We recently connected with Risa Paskoff and have shared our conversation below.

Risa, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

More than twenty five years ago, I was a private psychotherapist, working with children and adolescents dealing with a variety of issues such as anxiety, ADHD, and dealing with parents going through a divorce. My true passion was working with children and adolescents with disabilities. I had been a counselor at a camp program for children with disabilities, when I was 16, living in NY and decided that running recreational programs for this population was my dream job. I read an article (25 years ago), about a group of parents who were interested in starting a camp program for their children who had disabilities and reached out to one of the parents to express my interest. After several summers of running a small camp program for this population, I decided to take a risk and leave my psychotherapy practice. In my mind, I would try this for one year and see if I could turn this into a full time position by establishing a non-profit organization that was committed to providing year round recreational programs to children and young adults with disabilities. In 2023, Aaron’s Acres celebrated its 25th anniversary! Our programs have expanded in the ages whom we serve as well as the frequency of the programs and the types of programs we provide during the year. Our goal is to continue to grow as we move forward as there is a tremendous need for meaningful recreational programs for this population.

Risa, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

From a young age, (age 16) I knew that I wanted to work with children and young adults with disabilities in recreational programs. I went to college and received a B.S. degree in psychology and then received my MSW degree. When I was a counselor at a camp for individuals with disabilities, I was able to see the power of engaging in recreational activities and the impact these experiences had on a person’s communication and socialization skills. While having fun, campers learned how to socialize with others appropriately as well as communicate with one another. I was the founding director of Aaron’s Acres 25 years ago. At all of our programs, our staff focus on developing and strengthening one’s communication and socialization skills. Every child, regardless of ability or disability should have the opportunity to engage in a camp program as well as other recreational programs with their peers. Swimming, horseback riding, fitness, music therapy, going to Hershey Park, bowling are just a few of the activities that our participants do while attending Aaron’s Acres. Our supervisory staff is comprised of professionals (special education teachers) as well as nurses. In addition, we provide 1:1 and 1:2 staff to child ratio. Because of the way that we staff our programs, parents know that they can breathe when they leave their child in our care. They know that their child who has a seizure disorder will have his needs met medically. For the child who has behavioral outbursts, again, our staff can manage these behaviors because of our professional staff. For the child who is a “runner” the parents know that the staff member who is assigned to their child will run when the child runs and not have to worry about taking care of other participants. Our programs are structured and meaningful; there is no down time. From the onset, our Program Director is committed to providing individualized care to each child and his/her family. Intakes are done for each new family as we want to establish a trusting relationship in which the parent doesn’t experience additional stress. Our goal is for the family to receive respite by registering their child in one of our programs. One parent shared, “I am not clenching the steering wheel in my car when I drop my son off at Aaron’s Acres. I can truly breathe!” Another parent shared, “Your staff is happy to see my child. This doesn’t happen most of the time for me and my daughter”. This is what Aaron’s Acres is all about!

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

As I look at the work that I have been involved with for most of my career, connecting with others and creating relationships with people of different backgrounds has been most helpful. I have tried to be open in sharing with others what I don’t know and what I know. Being comfortable in asking others for advice and direction is extremely helpful as I am okay with admitting my need for help from those who have knowledge in areas that I don’t have. Bringing people into our organization with financial backgrounds and marketing experience has strengthened our organization.

Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?

There is no question that I would choose the same profession as this is truly my passion. I feel most fortunate in that I am living out my dream!

Contact Info:

• Website: aaronsacres.org
• Instagram: aaronsacres
• Facebook: Aaron’s Acres