Serious Fun℠ Summer Camp

In partnership with children’s hospitals and parent and patient organisations we provide children living with serious illnesses with a spectacular camp experience and high-quality medical care, all in the safest and most supportive environment.

FOR AGES 8 – 17 | DURATION 6 DAYS

Where kids are not defined by their illnesses

For children with serious health challenges, life is often impacted by missed opportunities to participate in the everyday activities enjoyed by their friends and peers. This can result in isolation, poor self-esteem and low confidence, which can become a barrier to future growth and development.

Outward Bound’s Serious Fun℠ are designed to bring about transformational change to tackle these issues. We aim for every camper to return home empowered with a new sense of ambition, self-confidence and a better understanding of their abilities.

Our camps take place in a medically safe environment – our team of volunteers, which includes doctors, paramedics, and nurses, means that campers are fully supported with medical assistance on hand.

We partner with:

THE SERIOUS FUN℠ EXPERIENCE

The Outward Bound Netherlands, Serious Fun℠ programme, focuses on helping young people who experience health challenges to become aware of and apply their incredible abilities and talents; our model is a 4-step programme based on Challenge, Success, Reflection and Discovery.

CHALLENGE

Challenge is different for everyone. We'll work with our campers to explore where there's room to 'stretch'. Campers choose their level of challenge – we call this 'Challenge by Choice'. Giving campers the responsibility to make their own decisions empowers them to go at their own pace of progression. We learn about campers' goals and comfort levels on the very first night so that we can support and encourage them. We will break down our challenges step-by-step to ensure no task is too daunting and individualise challenges to ensure each camper succeeds.

SUCCESS

Everyone wants to experience success; it gives us a boost and makes us want to achieve even more. Outward Bound ensures that your child will experience success in a safe, fun, positive and supportive environment. We get to know your child and learn what they might find challenging at camp so that we can support and encourage them in the best possible way. A powerful tool called ‘Specific Positive Labelling’ highlights individual and group successes throughout camp, recognising when a camper succeeds and ensuring they recognise their achievements.

REFLECTION

Life at camp is action-packed, and it can be difficult for campers to find the time to reflect on all their incredible achievements. This is why we have built-in 'Reflection' times at camp. We start every activity with an introduction and finish with a debrief. The debrief facilitates Reflection and highlights the positive change after the session. One of the most powerful times at camp and aid Reflection is the campfire chat at the end of each day. While campers talk about their successes, our trainers re-emphasise and validate the incredible achievements of each camper.

DISCOVERY

Discovery is when your child realises that all the fantastic qualities and strengths they noticed about themselves at camp are a genuine part of who they are – attributes they can call on whenever needed. They recognise consciously or subconsciously that they don’t need a climbing wall to be brave – they are brave; they don’t need a room full of crafty material to know that they can be creative – they are creative. Campers discover they don’t need to be at camp to use all the unique qualities they possess, they just have to be themselves, and with this discovery, their confidence and self-esteem can grow.

This is Serious Fun℠

CONTACT US TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR SERIOUS FUN℠ SUMMER CAMPS

Outward Bound Netherlands

Outward Bound® and the Compass Rose are each registered trademarks of Outward Bound International. Outward Bound Netherlands is an educational non-profit organisation registered under number 63491419.

ACCREDITATIONS

Outward Bound International

Outward Bound Netherlands is proud to be part of Outward Bound International. Outward Bound International is a membership organisation of the worldwide Outward Bound network. This network consists of 34 Outward Bound schools around the world.