Bluffview Resident Simplifies Summer Camp Scheduling

Camp planning can remind parents of the puzzle game Tetris. Sometimes, the pieces don’t fall together as easily as families would like.

“We’re fortunate in Dallas to be really saturated with opportunities. But it’s so saturated that it can also be a bit chaotic and difficult to find what really is going to work for you and your family,” said Bluffview resident Jenn Zigler, who founded Edge Counseling & Consulting more than four years ago.

Sifting through camp options to find the perfect fit that blends a child’s interests with their family’s availability can take hours or even days of research. But Zigler hopes to give parents a shortcut this summer.

She’s offering camp planning services that may be the first of their kind in the area. Zigler, a licensed professional counselor supervisor and educational consultant, has teamed up with longtime friend Ashley Miller, a youth program director and dance instructor, to help sort out summer for families who need a little help. 

Zigler’s goal is to give families a streamlined list of camps based on their needs within 48 hours. The tailored lists, she said, are broken down strategically by location preference, camp type, and time period.

Zigler said that summer planning is a natural extension of her year-round work with families, which includes both child and adolescent therapy, and assistance navigating private school admissions. Staging her own Taylor Swift-themed therapy camp last summer highlighted the challenges of camp coordination for Zigler.

“There’s a lot of options. If you have the time and the ability to do all the legwork and sift through them, then that’s great,” she said. “But it can be kind of overwhelming to even know where to start.”

Preston Hollow mom Vanessa Gwisdala turned to Zigler for assistance with finding tennis camps for her two children, ages 10 and 7.

“There’s a lot of options out there,” she said. “I work and I don’t have the time to go into detail about researching all the options, so I needed help in that area.”

Instead of spending hours on a camp hunt, Gwisdala had a 15-minute conversation with Zigler about the basics of what her kids wanted. Zigler provided options the next day that included a camp that Gwisdala hadn’t even realized existed. 

“It made it a very simple, easy, laid out process,” she said.

Some families are already done with summer planning, but Zigler said that parents who feel like they’re drowning in camp details haven’t missed the boat. There are still fun options available, and, even if a camp is full, places may open up as summer plans change.

“Coming as a therapist to this business, I always want to help a family that’s in need,” she said. “I’ll do my best … I’m happy to do that legwork and make those phone calls for a family to find them a place.”