Prestigious Mark of Quality for Viristar's Risk Management for Outdoor Programs Training
Viristar is pleased to receive an Educational Endorsement from the American Camp Association for its 40-hour Risk Management for Outdoor Programs online training course.
The Educational Endorsement recognizes that Viristar’s outdoor safety training course has been evaluated by the ACA and meets its criteria for educational quality. A qualified ACA panel has verified that the goals, learner outcomes, presenter qualifications, and evaluation requirements of Viristar’s outdoor safety training meet ACA's established standards.
ACA acts as a knowledge centre for the camp and youth development communities. In this role, ACA seeks to offer its 9,000+ members and the general public access to high-quality education content. The Educational Endorsement seal is ACA’s recognition of that high quality, and helps connect learners to quality educational opportunities.
Individuals completing Viristar’s training can earn Continuing Education Credits (CECs) from ACA for the course.
Viristar’s trainings, which are offered each month, are now listed on ACA’s calendar of events, which lists ACA local and national events as well as programming that has received ACA’s Educational Endorsement.
Viristar’s Risk Management for Outdoor Programs Course
The Risk Management for Outdoor Programs Course from Viristar is a comprehensive, rigorous training on best practices and essential standards for good safety management with camp, adventure, travel, wilderness, service learning, adventure tourism, and experiential programs anywhere in the world.
The training takes place over four weeks. Each week there is a 90-minute video-conference session where participants engage in seminar-style discussions and give presentations.
In between are independent work periods. These involve readings, case studies, role plays, quizzes, video-based lecture presentations, small group projects, and more.
Participants leave with a deeper understanding of why incidents occur, and research-driven best practices for incident mitigation and prevention.
Topics include: incident causation models, legal issues, medical screening, documentation, emergency response planning, incident management, participant management, staff training, equipment management, risk management plan development, and more.
The training uses the 218-page textbook Risk Management for Outdoor Programs: A Guide to Safety in Outdoor Education, Recreation and Adventure.
Individuals from camps and other outdoor and experiential programs from 40 countries have participated in the course.
More information is available at courses.viristar.com.
Viristar and the American Camp Association
Viristar and the ACA have a long association. Viristar’s staff have worked in camp counselor, program manager and camp executive roles over the last 30+ years at ACA-accredited camps from New Hampshire to California and Washington state.
Viristar has presented at multiple ACA conferences, on topics including “How to Develop a Comprehensive, Effective Risk Management Plan for your Camp” and “A Practical Model for Managing Risks at Camp.”
In 2022, Viristar is scheduled to present at ACA’s national conference on “From Theory to Practice: Applying Current Research in Systems-Based Risk Management to Camp Safety.”
Viristar will also be an exhibitor at that conference, which will be held in Portland Oregon on February 8-11.
In addition, Viristar is a Business Affiliate of the American Camp Association, making available its risk management consulting, program and curriculum development, and other services available to ACA members.
Proud to Support the American Camp Association
Viristar shares the ACA's belief that camp experiences can be powerfully positive parts of a child's growth and education.
Viristar is pleased to collaborate with the ACA, a leading authority in child development, to enrich lives and make the world a better place.