Camp S.M.I.L.E stands for Sober Moms Interchanging Life Experiences. It is still in the very infant stages of lots of paperwork and planning. The idea came about when Dawn was helping another mother get her children ready for camp. It started as a joke by Dawn who said "Wouldn't it be nice if moms had a camp to get away to?" The other mom replied, "It sure would!"

After a few days of thinking about the it, Dawn thought more about the camp idea. She thought about all the addicted mothers she came in contact with on the streets while doing street outreach. And how those mothers, who are good people and love their children, are afraid to reach out for help for fear of losing the only thing they have left in their lives, their children.

Then she thought about the children. There are those children who live with unhealthy mothers and there are those who are taken away from their mothers. Whichever group you look at, we owe it to these children to heal these mothers, before it's too late. Too late for mom and too late for the children.

I have talked to mothers all across the United States and they all say the same thing. Our country is really lacking in services for mothers with addictions. While I am happy to say that my state of New Jersey has just allocated 5 million dollars towards expanding services for mothers and children, we need more.

Camp S.M.I.L.E will be a two-sided camp. One side will be a residential inpatient drug rehab for the mothers. And while mom is healing, their children will be on the other side of the camp enjoying a wilderness experience with a strong focus on prevention education and team building skills.

Once the moms have completed their inpatient program it is my goal to see Camp S.M.I.L.E. then bring the mother together with their children for a transitional program that will focus on parenting and life skills as well as team building activities.

The key to Camp S.M.I.L.E will be follow up services. Healing Mama is currently operating a grass roots street outreach program. Part of what we do is connecting mothers with other mothers in a peer facilitation situation where they can offer support to each other. With Camp S.M.I.L.E we will use this model as a means for follow-up services utilizing mothers who have graduated from the camp, as well as professional addiction counselors.

Our long-term goal is to also offer Junior Staff positions on the children's side of the camp for RHY youth ages 18 - 21. RHY stands for runaway and homeless youth. This group of young adults is the hardest group to find services for, especially housing. These are great kids with a world of opportunity wide open to them, if only given a chance. By going through a training program at Camp S.M.I.L.E these youth will be able to apply for Junior Staff positions where they will live on site and work directly with the kids at the camp as youth counselors.

As I said before, Camp S.M.I.L.E. is in the very beginning phases. This is partly because there are just not enough hours in the day to get all the things done that need to get done. At this time we need help and lots of it.

If you wish to help with the Camp S.M.I.L.E project please contact us to discuss our current needs. And as always, donations are gladly accepted. Please note that at this time we are still working on the process of becoming a non-profit organization so donations given need to be from your heart and not for tax purposes.

A huge thanks to you for taking the time to learn more about Camp S.M.I.L.E.!

Peace-
Dawn M. Cogliser
Founder - Healing Mama