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Burn camps give children a place to swim without a shirt on, make friends who understand, and be children rather than patients. They run on volunteers. This page is about becoming one.
CBSC does not run a camp of its own. Camps across Canada are run by separate organisations, and our members volunteer at them. We can tell you what the work is like and point you to the camp nearest you — each camp does its own screening and sets its own rules.
I went to Atlantic Burn Camp as a child. Years later I went back as a cabin leader, and I was confused about what I was going to have to do and what to expect. I don't have kids either, which made it different again for me.
So I wrote everything down. The plans, the day sheets, the games, the things I wished someone had handed me on the first afternoon. It is all here to read, because nobody should arrive at camp the way I did.
What I wanted was simple. To be there for the kids. To have a lot of fun with them. To give them what I had when I was one of them.
The children at camp grow up. The good ones come back, and then they need somewhere of their own to go. That is the whole shape of this community.
A week where the scars are ordinary and nobody stares. For a lot of survivors it is the first time since the injury that they are simply a kid.
Most camps have a leader-in-training route for older campers. You stop being looked after and start looking after.
Having been the child in that cabin is the qualification nobody can train for. The campers know it immediately.
Peer support, the National Forum, retreats and social events. Adults need what camp gave them too.
We are building that adult side out across the country — Alberta, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Winnipeg so far, with more to come.
Less than people expect, and more than they expect. You are not a counsellor or a nurse. You are the adult who is there. Camps differ in the detail, so treat this as the shape of the job rather than any one camp's rules.
Wake-up, meals, activity blocks, rest hour, evening programme, lights out. You get campers where they need to be and count them when they get there.
Camps work to a two-adult rule. It protects children, and it protects you. Nobody has to figure out where the line is on their own.
Medication, medical questions, disclosures, anything that frightens you — those go to the nurse or the director. Knowing when to escalate is the skill.
Children ask each other directly and move on. The training covers how to talk about burns plainly, and camp is the one place where the subject is ordinary.
Many leaders aren't. Firefighters, nurses, teachers, parents and long-time volunteers all do this. What is required is reliability, not a shared injury.
Homesickness is normal and most campers wobble. Camps have a written approach for it and someone senior on call overnight — ask the camp you apply to how their nights are covered.
Camps train leaders before campers arrive and pair new volunteers with experienced ones. Nobody is handed a cabin and wished luck.
Every camp screens its volunteers, and it is thorough on purpose. These are children, many of them recovering from the worst thing that has happened to them. The camp you apply to will tell you exactly what it requires; this is what to expect.
A police record check for working with children. Ask the camp whether they cover the cost — some do.
Named people who have seen you around children or in a responsible role, and who are actually contacted.
Typically child protection and the two-adult rule, burn care basics, emergency drills and scenario practice, run before campers arrive.
Cabins need the same faces all week. Leaders who come and go undo the thing camp is for.
Rate what the campers thought of each activity, say what worked and what you needed, and ask the questions you were too busy to ask. It goes straight into next year's handbook.
It never asks about a particular child. No names, no initials, no injuries — those stay in your paper log, kept with you.
It asks who you are, which week you can do, what you are certified in, and what you would be willing to take on. Your answers save as you go, so you can stop and come back. Ticking a role commits you to nothing.
No account needed. Nobody registers to volunteer. If you would rather talk it through first, email info@canadianburnsurvivors.ca and a person will answer.
A week of camp takes far more people than the ones sleeping in the cabins, and most of those roles do not need a week off work. Reach out to a camp and ask what they are short of this year — the answer is rarely what you expect.
Feeding a hundred people three times a day. Setup and teardown weekends before and after camp.
Music, archery, canoeing, art, drumming, photography. Camps take one-day specialists constantly.
Nurses and paramedics. Burn experience is welcome but not required — camps will tell you what they need.
Getting campers and supplies there and back. Often the hardest gap for a camp to fill.
Camp is free to families because somebody paid for it. Sponsor a camper, run an event, donate equipment.
Most Canadian burn camps were started by firefighters and still run on them. Your hall may already be involved.
Kyle's cabin leader pack, written for Atlantic Burn Camp and shared here for anyone thinking about it. Read it before you decide, not after you commit.
This is one volunteer's material, not any camp's official rules. The camp you apply to sets its own, and its material is the one that governs.
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The handbooks and training guides are written, but the board reviews each one before it goes on the site. Ask and we will send you whatever you would like to read.
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