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Exploring Therapeutic Recreation Profession: Opportunities and Responsibilities

Learn about therapeutic recreation, explore job skills, and understand its importance in enhancing overall health and well-being. Discover various career paths and how to succeed in this dynamic field.

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Exploring Therapeutic Recreation Profession: Opportunities and Responsibilities

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  1. chapter1 Considering Therapeutic Recreation as Your Profession Terry Robertson, PhD and Terry Long, PhD

  2. Learning Outcomes • Explain various definitions of therapeutic recreation • Recognize the importance of leisure in therapeutic recreation • Appreciate the diverse nature of therapeutic recreation • Describe various professional opportunities in therapeutic recreation • Identify basic job skills and responsibilities in therapeutic recreation

  3. What Is Therapeutic Recreation? Therapeutic recreation is the purposeful utilization or enhancementof leisure as a way to maximize a person’s overall health, well-being, or quality of life.

  4. Recreation Therapy • Often used interchangeably with the term therapeutic recreation • A specific form of therapeutic recreation • Used to improve functional abilities • Different in that therapeutic recreation is the utilization and enhancement of leisure

  5. Therapeutic Recreation Intervention? • Outcomes grounded in a leisure context • Inherent; not always immediate • Direct • Intervention must be purposeful • Goals and objectives • Evaluation

  6. Important to Remember • Not all outcome-driven interventions are therapeutic recreation. • Not all leisure activities are therapeutic recreation. • Therapeutic recreation must be purposely developed and delivered. • Give clients freedom and control. • Choose activities based on treatment goals.

  7. Diverse Profession • Dynamic, evolving mix • Perspectives • Thought • Theories (borrowed and original) • Unique interventions and services • References to therapeutic recreation • Eclectic in nature • A strength-based approach to solving problems • Unique in using nonwork, nonobligated time • Mix of philosophy, psychology, the arts, and physical and occupational therapy techniques

  8. Therapeutic Recreation as a Profession • Large potential for growth • Field of therapeutic recreation • Professional growth • Opportunities for flexible application • Diverse settings and advanced degrees • Community and administrative positions • Variety of occupations

  9. Choosing a Profession • You might choose therapeutic recreation if you • want to help others; • are interested in physical or psychological processes; • know someone who has a disability; • are interested in a therapy-oriented degree; • are interested in social justice, aging, or health and wellness; or • know someone who is studying therapeutic recreation. • Is a degree in therapeutic recreation right for you?

  10. Success in therapeutic recreation requires the following: Commitment – Compassion Forethought – Understanding and assertiveness Multitasking – A willingness to engage others Flexibility – The ability to motivate others Communication – The ability to carry out a process Responsibility – The ability to organize experiences Therapeutic recreation is a people profession. Finding a Personal Fit

  11. Some Occupational Settings • Veterans Administration • Schools • Community recreation • Residential and day camps • Hospital or rehabilitation centers • Prisons and detention centers • Assisted-living and nursing homes • Athletic training centers

  12. Discussion Questions • Review the definitions posted on the ATRA and NTRS Web sites. How does the definition presented by the authors compare to those two perspectives? Discuss with your course instructor his or her personal perspective and inquire about influences that led to that viewpoint. • What do you think is the most important characteristic of a therapeutic recreation professional? Do you think that those who work in helping professions are “born with it,” or can people learn the necessary skills? Make a list of such skills and apply this question to each. (continued)

  13. Discussion Questions (continued) • With a partner or in small groups, discuss what your understanding of therapeutic recreation was before you read chapter 1 of the textbook. Have your views changed? If so, how? What professional opportunities have you learned about that you were previously unaware of? • Review the occupational profiles on pages 9–10 of the textbook. Do any of them seem like something that you would be interested in doing for a job? Can you share another example? Does some combination of the examples interest you? Are there examples that you have no interest in? Why or why not? Discuss with your instructor whether he or she believes that all the examples represent something that a therapeutic recreation specialist might do. (continued)

  14. Discussion Questions (continued) • Review the definition of therapeutic recreation on page 4 of the textbook and consider the scenario on page 11. Is the intervention leisure based? Is it purposeful? Would you consider the program to be utilizing leisure, enhancing leisure, or both?

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