Bold & Gold Wilderness Instructor - YMCA Camp Hi-Rock

Central Connecticut Coast YMCA; Mount Washington (MA); On-site; USD 10,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a forward-thinking organization dedicated to inspiring youth through outdoor adventures. This role focuses on facilitating wilderness-based programs that enhance emotional intelligence, confidence, and leadership skills among adolescents. You will lead diverse groups in activities such as backpacking, rock climbing, and canoeing, ensuring a safe and inclusive environment. The position requires strong facilitation skills, excellent judgment, and a commitment to fostering connections among participants. If you are passionate about youth development and the outdoors, this opportunity is perfect for you.

Qualifications

• Professional experience in backpacking, rock climbing, or mountaineering is required.
• Must possess valid CPR/AED, First Aid, and O2 Administration certifications.

Responsibilities

• Facilitate learning of outdoor skills during wilderness-based courses.
• Create an inclusive and safe environment for youth in outdoor settings.

Skills

Group facilitation

Communication skills

Conflict resolution

Judgment and decision making

Risk management

Job description

The BOLD (Boys Outdoor Leadership Development) & GOLD (Girls Outdoor Leadership Development) Program is dedicated to inspiring courage and confidence in diverse groups of adolescent boys and girls through outdoor adventures. We run, primarily, single gender expeditions. Our goal is to increase confidence, courage, emotional intelligence, wonder, and community awareness in participants. We believe these traits are the foundations of leadership and work to inspire participants to develop their own leadership style. We prepare young people, from middle school on, to be the next generation of leaders through multicultural experiential education in the natural world.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

1. Demonstrate the values of caring, honesty, respect and responsibility in relationships with colleagues, members, volunteers, vendors and guests.
2. Promote and support the potential of all youth in programs and facilitate peer-to-peer connections as part of the overall camp experience.
3. Facilitate the learning of outdoor skills during the 7-14 day wilderness-based backpacking, rock climbing, canoeing or mountaineering courses.
4. Ensure both a physically and emotionally safe environment.
5. Create values-forming experiences for adolescents.
6. Create an inclusive environment for youth in the outdoors.
7. Aid with various camp needs when not in the field.
8. Understand and uphold all applicable licensing standards, grant stipulations, YMCA policies, state and local laws, and YMCA of the USA risk management recommendations.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:

1. Professional instructional experience in backpacking, rock climbing, and/or mountaineering.
2. Commitment to working with diverse groups.
3. Excellent judgment, decision making, and risk management skills.
4. Strong group facilitation, communication, and conflict resolution skills.
5. Experience facilitating activities addressing issues facing adolescent females and/or males.
6. Experience making the transference of a wilderness experience relevant to the everyday lives of underserved youth.
7. Experience managing staff and strong organizational and logistical skills.
8. Must be available for training in the Massachusetts area in early June.
9. Must be observant, safety-conscious, and able to react calmly and quickly in an emergency.
10. Must complete new employee trainings and department onboarding.
11. Must possess and maintain valid CPR/AED, First Aid, and O2 Administration certifications.