Recreation Therapy

I have been asked so many times what Recreation Therapy is. Am I a PE teacher? Is it like sports medicine? The answer is a big fat NO to both of those. The textbook definition that my professor made us memorize and quote to people again and again is this, "A holistic approach of therapy using the mode of recreation to help people change physically, mentally, spiritually, intellectually and socially."

So, then the questions come, "How did I get into this?" and "What do I do?" How I got into this can be a very long or very short explanation. I'll go with a shorter version. I have always had a difficult time sitting still and looking at paperwork. So, I knew I needed to be doing something active. I used to think that something was Occupational Therapy. I found that when you do OT working with younger kids, you get to do really fun games and activities. However, that required more school than I really wanted and also put a lot of confinements on me. I wasn't happy working with little kids all the time. I wanted a more mature population. So, I was searching for undergrads while in college. I tried speech therapy and elementary education. Neither suited me. Then I stumbled across Therapeutic Recreation. I started looking into it. It was like a puzzle piece that was destined to be fit together. I immediately signed up for it and have stayed involved ever since.

Now, the question, "What do I do?" Since college I have gotten my certification and license as a practicing recreation therapist. I work with troubled youth in a residential treatment center. I plan groups to do with the kids a few times a week where we do challenge activities, sports, games, etc. We do activities that force the kids to build their social skills, listening, communication, teamwork, leadership, support, trust, etc, etc. Then, the last 10 minutes of the group we sit down and we talk. How did we do? What could we have improved on? How could this help in our lives and in our therapy programs? I could go on and on with questions we think about. But, I think you get the idea. This gives the kids a chance to reflect on themselves, how they are growing, and what they can continue to work and improve on.

My favorite quote from one of my clients after stating that he hated recreation therapy was this, "They trick me into learning things." So, I guess that gives you an idea of what I do for a living.

Here's an example of a group I did on Tuesday. It's called the "Golden Rule". I gave each kid a piece of paper and told them to write their name in the right hand corner. Then I gathered back up the papers and redistributed them to different people. I then told them to then write their name on the left hand corner. Then, they needed to write down something that they wanted the person in the right hand corner to do within the confines of the gym. Then I gathered up the papers again. I read aloud what person A wanted person B to do. Then I asked person A to go do it. Some of the kids complained about doing it. I asked them, "why? they expected person B to do it, why couldn't they?" Then they would go do whatever it was. They did things like running 8 laps around the gym and then spinning in 10 circles and playing basketball with an imaginary friend and singing the "Sound of Music". Then we talked about what the Golden Rule was and how they could apply it. We decided we wanted to give it a try. We played a game of basketball. There was only about 2 or 3 kids that stuck with it. Others were fouling, pushing, yelling and provoking like crazy. Well, it made for good comments afterwards.

So, there you have it! I trick people into learning things by letting them have fun and then think about what happened!