therapeutic Recreation model, our families participated in age appropriate activities ranging from ropes course, games, arts and crafts. The weekend gave families an opportunity to focus on being together as family.

Tip 1:
Confirm date and location as soon as possible. These individuals have busy lives and need to know when the programme will be well in advance.
Tip 2:
A theme can carry a programme a long way. Our families loved the superhero in training theme!
Tip 3:
Sometimes the simplest activity have the greatest impact. Especially when we live in a world with technology all around us, playing a game where you don't require any equipment or simply sharing a meal as a family creates lasting memories.
The weekend was filled with laughter, facepaint & costumes and successes. There were many highlights for the children over the weekend which included the dance party, new games (ninja kerplunk was played all weekend) and one camper hit a bulls eye for the first time in archery.

CASE STUDY: After camp we received a letter from a parent. When the family arrived home the parents had to break the news that their grandmother passed away. After a ‘silly-weekend’ the news was devastating. Their parents were grateful of the weekend as it helped the children cope with their loss. When Simon found out the news he unpacked his bag and put on his secret agent costume he made at camp, ‘Simon had to be brave’ his mum said. During the creative writing session they wrote a story about their grandmother which couldn’t be more appropriate. The parents were so grateful the children had the opportunity to reflect on their grandmothers life in such a way.

‘Once again, it was a pleasure meeting you all. We are bringing back home great memories from our short time at OTW.’ – Simon’s Mum
There was a family with four children who attend, it was obvious they were a very close family coming in to the weekend. The parents would do anything for their children. The father spent most of the weekend on the side-lines though, encouraging his children and supporting them in all the activities.

On the last day the dad was sitting on the side-lines again and the next thing you know his children had encouraged him to get involved and he was hula hooping. Also during the weekend on of our staff was speaking to the mum. She was so grateful to be able to sit down with her family for a meal, not worrying about preparing the meal or washing up. She felt like a mum, not a carer.
Providing a weekend away for the whole family with volunteer support and no worries of basic day to day responsibilities such as cooking, cleaning, transport or work enables the family to focus on themselves, as a whole and individually. There is a lot of pressure on the carers in their day to day lives, we try our best to take those worries away for 48 hours by creating a fun and safe environment with limited worries of illness and condition.

The carers are grateful of the help they receive over the weekend, and it is just there, they do not have to ask for it. This transfers into life after camp, as they leave camp feeling re-energised and re-focused.
Our camps are based on a challenge by choice model giving the decision making power to the participants. We encourage everyone to participate in all of the activities at some level, but it is up to them as to how much they do participate.

We ensure there is free time and have a free flow section where we have many different activities to choose from. By providing high and low energy activities we aim to have something for everyone.
Over The Wall does not receive statutory funding.
Therapeutic recreation is designed to develop coping skills, confidence and resilience which is directly linked to personal growth and development. By participating in an OTW programme the power of decision is put back to the child or young person.

In many cases this is taken away when a child is ill because they do not get a say in the treatment plan, they have other people making decisions for them. In many cases it also gives the parents an opportunity to see what their child is capable of. It gives the parents increased confidence in their child in turn giving their child more freedom to personally grow and develop.
Our main challenge this year was with regards to cancellations. A high rate of cancellations very close to the weekend restricted us in filling those places with other families. Like all our family camp across the UK cancellations were typically due to the health of the ill child. We also found that a whole family would apply, but then one or two family members would not be able to come due to other commitments.

This is frustrating to us as we are limited to the overall number of places, not the number of families. We are working on a plan to ensure this is not the case for 2014. We did learn that the number of participants did not affect the outcomes of the programme and families enjoyed the attention and support they received from the staff and volunteers.

It is truly magical how 48 hours can breakdown so many barriers and the genuine smiles and laughs you get to witness as staff and volunteers is so encouraging. We became aware of an unanticipated benefit from a parent after camp.

We did a creative writing activity where the families write a story together and the book gets published. This one family decided to write about their grandmother. We later found out their beloved grandmother died over the weekend and when the children found out when they were home they were able to use their time at camp and their book as a coping tool. The parents were ever grateful.
We have a targeted recruitment plan which has be set up by our clinical coordinators to ensure we are serving a wide range of needs and geographical area. Our Regional Coordinator in Scotland works with hospitals (nurses, consultants and play specialists), other charities & parent Groups to recruit families.

Our programmes are not offered on a first come, first serve basis but on need which is access through our clinical staff.
Over The Wall has had a great experience working with Better Breaks and Shared Care Scotland. The friendly staff and useful resources has allowed us to focus on running our programme.
We offer outlets to receive feedback from our families through letters, emails and Facebook and welcome conversations at the end of camp from families. An important part of our evaluation process is with the staff and volunteers.

Our staff have a meeting at the end of each day and at the end of the weekend. In addition there are two meetings with volunteers (one of Saturday and one at the end of the programme) where they can address any issues or concerns of their families. This is very important as the families tend to open up to the volunteers as they are working so closely together.

In addition Over The Wall is participating in a research project measuring camp outcomes being conducted by Yale School of Medicine.