“Living Beyond” Goes To Camp

Teen Dillion Reinhart emailed us in late spring with the idea of creating a “Living Beyond” session—an extension of our Instagram campaign—at Gales Creek Camp in Oregon this summer. Dillon worked with Community Partners + Programs Manager Mary Lucas to design a workshop that would be easy to incorporate into existing diabetes camps—requiring only a presenter, a few materials and a time and place.

This week, Dillion presented the inaugural “Living Beyond” workshop and his mom, Jennifer, was on hand for the kick off. “The kids loved the session and they all opened up. The living wall was fantastic! The things kids wrote were both inspiring and heartbreaking. Some didn’t use it to say how they live beyond but to open up about things that have been rough in their journey. It was very therapeutic for them to write it out and post it for everyone to see.”

Dillion will be returning to Gales Creek every session to lead the campers in a thoughtful exercise where they acknowledge the challenges they face living with type 1 diabetes (T1D), identified “power ups”—the things that get them through the tough times, and finished by creating their own “How Do You Live Beyond?” statement to display on their wall at camp.

If you are interested in bringing a “Living Beyond” session to your camp, check out the “Camp Session” materials in our downloadables section and email us to confirm details.

Read Why I Love Diabetes Camp by Kip Nilsson (aged 9).