| In 1920 a group of Dallas men with vision and
desire to serve the community created a new social and service organization
— The Salesmanship Club of Dallas —
dedicated to helping young people. The Salesmanship Club
Camp for indigent children opened in 1921 at a camp site on Bachman Lake.
In 1943, a polio epidemic hit Texas and all camps were closed. The pause
provided an opportunity for much thought to be given to future work with
children.
The Salesmanship Club Youth Camp
Starting in 1946, the Club pioneered a radically new approach to helping
troubled children: a year-round, therapeutic, residential camp. In 2004
a decision was made to close the residential program at the camp to make
way for a new program, currently under study, to address the changing
needs of children and families in our community.
Family Therapy
In the 1970's, Salesmanship Club extended its efforts to include intensive
counseling with campers' families. The success of these efforts greatly
reduced the length of time children were placed at camp and led to the
creation of a large outpatient family therapy program serving other families
whose troubled children continue to live at home. Today the Family Therapy
program serves more than 2,500 people each year, and a family therapy
training institute provides training to graduate students and to practicing
mental health professionals in our unique approach to helping families.
The J. Erik Jonsson Community School
In 1983, the Club once again pioneered a new approach to helping children
who had experienced significant emotional difficulties: a day treatment
school. By the early 1990's the organization became increasingly alarmed
about the growing numbers of children living in inner-city Dallas who
were failing in school and exhibiting a wide range of other problems.
Based on these concerns, the day treatment program was transformed into
the J. Erik Jonsson Community School (JEJCS). This private, accredited
school is developing an early intervention model for the education of
inner-city, at-risk children. JEJCS now serves children three years old
through sixth grade who live in the north Oak Cliff community of Dallas.
Family support services include family therapy and casework assistance.
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