As Youth and Camp Director at Camp NAC and founder of Mindful Kids at Tru Healing Center, Certified Self Love Coach, and Reiki Master, Brianne Feinour has built her career around a simple but powerful belief: every child deserves to feel safe showing up as themselves. Her journey from WIC nutritionist to camp director wasn’t traditional, but it led her to create the kind of supportive environments she wished had existed during her own childhood.

Brianne Feinour is a 2025 Bucks County Parent Women of Influence Award Winner

Bucks County Parent’s Women of Influence Network and Awards celebrate exceptional women making significant impacts in our community. Brianne was nominated by her friend and co-worker., Alexandra Jackson, and selected based on her achievements and dedication to creating positive change in her community. Each Women of Influence Award Winner has committed to support Family Focus Media’s core values. Together, we are committed to foster a sense of belonging and empowerment for all for all families. All backgrounds, races, genders, and sexual orientations are welcome and safe with us.

Beyond the awards, our Women of Influence Luncheons and Speed Networking Night attendees come together as our Women of Influence Network, a community fostering connections, collaboration, and mutual support.

From Personal Struggle to Professional Purpose

Brianne’s motivation comes from an honest place. “I didn’t feel safe as a person as a kid,” she shares. “I felt like I wasn’t able to show up as myself, and I really struggled with that internal dialogue.” This childhood experience became the foundation for her life’s work — helping children build confidence and self-love at a much younger age than she learned it herself.

Before finding her calling in camp leadership, Brianne worked as a nutritionist running a WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children) clinic in Coatesville, later becoming an outreach coordinator. A brief stint as a therapist assistant at an addiction rehabilitation center further shaped her understanding of mental health and wellness — experiences that now fuel her holistic, whole-child approach to emotional development and well-being.

Transforming Camp Culture from the Ground Up

When Brianne stepped into her role at Camp NAC, she implemented sweeping changes that have fundamentally shifted the camp’s culture. “We definitely have a lot more policies in place since I first started,” she explains. Additions included guardian and staff handbooks, a dedicated staff appreciation budget, and — perhaps most importantly — support counselors: licensed school counselors hired specifically to help children navigate big emotions while also supporting staff.

The transformation was particularly visible during COVID, when Brianne saw firsthand “how the wear and tear was on our employees.” Her response was comprehensive: creating support systems, establishing clear protocols, and developing what became the camp’s guiding principle and hashtag — “#BeYourUnique”.

One of her most innovative contributions was implementing Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs training for leadership teams. “We talked about the basic foundation — if your needs aren’t being met, we discussed what that looks like for kids and staff,” she explains. This practical approach means leadership actively ensures everyone has water, distributes Gatorade, and organizes regular staff appreciation events.

The results speak volumes: higher staff retention rates, increased parent satisfaction, and a noticeable reduction in behavioral incidents. “People want to come here,” Brianne says simply. “They cry when they leave.” The culture now feels grounded in trust — no small feat when managing over 100 staff members and countless children. “It feels like we’re all here for the same purpose, on the same team.”

Mindful Kids: Making Emotional Wellness Accessible

Through her Mindful Kids program at Tru Healing Center, Brianne extends her impact beyond summer camp. The program offers low-cost and donation-based mindfulness workshops designed to make emotional wellness tools accessible to all families.

For younger children ages 3-5, sessions include families and focus on practical tools like emotion charts with magnets for refrigerator use. “My parents thought I was sad a lot because I cried, but that was my way of showing frustration,” Brianne explains to parents. “Instead of maybe rewarding them with candy, we’re focusing on filling each other’s buckets—using kind words and helpful actions—so children learn that making others feel good also fills their own.”

Sessions for older children ages 6-12 become more sophisticated, featuring meditation, yoga, vision boards, and positive affirmation activities. One particularly meaningful exercise involves planting seeds: “We plant the seed of love within yourself, and when you water a plant, you water yourself and nurture yourself. That plant grows and so do you.”

Real Impact, Real Stories

The transformation Brianne witnesses in children validates her approach. She recalls a six-year-old camper who looked in the mirror saying she was “so ugly.” Through gentle conversation, face jewels, and positive affirmations—”I am brave, I am strong, I’m confident”—the child’s confidence grew dramatically. She joined NAC’s gymnastics team, and “her confidence skyrocketed.” Now 12, she remains connected to the program.

Another success story involves a three-year-old whose mother sought help for her daughter’s frustration and shutdowns at home. The family now uses their emotion chart daily, giving the child a way to communicate feelings even when she can’t verbalize them. “She points to it, so even if she’s frustrated, she can at least show mom instead of reacting in a way that wouldn’t be beneficial.”

Balancing Passion Projects

Managing both camp operations and her mindfulness work requires intentional seasonality. “During camp season, I’m pretty full steam ahead,” Brianne explains. “I know myself—during summer I can’t do both wholeheartedly.” So summers are dedicated entirely to camp, while mindfulness classes happen monthly during the school year.

This balance isn’t sacrifice—it’s strategic passion management. “If anyone asks if I’m doing work again, I’m like, ‘It’s not work to me.’ I want to go to my office and create.” The mindfulness classes serve another crucial purpose: “It helps me be childlike. When I’m the director here, I’m the visionary working with staff. But when I’m with children, my inner child is happy again.”

Learning to Let Go

Leadership has taught Brianne valuable lessons about control. “I can’t control everything,” she admits. “I’m a perfectionist, so sometimes I know I’m very adaptable, but there are things I can’t solve—if something breaks down, that little control piece I’ve had to learn to let go.”

What sustains her through these moments is her team’s response: “The beauty of it is our staff looks at you and says ‘we’ll figure it out,’ and I’m like, ‘okay, we got this.'” This collaborative spirit extends to the children too: “The kids don’t know what they don’t know either. We just go with it.”

Ripple Effects Beyond Bucks County

Brianne’s influence extends nationally through her volunteer work with the American Camp Association, where she serves as Keystone Membership Chair and Wellness Committee Chair. She is actively shaping camp accreditation standards to include mental health and wellness requirements, has submitted new accreditation question proposals, and is training to become a CampWell facilitator — a role that will enable her to train camps nationwide in evidence-based wellness practices.

“When I first started with mindfulness, it was pretty taboo,” she reflects. “Mental health wasn’t a big discussion, and I was very adamant about it.” Her persistence is paying off as more camps begin to prioritize emotional safety and wellness at both the staff and camper levels.

Her multi-modality background — including self-love coaching, Reiki, mindfulness training, and public health expertise — positions her uniquely to guide camps toward holistic, scalable wellness programs.

The ripple effect is visible locally too. “We’ve been doing cozy corners for years at camp — everyone’s doing that now. We’re talking about our feelings. It’s important that we feel safe instead of shutting it down.”

Innovation in Action: Village Farm Camp

This summer, Brianne launched a new Village Farm Camp program, a program that blends nature immersion, animal care, and unplugged play to support whole-child development. She’s already seen remarkable shifts in camper well-being: “I haven’t heard so many kids laugh in such a short time because the goats were being silly and jumping.”

Children wear boots, practice archery, and learn to care for animals — building life skills while unplugged from technology. “You can’t even measure the happiness I’ve seen there,” Brianne notes, with plans already underway for expansion.

In addition, she spearheaded the launch of a licensed daycare program, expanding year-round opportunities for early learning, social development, and wellness-based care. This initiative carries her mission beyond seasonal programs, ensuring even the youngest children experience nurturing environments that support emotional, social, and physical growth from the very start.

The Details That Matter

What might surprise people most about Brianne’s work is the meticulous planning that happens behind the scenes. “I don’t think most people realize just how detail-oriented we are — from mapping out kids’ behaviors and creating safety plans, to pairing campers with the right staff and thoughtfully grouping them with peers,” she explains. “We take so many factors into account to make sure everything runs like a well-oiled machine, because those small details are what make the biggest difference in a child’s experience.”

A Message for Parents

For parents reading this story, Brianne’s message is simple and heartfelt: “We genuinely care, and we want to know your child before they step foot in our building. The more parents share, the better we can set everyone up for success.”

She emphasizes the importance of open communication and feedback: “No one’s perfect, so any feedback is good feedback. Please tell us, because that’s our job — and that’s how we grow and become better.”

Building Tomorrow’s Leaders

Brianne’s partnership with team members like Alexandra Jackson—her nominator and eight-year colleague—demonstrates her commitment to developing others. “Alex is probably one of the most selfless, nicest people,” Brianne says. “She’s the one who says ‘we’ll figure it out.’ I’ve never met a human more willing to take the shirt off her back.”

This collaborative leadership style, combined with Brianne’s willingness to be vulnerable about her own growth journey, creates environments where both children and adults can thrive authentically.

From a child who didn’t feel safe being herself to a leader creating those safe spaces for others, Brianne Feinour has turned personal challenges into community solutions — and is now building a national movement to make wellness a core pillar of youth development.

Follow @briannefeinour on Instagram  |  Connect with Brianne Feinour on LinkedIn.

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