CYO exists to build healthy relationships.
Outdoor experiences bring people together. PACD helps turn that time together into stronger relationships.
PACD stands for Participate, Appreciate, Communicate, and Dedicate. It gives parents, youth, and mentors a simple framework for being intentional with one another, creating opportunities for meaningful conversation, trust, and connection.
PACD is woven throughout the CYO experience and helps families carry what they learn beyond the program and into everyday life.
Click below to learn more about each of the four parts of CYO’s PACD Teaching Model.
PACD works best when families have intentional time together outdoors.
Time outside gives families space to slow down, disconnect from everyday distractions, and focus on one another.
Research has linked time in nature with benefits such as reduced stress, improved well-being, stronger social connection, and greater opportunities for meaningful interaction.
For CYO, the outdoors is not the end goal. It is the setting that helps create the time and space for PACD to work.
Here are abstracts of two studies on the topic.
Improving Adolescent Mental Health Mental health benefits of Nature-based RecreationThank you CYO Partners
