As a member of SeriousFun Children’s Network, Jordan River Village adheres to a philosophy of fun combined with therapeutic programs to help campers see beyond their medical conditions to experience the magic of childhood. These principles include:

• Offering programs that are always free of charge
• Maintaining a fully handicap accessible and adaptable campus which is appropriate for various populations
• Providing constant medical support
• Extensive use of volunteers who are employed to create the Villages’ special atmosphere
• Creating vibrant projects with purposefully designed programs to foster fun, success, learn life skills, and discover new things

Our educational approach has four goals which in combination helps create the special culture of the Village.

1. Fun & Joy– Jordan River Village provides an opportunity for children living with serious illnesses to experience overnight camp. Our goal is to get the child dive into an environment where he/she has the opportunity to have new and fun experiences, entertainment, laughter and friendship – all the beautiful things in life. For the child, everything should flow naturally from the first moment they enter the Village till they depart. Even with the sharing of difficult memories and complex stories about their disease, children will gain a sense of well-being and belonging from the opportunity to share their story with a new friend, and to find a sympathetic ear and a warm and caring heart.

2. Experience Success– “I did it” is an important sentence in kid’s life. For children who attend the Village this sentence is usually linked to a painful medical exam, a surgery, procedure, or complex healing process. At the Village, the children experience a week of a different kind of success– challenges and games, activities and sports, performances and art. Here we focus on the journey towards success. Regardless of scope, each success is important—that is why we enable children to select the areas where they would like to be challenged. The final product has its own importance whether it is an emotional experience or physical accomplishment – it  symbolizes a big step forward. Campers learn that their inner abilities have passed major tests in their lives and these successes are good and positive.

3. Social Cohesion– We often hear from our campers that parents do not understand their difficult experiences and what they are going through, especially the social impact. For this reason, we believe that the friendships formed at the Village are critical. The most notable experiences from the session are generally linked to the relationship with other kids or counselors. Campers connect on a very deep and emotional level that enable them to break down barriers and grow stronger from their new friendships. As one child said: “with children like me, I am most free”. In most of our sessions we welcome campers from various cultural and religious backgrounds, different geographic regions, and of different ages. The campers find that even through they have big differences, they also have a lot in common, and building from that commonality is how they create strong and lasting friendships.

4. Opportunity to Reveal New Content Worlds– A critical part of childhood is exploring something new. This concept indicates that the child’s soul is limitless. For a sick child, these opportunities can be limited or much harder to acquire. At Jordan River Village we always work to give our campers innovative workshops and community activities. Every camper has the opportunity to experience something new – culinary, art, drama, music and our adventure tower. Our activities are designed to focus on the emotional experience. To ride a horse, you need to acquire technique, but the experience, the feeling of being on a horse, to guide and to mentor him, to watch his world from the saddle is about the emotional experience.

The Village’s rules –Throughout our programs the Village promotes a positive psychological approach because a positive outlook strengthens the camp atmosphere and encourages the success of our campers. Whereas we want all campers to challenge themselves and take safe risks at the Village, to ensure camper safety we create clear limits and boundaries that are reinforced through logical consequences.  

We act in order to:

• Offset some of the emotional and physical effects that their diseases and treatments cause.
• Reinforce the children’s positive approach over time and improve self-esteem and courage that will last beyond their stay at the Village.
• Give hope and help the children to forget their disease, even for a short period of time.
• Teach the children how to cope better with the daily challenges and build a sense of personal value.
• Encourage emotional strength.

The Village counselors are dynamic, positive energetic and fun. Most of them are, weekly volunteers and year-round youngsters. Each volunteer and staff receive intensive training on how to work with children and teenagers who are living with life-limiting diseases. We aspire our staff to provide campers with strength and positive energy, which creates a special atmosphere at the Village. The staff help create meaningful relationships between the kids and themselves. They are also responsible for managing all the session activities.