March 11, 2010

AMHERST, Mass. – The Psychological Services Center (PSC) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Camp Kingsmont in Amherst have formed a new partnership to promote healthy lifestyles in children struggling with weight problems and overeating.

Accredited by American Camp Association, Camp Kingsmont is a weight-loss summer camp for boys and girls ages 9-18. Before the 2009 season, Camp Kingsmont and the PSC partnered to create the Connections Program, which focuses on the emotional, social and behavioral aspects of problematic eating. PSC’s director, Christopher E. Overtree, and his team of clinical psychology graduate students designed the Connections Program with a heavy reliance on cognitive therapy, one of the most successful evidence-based treatment modalities adapted to problematic eating and other emotional difficulties such as anxiety and depression.

The PSC staff was quite enthusiastic about “collaborating with Camp Kingsmont to provide effective psychotherapeutic elements to reduce problem eating in an exciting, supportive and fun summer camp environment,” Overtree said. As a result of the Connections Program and all the other strategies Camp Kingsmont brings to weight loss, campers saw tremendous improvement. Camp director Michael Roman reported a total weight loss of 2,182 pounds and more than 90 feet in reduced body measurements. As Camp Kingsmont and the PSC look forward to the 2010 season, they expect to see continued success, according to Overtree.

Camp Kingsmont was co-founded in 1967 by Lloyd “Doc” Appleton as the first weight loss camp in New England. One of the camp’s main goals is to increase self-esteem and personal dignity and it has had strong, consistent results throughout the years, said Overtree.

The PSC was recently designated as an Exemplary Community Engagement Initiative at UMass Amherst as the campus gained recognition from the Carnegie Foundation as a Community-Engaged University. The PSC has a long history of offering high-quality, low-cost psychotherapy to clients who are in need, such as those without health insurance or who have inadequate insurance coverage for mental health services. In 2008, the PSC provided more than $300,000 worth of free and reduced-fee care and continues to offer low-cost psychotherapy and psychological assessment services for adults, children, adolescents, couples and families —services that have been continuously available since 1963.