Funding last week secured the 68-year-old facility's future, and new manager Martin Stuart is excited about potential development.
"Children live in a context. It's not about fixing little Johnny or Sue, it's about helping the families and wider community to get the best outcomes for the children.
"There's no point in us giving children new coping mechanisms and helping them without helping the families that they are going back to," he said.
On July 15 the Government approved $1.5 million of additional annual funding for Te Puna Whaiora Children's Health Camps, securing the future of its Roxburgh facility.
Roxburgh's camp is one of seven run by Te Puna Whaiora, and faced possible closure due to a funding shortfall.
Mr Stuart (48) had confidence the camp would not be closed when earlier this year he applied for the position of its manager: "It's an essential social service and [it] was my firm belief that it would be maintained".
Mr Stuart, originally from Canterbury, grew up in Oamaru and moved to the North Island in the mid-1980s.
He spent almost nine years working for the District Health Board in Wanganui in various roles, and had experience working in mental health and social services.
He and wife Sarah moved two of their three children to Alexandra from Wanganui for the job, which proved too good to resist.
"The organisation itself excited me because it's really creative and adaptable. Health camps are very responsive to things happening in the community.
"In an ideal world there would be no social services, but the reality is there are needs out there in the community and this is a key service to meet those needs," he said.
Mr Stuart started on June 8 and had since been getting to know the camp's staff, function, and motto, which was building resilience in children and equipping them with the ability to bounce back from adversity.
"It is about ensuring the service we deliver is meeting the needs of children in the context of the community they live in - that children are well supported by their families, and families are well supported by us."
Mr Stuart said historically health camps had been focused on children's physical state and about "kids putting on weight and getting out into the sunshine".
Today, camps dealt with children who had physical, mental, social, or behavioural problems, and structured programmes accordingly, he said.
Mr Stuart said he looked forward to developing the camp's services, both on site and in the community.
"What we do is greater than just children coming to camp. We have parenting programmes run in the community and mentors who work with families as well.
"In a sense, Roxburgh is the heart and soul for us - there's lot of community support and a lot of our staff are from here - but there is a much larger area that we belong to," he said.
Te Puna's next closest camp is at Christchurch, so children from Oamaru south fall under the Roxburgh camp's intake area.
The camp has capacity to grow from its current intake of 14 children to 21, and to employ additional staff accordingly.
Mr Stuart said the camp's about 40 staff had been living in uncertainty for some time, and it was a relief to know their jobs were secure.
"There's been a lot of good things put in place by fantastic staff, and the community needs to know that we are here and will continue to be."
He said building links between the camp and community groups or organisations was a key to growth.
"It's how communities can talk to one another and listen to each other that's important. Each community has its own set of issues and problems, but those can all be addressed when communities pull together."
