Programs

Camp Starfish is a unique environment, and one of the only camps to offer a one-to-one camper-to-counselor ratio.

The Impact of Our 1:1 Commitment

Starfish is a different kind of summer camp.

At Starfish, we focus on the needs of each camper and meet them where they are, then help them get where they need to be.

We teach children how to interact appropriately in a social group, play cooperatively on a team, and resolve conflicts verbally and peacefully.

Camp Starfish is a place where each child is celebrated for being the person they are, while at the same time, given space and support to grow their skills and self-esteem.

Choose Your Starfish Adventure

Camp Starfish offers structured, supportive, safe, fun, and individualized summer and year-round programs for participants ages 6-22 experiencing social, emotional, behavioral, and learning challenges.

Starfish has 13+ customized programs to ensure that camp continues to be supportive, challenging and rewarding for all ages, interests, and levels of support.

1:1 Programs

Older Camper Program (OCP)

Here to Answer Common Questions

Camp Starfish’s core programs provide a 1 “to” 1 (also known as 1:1) direct care staff-to-camper ratio. This means that at the meal table, there are four campers and four staff members. If there are five campers living in a bunk, five staff also live in the bunk. If six campers are playing a game of soccer, six staff are playing soccer with them!

One “on” one is different. Starfish is not 1 on 1. One-on-one means that a specific child is assigned a specific adult for the duration of their experience. Examples of 1 on 1 in a school setting include a para-professional or individual aide assigned to one particular child for the entire day. This is not the model utilized at Starfish.

The staff at camp work as a team to take care of everyone. Campers often grow to prefer one counselor over another for any number of reasons, as is the case regardless of the ratio at any camp. But, unlike if they were paired 1-on-1, a camper is never “stuck” spending a majority of their experience with one adult. Starfish’s 1-to-1 instead allows camper and staff relationships to form more organically and allows campers to practice their social skills with many different individuals.

Please note that although Starfish is 1:1, campers are never alone with just one staff member.

In general, we have found that one session of camp can be of great benefit to campers, while spending the entire summer at camp can have the unintended effect of negating some of the wonderful work that campers do in the early weeks of their attendance; this is naturally due to the highly-structured nature of our 24/7 group-living environment that can become tiring and repetitive after multiple weeks of camp attendance. We consider each request for multiple session attendance on an individual basis, considering a camper’s needs, any history of previous attendance at camps (including Starfish), the needs and requests of the family/parent/guardian/agency, and balancing those needs with that of the camp community. We reserve the right not to enroll campers for more sessions than, in our professional opinion and after considering all of the above factors, we feel is appropriate.

For campers who do attend multiple sessions, we require the signing (by parents/guardians) of a Multi-Session Agreement. This helps ensure that we are all on the same page about expectations and responsibilities for multi-session attendance.

Camp Starfish welcomes campers from all across the United States and even other countries! We do require that a parent/guardian or adult responsible for your camper be accessible within a 3-4 hour distance of Starfish during the camp session. Some parents designate a friend or relative in the area as the emergency contact, while others choose to vacation nearby while their camper attends Starfish. We can help you with arrangements should you choose to stay nearby and enjoy the Monadnock region of New Hampshire during the time your camper attends Starfish.

 

The Starfish Difference

“The skills and the confidence that camp has taught him in just two weeks every summer has been life changing. Camp is the ONE place he feels 100% safe. Not just physically safe, but safe with his emotions and thoughts. He KNOWS everything about him will not only be accepted, but appreciated. All of the tools you have given him have helped shape the incredible person he is now, and I can’t thank you enough, from the bottom of my heart.”

Camper Parent 2015-2022

“We were so impressed with everything Starfish had to offer, from the application process to picking up our child. Everything was smooth, seamless, and had the child’s best interest and growth in mind. I’m so grateful Starfish exists and that we were able to access it in order to give our child this experience.

2022 Camper Guardian

Working here has proven to myself and others that I can do it. I have left Starfish a completely different person from who I was when I arrived, and in the best way possible.

2024 Seasonal Staff Member