Dr. Andrea Mousseau

IN THIS SECTION: Ripple Effect

Camp Ten Oaks has shown me that I can be whoever I want to be. And, nobody can ever judge me for that.

Camp Ten Oaks camper

The sense of belonging and community that I get from Ten Oaks is something that I can feel year-round.

Camp Ten Oaks camper

As staff, we create an intentional space for our campers where for one week, they don’t have to be afraid or ashamed of anything about themselves.

Camp Ten Oaks volunteer

I can credit the beautifully diverse chosen family that I now have to Ten Oaks. It’s filled a great void in the community for me.

Camp Ten Oaks camper parent

Being a camper has opened my eyes to the diversity within the LGBTQ+ community, to the diversity of the group I’m a part of.

Camp Ten Oaks camper

When I left Project Acorn, the world was a different, more magical, and more manageable place.

Project Acorn participant

The best part of Project Acorn for me was seeing how much love and support is built in such a short span of time.

Project Acorn volunteer

At Project Acorn, I realized that I can have a powerful voice.

Youth Advisory Committee member

Andrea joined Camp Ten Oaks as our volunteer Health Care Director during medical school and stayed with the program in this capacity for four summers. She is now in the last stages of her residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology. This has allowed her to combine a love for surgery and woman’s health, caring for patients from diverse backgrounds who each have a unique story to tell.

She firmly believes that good health care is inclusive and understanding, non-judgmental and supportive, informed, and based on the needs of each patient. While her early nursing and medical training equipped her to make this possible in her practice, particularly within First Nations communities, it was during her experience at Camp Ten Oaks that she further developed her philosophy and skills.

Andrea found that her cultural competency training was often difficult to translate into real life, and her training did not provide enough insight into the health care needs and concerns within 2SLGBTQ+ communities.

As a straight-identified staff volunteer, it was at Camp Ten Oaks that Andrea gained the insight needed to ensure she could effectively create an inclusive environment for anyone in her care. Andrea credits her experience with the Ten Oaks Project for making it possible for her to provide better care to all of her patients, and she strives daily to provide the same kind of safer space that was so characteristic at Camp Ten Oaks.

Not only have her experiences improved her cultural competency, they’ve empowered her to advocate on behalf of the patients in her care and to ensure that all staff working alongside her are providing care that is truly inclusive.