Online Summer Camp for Therapists

A community of therapists making room for play. Come as you are.
*Associate-licensed and graduate therapy students are welcome.

“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” —Audre Lorde

Dear Therapists,

Wow, it’s June 1st! I was supposed to be headed across the country to direct a summer camp program today. 

I told friends and family it was because it pays well, it’s a lot of fun, and it’s a beautiful place to spend a summer. All of that is true. What’s also true is that an eight-week stretch of living, working at camp, and managing a private practice was less about adventure this year and more about working more to keep up. 

At our camp program directors’ retreat in April, someone suggested we keep walkie talkies on 24/7, another suggested longer hours, another suggested to have more programs, and in the end everyone was smiling when we were described as a “high functioning” team. They meant it as a compliment.

And in that moment, I stopped breathing. I’m an Filipinx immigrant in a brown, queer/femme, neurodivergent body living in the U.S. I spend enough of my life being “high functioning”. Helping myself and others navigate systems that weren’t built for us. Scanning rooms for exits before reaching for my partner’s hand. Holding things together...admittedly sometimes with duct tape. Showing up again and again. I can’t work summer camp. I need summer camp.

The breath that entered my body when I decided to sign a resignation letter instead of the camp contract told me there was another way to spend this summer.

A summer with a little more room to breathe. To rest without earning it. To follow joy, play, and connection alongside grief, rage, and responsibility. Not turning away from the world, but refusing to let survival be the only thing we practice. Many of us spend our days listening, holding space, and helping others find their way through the world.

So lets have a summer.

I’m creating a space where play gets to matter too. The kinds of adventures and experiences that don’t need a purpose and pulling from my ancestors to guide us. The Philippines, an archipelago of thousands of islands, is where people can be separate and connected at the same time.

Summer Camp for Therapists is built on that idea. We go off on our own adventures and return to the campfire with stories. Camp is a six-week community built around curiosity, joy, adventure, and connection. 

Remember the intention here is ease, play, and community with the only request being to attend, do, and be with what resonates and leave the rest. Before camp, campers will be emailed a campfire circle (up to 10 campers), and if you opt-in (totally optional-no pressure), you’ll be assigned a pen pal (1-2 campers). You’re welcome to self-organize before additional instructions are given at our first campfire. Each week, I’ll email a camp newsletter with a theme, a collection of playful invitations, and a few unplanned, sprinkled moments throughout the week. Nothing to master. Nothing to achieve. Just ideas to spark exploration and remind us that being alive is more than being productive.

Maybe you’ll…

• build a fort in your backyard

• eat blueberry ice cream for dinner

• get stickers in the mail from your pen pal

• collage for funsies

• participate in a scavenger hunt

Throughout the week, if you choose to participate in our Facebook community, you’ll be invited to respond to a daily prompt, share summer camp with photos, stories, recommendations, and small adventures in our online camp community.

Then every Wednesday evening from 6-7:30pm CDT, we’ll meet with our campfire circles to tell stories and hear about the side quests everyone has been on. We’ll close in community with a main campfire circle you won’t wanna miss.

This isn’t a consultation group.

It’s not therapy.

It’s not a training.

There are no CEUs.

No homework.

No treatment plans.

Just a community of therapists saying no to more productivity and yes to making a little more room for play this summer.

When I decided not to sign that contract, I realized there might be another way to spend a summer. This is it. I hope you’ll join me.

See ya around the campfire,

Camp Counselor Cai

Camp at a Glance

Dates
June 22—July 31, 2026

Includes

• Weekly camp newsletter

• Invitations to play throughout the week

• Facebook community

• Pen pal (optional)

• Campfire Circle

• Community Campfires Wednesday nights from 6-7:30pm CDT (Zoom)

Camp Registration:

• Early-Bird Standard Rate (before June 12th): $179 for all 6-weeks

• Standard Rate (June 13th - Juneteenth): $229 for all 6-weeks

• Blue Community Rate: $129 for all 6-weeks (if ya can pay this rate—all good)

• Green Community Rate: $329 for all 6-weeks (if ya can pay this rate—all good)