Scott Mission Camp provides a much-needed response to the mental health consequences of the pandemic.
Our communities are experiencing the greatest reported mental health crisis in modern memory—and it’s happening to our kids. Healthcare experts are agreed that we are now witnessing the widespread results of the pandemic’s numerous restrictions and lockdowns on children and young people.
In a recent report and survey of young people, the Mental Health Commission of Canada determined that over 60 percent of young people have feelings of anxiety, depression, and isolation, while 36 percent are also “extremely concerned about family stress from confinement,” and 34 percent are “extremely concerned about maintaining social ties with their loved ones.”
Our kids are facing incredible stressors inappropriate to their age and development.
According to the report, “young people are particularly vulnerable to the disruptions the pandemic has caused, and many are being left behind in education, economic opportunities, and health and well-being during a crucial stage of their development.”
“Seeing constant sad stuff on the news and being quarantined with fighting family caused a lot of anxiety.”
— Anonymous respondent, Mental Health Commission of Canada survey
Scott Mission Camp—A place of peace
Scott Mission Camp is responding to the challenge. Children and youth from Toronto’s high-priority neighbourhoods are invited to experience Scott Mission Camp through Scott Mission subsidies of up to 95 percent of camp costs. We do it for them.
“We’ve been seeing a lot of adolescents struggling with depression and anxiety,” observes Dr. Susan VanderSpek, family physician and Scott Mission Board Chair.
“Kids are suffering, trying to cope, and trying to figure out what to do.”
Scott Mission Camp offers experiences of tremendous value—physical, emotional, and spiritual—that permeate all aspects of campers’ lives and development. Ultimately, Camp is a place of peace where every child and young person can experience acceptance and love.
Impact Numbers
- 400+ campers, ages 8 to 20
- 24 youth attend the Foundations Leaders program each summer.
- 900+ kids reached each year through SMC and City Youth Programs combined.
- 100+ years of caring for Toronto’s kids.
All the difference
Malik Innis found a lifelong anchor of stability through Scott Mission Camp.
“Until the age of 12, life was hard,” says Malik about his growing up in Mississauga with his single mom and three younger brothers. Now 20, he says little about his past, and instead looks to the future and all that God has for him.
“I was blessed to attend Scott Mission Camp at the age of seven,” he says. “I’m grateful that I got the opportunity because we could never afford it.”
Malik—pronounced mah-leek—attended Camp every year thereafter through Scott Mission’s Camp subsidy.
He had never really left Toronto, so, as he says, “it was amazing to see the country and forests and valleys of Caledon.”
Then he adds: “Camp reminds me of a village. It’s so nice to be together there, us kids of various ages, all doing stuff, learning, sharing, without fear and anxiety.” Malik is now preparing to study for a career in music production. Today, he works for Scott Mission at the Welcome Centre at our 346 Spadina Avenue location.
Asked where he’d be today without Scott Mission Camp, he reflects:
“I would never have come to God so early, and that has made all the difference.”
