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Camp El Tesoro de la Vida: a camp experience for bereaved children.

Article Excerpt
The death of a loved one is a reality that each of us must face at some point. The experience of a loss invokes a myriad of feelings for adults and children alike. Some will maintain the belief that children are oblivious to the grief experience. Of course, this is not the case. Children are all too aware of the feelings and thoughts that follow the death of a loved one. Like adults, children need outlets in which to safely express the feelings associated with their loss.

This is where Camp El Tesoro de la Vida ("The Treasure of Life") has excelled for almost twenty years. This camp provides an experience that is 90 percent camp activities like horseback riding, archery, hiking, arts and crafts, canoeing, and swimming and 10 percent therapeutic activities designed to assist a child through the grief process. Accredited by the American Camp Association, Camp El Tesoro is owned and operated by Camp Fire USA First Texas Council. Located approximately forty-five minutes from Fort Worth in Granbury, Texas, El Tesoro hosts a variety of camp experiences throughout the year including children's summer resident camps (Camp Fire USA First Texas Council, 2006).

Camp El Tesoro de la Vida is a one-week resident camp experience for children ages six to seventeen who are grieving the death of a loved one. The basic requirement for admission into camp is that a child has lost someone that he or she loves (Camp Fire USA First Texas Council, 1988). Each summer, typically in the final week of July, families from surrounding Texas cities (and sometimes more distant locales) bring...

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