This summer, Just in Time for Foster Youth welcomed 50 participants to the beautiful wooded grounds of the Girl Scouts of San Diego Balboa Service Center for our 7th annual Rise to Resilience Retreat. 

With towering trees and a peaceful natural setting, this year’s theme, Camp Mello, invited participants to slow down, reconnect, and focus on healing and well-being. Surrounded by nature, participants stepped away from the pressures of everyday life to spend the day building community and caring for their mental health. 

Camp style activities encouraged both fun and reflection. Participants practiced archery, stretched and centered themselves through yoga, and found rhythm and connection in a powerful drum circle. Others explored hands-on experiences like making their own granola, sparking creativity and conversation along the way. 

Each activity was rooted in the seven healing strategies that form the foundation of JIT’s Rise to Resilience service: helping participants strengthen coping skills, build supportive relationships and develop tools for lifelong wellness. 

By the end of the retreat, Camp Mello lived up to its name. Participants left feeling grounded, connected and reminded that healing can happen in community, and sometimes under the shade of a very tall tree. 

Rob Fury (left) with Olan Cazad at Archery