Family Involvement & After-Care
Family Workshops
Wellspring researchers have demonstrated that families who are involved in their child’s progress and work to provide a supportive, healthy environment at home are more likely to see their child continue weight loss at home.
While this result isn’t surprising, it demonstrates how important family involvement actually is, and why so many Wellspring families spend 2 days with Wellspring professionals at the end-of-camp Family Workshops.
Wellspring Family Workshops are comprehensive in that they provide parents with a mini-immersion into each aspect of the Wellspring program. Parents are provided with all the tools that campers receive (e.g., pedometers, self-monitoring journals, Calorie Kings) and asked to follow the program for two days. Then parents participate in a series of lectures and seminars from Wellspring clinical, activity, nutrition and culinary professionals. The purpose is to make sure parents are returning home with the same basic knowledge as their children.
The highlight of the weekend workshop is the development of the transition plan for home. Families with Wellspring Behavioral Coaches to determine how they will continue to support weight loss at home – what changes will be made, and how they will work to continue to role model the behaviors required for successful long-term weight control.
Because Wellspring is certain of the importance of a supportive home environment, an additional incentive is provided: the full cost of the workshop is refunded to families who attend.
After-Care
Equally important for long-term success is continued adherence to the behaviors campers have begun to adopt as habits at camp.
Wellspring’s after-care program ensures that campers stay on the path to a healthy weight over the next year.
From the end of camp until June 1, 2009, campers will work with their behavioral coaches in the online after-care program.
The after-care program requires campers to continue self-monitoring and goal-setting, as well as journaling, planning activity and weighing-in weekly. The camper’s Behavioral Coach from camp – i.e., someone with whom they’ve established a strong relationship – is tracking the camper’s progress and continuing to provide feedback and support.
During the last week of Wellspring Wisconsin, BC’s introduce campers to the after-care program.
Wellspring believes so strongly in the after-care program, that campers who meet Wellspring’s definition of consistent self-monitoring (75% of the time) over the first 3 months of the after-care program, will have the entire cost of the after-care program refunded to them.
Click here to learn more about Wellspring’s online after-care program.
