kitchen assistant

cook

custodian

camp counselor

kitchen team member

Camp Health, Hope and Happiness

When I was successful in getting a job at Camp He Ho Ha I thought my summer job dreams had come true. Working with people with special needs is my passion, and is the field in which I still work. My experience working at Camp HHH was honestly traumatic. 

A typical work day is 16-18 hours with a 2 hour break (or slightly longer if you did overnight duty). While you are working, as other reviewers have noted, you are ON. No side conversations with co-workers, no personal thoughts, you are devoted to the campers. While this sounds good in theory, it takes a very specific type of person to be able to do this for four months straight. After the first couple of weeks I was tired, but I was ok. After about six weeks I was broken. I thought I was a failure because I wasn't perfectly "ON" all of the time. My superiors reinforced this. 

Management was awful in my experience. I only observed the director come out of his office for photo ops, to help with the climbing wall, and to occasionally check up on staff. He made me feel uncomfortable. When interacting with him I couldn't help feel that he was testing me. Meetings were stressful and mainly revolved around calling out everyone's mistakes. 

Workplace culture was toxic. Once the true nature of working here became obvious, there were clearly two groups of coworkers - the ones who thrived and the ones who didn't. Because I didn't thrive I felt outcasted. Others like me were targeted in the name of "accountability". I felt constantly on edge in fear of making a minor mistake, which ended up being a vicious cycle.

The only enjoyable part of this job were the moments where you would lose yourself in an interaction or moment with a camper, when you felt that you were truly helping or making a difference. That's all anyone who works here wants to do, but if you don't do it in a specific way, your life will be miserable. I do feel that this camp provides a wonderful environment for people with special needs, but at the cost of the mental health of many of the staff. 

I have worked at Camp He Ho Ha for the past few summers and have every intention of returning back again this summer. If you are a university student who is looking to pursue a career in education, kinesiology, occupational or physical therapy, nursing, recreation therapy, etc. it is such a valuable experience! This camp provides a great opportunity to gain relevant, hands-on skills while working at a summer camp, how FUN! 
From my experience, this camp has been the best way I could spend my four-month summer. It has allowed me to make countless friendships with other staff and campers alike. The work that you do is very rewarding and the campers are always thanking you for the work that you do. However, I rarely feel as though I am working, as so much of the job is so fun! There is such magic and happiness at this place and everyone here encourages each other to be the most authentic versions of themselves. It is incredible to be a part of the fun, energy, and love that the campers pour out every day. 
The hours can be long, typically working from 7 am until 10:30 pm with a two-hour break during the day. This is all made clear during the interview and again before taking the job. However, it should be mentioned that the work you are doing during these long hours is rarely maximal effort. It is often going swimming, eating and serving meals, hanging out at the park, and making arts and crafts. Personally, that sounds like a great way to spend 16 hours of my day. Don't get me wrong, there can be challenging campers and hard days, but the support of management and co-workers is incredible and has helped me grow in many aspects within my job at camp and within many aspects of my life. 
This camp has changed my life and I sing its praises to everyone I get the opportunity to talk to about it. It is such an amazing place to work and live and grow. I highly recommend considering applying for this job if you are looking for a fun summer while gaining relevant experience.

This is my first summer at Camp He Ho Ha and I can honestly say I have never found such fulfillment and seen such pure joy and happiness in one place. It has already changed my life in so many ways and I know it will only continue to do so throughout this summer. 
When I talk about finding fulfillment and witnessing pure joy and happiness it stems from having the opportunity to be apart of individuals lives who may require our help, yet without even realizing it, continue to make a life changing impact on mine.  The week at camp for these campers with both mental and physical disabilities is quite possibly the one week of the year where they can come to a place where they feel accepted, both give and receive unconditional love, and get to experience activities that in the outside world they may never get the chance to. Early morning canoe rides, pool times, mini putting and boat rides are just a few of the things where you as a counsellor get to share in moments where these individuals come alive, both achieve success and face obstacles with overwhelming support and acceptance from both their friends and other counsellors around them. We have late night programs where these individuals get a chance to be in the spot light and perform on stage as well as other activity sessions where they can be whoever they want to be with a true sense of belonging. 
Things such as independence, integrity and self confidence are just a few of the magical qualities you as an individual have the chance to instil in these campers, and that in itself can make a difference in their life forever. YOU are apart of what may seem impossible for these individuals in the outside world and I cannot think of anything more magical, especially when it comes to the priceless smiles on their faces.

This is my second summer working as a counsellor at Camp He Ho Ha. Working at camp has given me such purpose in my life. It had always been my goal to make a difference in peoples lives. Working at camp is like getting to witness Disney magic every day of your life.  You get the profound privilege to see people, who for their whole life have been told that they can't do something, conquer what seemed impossible. Watching people with quadriplegia climb a climbing wall. Or watch a person with a stutter sing out loud on a mic in front of one-hundred people with no fear of judgement. You have the beautiful chance to see the light come back into peoples eyes. 

The other reviews on camp are not great. I understand that the poor reviews of camp make it seem like a horrible place to work. 

Do we work long days? Yes. Do we only get one 2 hour break? Yes. Do the hours we work past our paid period get banked as volunteer hours? Yes.  All of these things are true. If these things turn you off from this job then I am sorry. You really should consider another company to work for. 

However, if witnessing the magic. I mean true, beautiful, mind-blowing magic. If witnessing the magic is something you've always wanted to see. Then apply.  If you have wanted to watch people feel limitless.  Apply. If long hours and hard work don't scare you.  Apply. I promise you will not regret it. 

This is a place where dreams come true. Is it hard? 100%. Have I felt drained, tired and at the end of my rope? 1000%. But you know what. I would take 1 million of those days. 1 million hard, long, tiring days just for the chance to have a camper smile at me. 

Just one smile is worth 1 million bad days.

Working as a counsellor at Camp He Ho Ha is an overwhelmingly positive experience. The things you will learn from campers about life and how to live it will fill your bucket every single day. The day's rarely felt like work, but rather were so much fun - the funniest, most beautiful moments in my life happened at camp. While the work day involves long hours (7am - 10pm with a break in the day), the expectations are clearly laid out in the hiring process and again in staff orientation. Orientation set me up very well to be successful over the course of my employment, and support and constant growth was always a part of my day to day experience. This job provides excellent and relevant work experience for students in healthcare related fields, but that being said I encourage anyone to find themselves at camp as the magic here is so easy to discover, and the only real requirement is to love unconditionally (the campers here really teach you to do that!) The work environment and culture at camp is very positive - I have never had bosses as incredible as the ones at camp, who provide excellent support and feedback and push me to be my best self. Camp Health, Hope & Happiness is an incredible place to work that will take you further in life (professionally and personally).

I worked at this camp for the duration of a summer a few years ago. I went into this job looking forward to working with individuals with disabilities for a summer. What I got was a borderline traumatic experience. While the camp does do amazing things for the campers, management is awful. My experience included:

- being singled out daily for minor mistakes (that did not directly relate to camper experience) and in front of the entire staff at weekly meetings
- being chastised for not being "on" for the duration of my 16 hour work day - one momentary zone-out resulted in formal discipline for not being "enthusiastic" enough
- other more quiet/reserved staff members being treated like garbage
- being encouraged to call out other staff members publicly who were being observed making minor mistakes by my direct superior
- observing extreme favouritism by upper management
- us vs. them mentality between upper management and front line staff

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. 

All that being said, the people you work directly with (ie other counselors) are some the most dedicated, kind, amazing people you will ever meet. The management style of the camp should be seriously re-evaluated. The culture of fear and high turnover rate prevents this in my opinion.

Facilities; beautiful, clean, very well kept and situated on a Lake.
Co-workers; honest, caring, fun and hardworking
Management; great vision for camp, honest, reliable, willing to invest in workers and lead by example.
Salary/benefits; good/fair pay, advancement opportunities, provided with necessary equipment/tools to do the job.

I have been in the food & beverage industry for over 15 years now and this is by far the most rewarding job I have had. Everyday I leave work I feel like I have made a positive difference in somebody else's life.
Management is very supportive and more than willing to invest in the employees. They lead by example, promote a positive work place and care about the employees.
My co-workers are positive, hardworking, honest, team work orientated and all around great people!

If you are looking to make a positive difference in the lives of people with special needs/disabilities than look no further.
Seeing the smiles on the faces of each camper as they eat, sing, swim, play or just relax is very fulfilling to me and I truly do consider myself  fortunate to be apart of such an amazing organization!

Keep up the good work Camp HE HO HA!

The idea of the camp is wonderful as they offer people with mental and physical disabilities the opportunity to attend summer camp. 
Camp He Ho Ha, while it does achieve its purpose of creating a fun environment for its campers, leaves much to be desired for its treatment of staff. As others have noted, the pay is abysmal and staff will end up working between 16 and even 17 hour days. They were understaffed, and had a poor ratio of staff to campers, many of who had severe health problems and required full time care that the employees could not provide. The camp management is poor, and they follow a program called “Choices,” which comes across as eerie and cult-like. Their entire orientation and work-culture is influenced by this program. 
Staff is not permitted to stay on the premises between camps, however many of us live in separate provinces and so had nowhere to stay between camps, and so would live in various campgrounds instead. The environment was highly geared towards extroverts which is normally ok, but if you were not “on” or providing entertainment to the campers at all hours of the day, you were severely reprimanded. All in all, the camp provides a great service but had a highly toxic work environment.

There are 3 main issues with this job:
1. the 2 week long mandatory job training is based off of a self help seminar called Choices. Look up reviews of this, many have branded this seminar to be cult-like and manipulative, and many staff experienced the training as being so. 
2. Staff work on average 16+ hours a day, while being paid for 7. The rest counts as volunteer hours. To clarify, you are told you are paid for the 2 week long orientation, which is technically true, but this money goes towards what you are charged for room and board, and for meals. 
3. Lastly, the style of management is severe micromanagement. Everything is micromanaged. 
The pros to this job is that the camp provides amazing opportunities and experiences to the campers, and it is extremely rewarding work. Additionally, the staff you work with are wonderful and can be lifelong friends. However, the camp pulls off the services they provide by having post-secondary students work ridiculous (and arguably unsafe) hours. I advise you think strongly about why you would take this job and if you would get fulfillment out of it. Near the end of the summer multiple staff quit, as they were too burnt out to continue.

This is an incredible place to work if you love being active, helping people and having a blast! The campers are the nicest people I have ever met, and so are all the staff who work at camp! Its like one big family where I truly feel everyone cares about my well being. A typical day at work includes swimming, boating, rock climbing, arts and crafts and lots of laughing and assisting campers with toileting, showering and feeding. The food at camp is wonderful as is the kitchen staff. The hardest part of the job is probably the lack of sleep due to long hours, and saying bye to the campers on the last day of the week. The best part is hanging out with different campers each week who have helped me face my own fears, grow as a person and who have taught me so much.

In the interview process for this job, Kelly did a fantastic job at being up front and open with what this job entails. She made it very clear that you work from 7am -10:45pm and that the job is physically and mentally demanding. I was well prepared for my first week at the job.

 I love working in a place where I know I'm making a difference and that pushes me every day to become a better version of myself.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Kitchen assistant 1 salary reported	$20.00 per hour
Cook 1 salary reported	$23.50 per hour
Custodian 1 salary reported	$20.00 per hour
Camp counselor 1 salary reported	$190 per day
Kitchen team member 1 salary reported	$20.00 per hour

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