After School Program
While effective alone, the Quest Afterschool Program offers an opportunity for campers to continue their progress and structure from the Summer Program throughout the school year. With the strains of homework and other activities, Quest provides a time for children to strengthen the critical skills associated with emotional and social intelligence.
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Quest’s Afterschool Program consists of three 10-week sessions each school year. Children and adolescents attend the afterschool program once a week for two hours (from 4:00-6:00 p.m.) and are grouped based on age and ability.
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The Afterschool Program employs the Quest System, and includes an activity hour to work with the campers in a naturalistic environment and an hour of small-group therapy to focus on individual goals and group dynamics. Campers participate in a field trip once every ten-week session.
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Quest Professional Staff and Counselors host evening parent group meetings every five weeks and parents receive both written and verbal feedback about their child’s progress at camp. Currently, the Oakland program is located at St. John's Episcopal Church and Alamo program is located at Rancho Romero Elementary School.
Summer Camp
Quest’s intensive summer program runs from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM daily for six weeks, five days per week. Each child participates in a small group of 12-18 campers and is guided by two or three of our excellent Quest Counselors.
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All campers must attend a minimum of three weeks in a row but many stay for the entire summer.
A typical morning consists of two hour-long activities and one group therapy session. On every day other than Friday, campers bring their own lunches and eat with their assigned groups. After lunch, campers may swim, participate in supervised activities, or engage in “Quests” – extended time periods for specialized interests and may include sports, music, science, robotics, animation, drama, art and journalism. On Fridays, on alternating weeks, campers attend either a field trip or a “Fabulous Friday” that include special all-camp activities and provided lunches.
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Quest Campers receive excellent supervision, with one therapist for every 24 children and no more than six campers to every counselor.
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Quest Professional Staff and Counselors host evening parent group meetings every other week and parents receive both written and verbal feedback about their child’s progress at camp.
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Specific details for each Quest Camp location can be found here.
Group Therapy
Effective Small Group Therapy: In addition to the structured behavioral milieu and typical camp activities, Quest campers receive group therapy with a professional therapist or psychologist at least four times a week. During these sessions, Quest professional staff develop and evaluate campers’ individualized treatment plans, use methods to confront interpersonal issues as they arise, and address campers’ emotional and social reasoning skills. Quest therapeutic strategies have been uniquely developed to address the social, emotional, and cognitive skills that Quest campers need to be successful in their homes, at school, and among their peers.
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Since the majority of our campers are male, we rely on "hands on" learning to understand the concepts we want them to learn. Working with a small group to learn communications and cooperation or challenging the group to work together to accomplish a task together are just two examples of the type of group therapeutic techniques used. As their age come into the teens, more combined verbal and "hands on" groups are used.
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Professional Staff: Quest employs at least one professional therapist or psychologist for every 24 campers. The professional staff trained to implement the Quest Therapeutic System, the product of over 30 years of Dr. Field’s clinical experience and over 30 years of Quest Camp application. Dr. Field maintains strict oversight and reviews each camp location to assure ongoing quality.
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