Self Image Programs

Camp California Fitness has a full time Licensed Clinical Social Worker providing expertise in the area of mental health relating to weight and body issues, including eating disorders.

Girls learn very early from the media, family, friends, and healthcare workers what the "ideal" body weight and image looks like. However, most girls will not reach this ideal image. Instead, many blame themselves and call it "lack of willpower". Many become self-critical, and believe they personally failed. To make matters worse, society may blame them as well. Frequently, this process leads to feelings of depression, low self-esteem, increased stress or social pressure to "fit in", and perhaps eating disorders. Needless to say, breaking this painful cycle requires more than physical activity and nutrition to make longstanding changes.

The staff at Camp California Fitness believes psychological changes are an integral part of any fitness program. We believe the emotional foundation must adjust along with the physical changes each girl experiences at camp. Camp California Fitness provides a comprehensive program focusing on a model of inter-connection (the mind-food-body model). As a result, we utilize a seamless, multi-disciplinary team approach to treatment. Our camp will provide individual assessments and treatment plans by our Licensed Clinical Social Worker to address the unique emotional, psychological, and social issues relating to food, weight and body image. Our goal is to have each girl leaving camp feeling more hopeful, empowered, and self-confident. Group sessions and individual sessions are offered dependent on individual needs.

Girls will also participate in an interactive Self-Improvement course that focuses on self-acceptance, improved self-esteem how to build self-confidence and enhances their own personal strengths. The course also dispels societal myths and creates awareness on the negative portrayal and perceptions of women's bodies in the media. The girls will also learn new coping mechanisms on how to deal with stress, and how to attain healthy relationships with parents, friends, family, and peers.

The self-improvement course is designed to create self-acceptance, positive self-talk, dispel media myths, discover personal strengths, and learn how to deal with friends, family, strangers, and perceptions.