Not Just Play

Not Just Play offers the first comprehensive treatment of the relationship between the social work profession and the summer camp movement in many decades. Incorporating historical research, vignettes, numerous quotations from social workers in the field, and other unique contributions, it shares a multifaceted examination of this field of practice.

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Camps often provide children with a first taste of independence and freedom from the restrictions of home and school while offering a milieu full of opportunities for psychosocial development, creative interaction, and mutual aid. Though summer camps have simultaneously given current and future social workers educational, practice, research, and theory-development opportunities as they direct, staff, attend, and provide supervision, the field has received limited scholarly attention. Not Just Play focuses on the relationship between social work and the summer camp movement and provides a comprehensive treatment of this underappreciated area of practice. Social workers and camp professionals will value the many advantages and connections explored in the volume, which also incorporates case vignettes and core scholarly research. The text offers readers a multifaceted examination of social work and summer camp that broadens their professional and scholarly perspective.