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Staff Assistant Experience

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Staff Assistant Experience - A unique residential opportunity for young adults with special needs preparing for independence

The Staff Assistant Experience is specially designed for young adults who can benefit from an inclusive group living experience focused on: building healthy relationships, teaching life skills, and gaining practical work experience.

Specific highlights of the Staff Assistant Experience include:

One-on-one coaching and mentoring tailored to the needs of each participant
Living and working in a caring community with typically developing mentors
A culture which promotes lifelong learning; health and self-care; meaningful communication; self-advocacy, and personal responsibility
Leadership and supervision from a resident professional staff with substantial experience working with young people with special needs
Rolling admissions. The Staff Assistant Experience operates from March through November

A typical applicant will be:

Between the ages of 18 and 25
Ready to begin living independently on campus for a minimum of 10 weeks
In need of a supportive, caring community to meet personal goals and experience success
Able to participate in a multi-faceted, indoor and outdoor work experience program
Willing to take part in dynamic, adventure-based activities - hiking, boating, high and low ropes courses - that emphasize: effort over ability, attitude over aptitude and cooperation over competition

Staff Assistant Experience: Philosophy & Goals

Ramapo’s Staff Assistant Experience is built upon the belief that adaptive living and relationship building skills are best developed when embedded within the meaningful context of structured community living. The purpose of the STAFF ASSISTANT experience is to coach and mentor young adults with special needs to develop life and work skills in an enjoyable, therapeutic, and natural environment.

Staff Assistants participate in and explore a variety of work experiences that include: adventure program specialist; camp counselor; child care provider; office worker; landscaper; food service worker; housekeeper; and maintenance mechanic. Staff Assistants are also involved in experiences related to cooking and family-style dining; shopping for groceries; laundry and utilizing public transportation. Staff Assistants may also participate in driver’s education and college level courses. The goals of the Staff Assistant Experience are:

The goals of this program are to:

Increasing self-reliance and the ability to live and function independently;

Learning to build healthy relationships and live as a productive member of a community;

Acquiring job-skills that are transferable to any workplace (building co-worker relationships; following directions; responding to supervision).

Staff Assistants are housed in modern year-round lodges and work alongside peer mentors and coaches to learn social, independent living, and job-related skills. Ramapo staff are typically developing young adults trained as adventure program specialists, peer mentors and coaches. Within the context of their everyday responsibilities Ramapo mentors and coaches work with staff assistants to strengthen their self-help skills, improve their social communication skills, and develop independent living skills.

Ramapo supports parents as they move through a process of “letting go.” Ramapo staff maintain close contact with parents throughout the experience and provide written goals and objectives as well as updates about each staff assistant’s accomplishments and strategies for success.

What Makes Ramapo's STAFF ASSISTANT EXPERIENCE Unique?

Ramapo is an inclusive community within which young adults with special needs enjoy opportunities to work, learn and grow as they develop new strengths and skills. The Ramapo campus is supervised by a highly experienced leadership team of five professionally trained educators and a program service staff of twenty, which includes ten members of AmeriCorps, the national service learning program. In addition, there are a wide variety of recreational activities offered on and off-campus.

Ramapo has a long history of including older adolescents and young adults in on-the-job work experiences, preparing them to become summer and year-round staff. For better than 20 years, Ramapo has employed former teen campers as summer interns. Today, approximately 10% of the staff on the Rhinebeck campus are former campers who now work as supervisors, program specialists, food service providers, and groundskeepers.

For more information and to apply call (212) 754-7003 or email sae@ramapoforchildren.org