ParticipantEligibility

In order to be eligible to attend Towhee, participants must:

• Be between the ages of 10 to 18.
• Have a current psychological assessment that indicates the presence of a learning disability/disorder and average or above-average cognitive reasoning skills.
• Experience social, emotional, mental health and/or behavioural challenges.
• Have the ability to manage in an intensive group residential program.
• –> *Please note that two weeks in an intensive environment is not for everyone. Not every type and level of behaviour difficulties can be managed in the Towhee environment, and constant 1:1 supervision is not available.
• –> *As a group treatment program, group safety is critical to success at camp. If a camper engages in behaviour that threatens theirs, others, or the groups safety they will need to leave camp.
• –> *Suitability for the Towhee program will be reviewed on a case- by-case basis, and the final decision rests with the Towhee Director in consultation with the LDMH Services team at CDI.

We do our best to spend time getting to know the children and youth interested in Towhee ahead of their summer sessions, and create our cabin placements in the spring based on our knowledge of each participant’s individual needs. Potential campers meet with camp staff to determine “readiness” and “fit”. We also conduct activity-based “assessment groups” to gather additional clinical information about the child’s interpersonal skills and self-regulation. Our Towhee Orientation day is in late May/early June, where we review or proposed cabin groupings and refine groupings as needed.

We do our best to accommodate families’ requests for a particular session if a cabin can be found in that session that meets their child’s needs. Final decisions about which session a participant will attend will be made in February-March.