Making a Lasting Impact on Young People Through PYD Experiences

“How can I make a lasting impact on young people in my program?”
Camp professionals across the country ask this question, and our answer is always lean on PYD Experiences. The evidence says that promoting authentic, caring, and challenging experiences for young people is the most important thing you can do to foster their SEL growth (Pekel et al., 2018). So much so that the number of activities they participate in is less predictive of growth than the quality of the relationships they experience with adults and peers in the program (Catalan Molina et al., 2022; Hill & Erickson, 2019).

PYD Experiences are about building positive relationships with adults and peers in a program (Pekel et al., 2018). Positive relationships are critical because they create a safe and supportive environment where young people feel valued and understood (Sabo-Flores & Catalan Molina, 2024). This creates trust, which makes young people more likely to try new, more challenging things and learn during the program.

How important are PYD Experiences?

Our data shows that when young people experience PYD research-based practices at a high rate, they are between 15-20% more likely to grow their SEL capacities than when they don’t. In the example below, we show the impact of Promote Peer Bonds practices on Social Skills. A young person attending a program with a few elements of Promote Peer Bonding is only 52% likely to grow their social skills. Yet if they participated in a program with high levels of Promote Peer Bonding, their chances to grow in Social Skills would increase to 76% (a 24% difference!). These findings illustrate how focusing on PYD Experiences can have a large impact on the young people in your program.

So What?

One of the most important things a camp professional can do is to build authentic and caring relationships with young people. Check out the following resources on Engage Authentically and Promote Peer Bonds to get started using research-based practices that drive SEL growth!

One of the most important things camp leaders can do is to focus professional development efforts on building staff capacity to promote PYD experiences. Curricula and activities change over time, and daily emergencies can easily derail our plans. So, investing too much professional development time in specific curricula may not be the best strategy. Promoting the capacity of camp professionals to build positive relationships with young people is likely to pay off, regardless of the content of the program activities.

Are you interested in reading a full report about the impact of PYD Experiences on SEL growth when it’s publicly available?

Join the waitlist here!

If you want more information on Hello Insight