Welcome to Camp SHINE!
Camp Shine Mission
Our mission is to provide a FUN and loving space for kids to fall in love with nature, one another and especially themselves! Through time in nature, holistic health experts, empowerment tools, nature inspired art, horsemanship, and life on the farm we are here to remind kids this world is beautiful place, and it’s our job to take care of it!
Our Vision
Our vision is to help guide the next generation of conscious leaders who are here to make our planet a better place!
Hi, I’m Stephanie!
Stephanie Marie Telfer MA
Founder/Owner
Hi Friend! I’m so glad you found your way here and look forward to you joining our SHINE family.
The truth is, Camp SHINE is and was the place I needed as a child (and as an adult 😊) that didn’t exist .
At a young age I had many struggles. My younger sister Nicole, who is now our guardian angel, passed away from cancer when she was 5 and I was 7 years old. We spent many years in hospitals and the halls of Children’s Hospital became my playground. When she passed away, it created a shock wave through our family. It was extremely hard to lose a loved one so young and it made life confusing, scary and heart breaking.
As I grew, school was very challenging for me. I struggled academically and didn’t learn to read until the 4th grade. I had terrible self-esteem which resulted in hiding out from the world as much as I could. My mom would try everything to get me engaged in life. Although I tried all the things, I often gave everything very minimal effort and said no to everything… no to brownies (I secretly like them), no to gymnastics, no to swim team. My main word was “no!” I never wanted to show up and I felt the safest when I hid out.
The hills around my childhood home were the one place I felt true happiness and joy. Ironically, I grew up on the very land Camp SHINE stands upon today. It is such a pleasure and life has come full circle to bring my SHINE kids to the very grounds that were my saving grace as a child.
As I got older, I began to develop terrible anxiety that sent me on a quest to heal. I learned all about healing as I was trying to find my own inner peace. I became a certified yoga teacher in 2010 and even received a master’s degree in Spiritual Psychology in 2015. I learned incredible tools for resiliency, emotional intelligence, self counseling, communication, self-awareness, and mindfulness.
When you find a way through your pain, the next logical step is to help others to do the same (If you are an adult, you can work with me HERE) or to create something that you feel is missing in our beautiful world such as Camp SHINE.
I have always loved children! I was a young girl who was always totting around a baby and I was a natural born nurturer. I was told a million times I should be a teacher! I never saw myself in that setting. I often wondered how I could teach kids the things I wish I knew from a young age, a place where it’s safe to shine and for people see the best in you! For me, these are the roots needed for long term and lasting success. There is no greater gift than belief in yourself. I am honored to be the steward of Camp SHINE. This program brings me endless joy and I hope to meet your child, who I know, without a shadow of a doubt, was BORN TO SHINE.
With LOVE
The Evolution of Camp SHINE
The SHINE program was born out of The Remedy, a wellness center Stephanie co-founded with her Sister Andrea in 2019. At the time, Stephanie felt inspired to help preteen girls. That age can be so hard with friend issues, need to “fit in” and of course the endless pressure of social media. She felt a strong calling to help our adolescents to have a strong sense of self and impart all she had learned over the years about health, wellness, Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), mindfulness, empowerment, yoga, and counseling. She became enthralled with the idea of how powerful it would be to equip young people early with a love of themselves and tools to work through stress and to develop a strong internal compass.
After the success of the preteen program, she then added a program for elementary children, sharing the same concepts in a way they could understand and begin to seed into their little beings.
When Covid hit in 2020, the SHINE program went online which was fun and wonderful, but soon realized children didn’t need more time on screens!
What they really needed was to get OUTSIDE!
In summer of 2021, Stephanie finally heeded her mother’s wisdom and advice of bringing the SHINE program outside to their family farm, where Camp SHINE was born!
Camp SHINE is the whole wellness package and adventure…empowerment tools, nature, animals, holistic health experts, nature inspired art projects, mindfulness, community and a ton of JOY and FUN! With each evolution of the Shine program we are so grateful it lead us to where we are today!
