According to the American Therapeutic Recreation Association "recreational therapy, also known as therapeutic recreation, is a systematic process that utilizes recreation and other activity-based interventions to address the assessed needs of individuals with illnesses and/or disabling condition, as a means to psychological and physical health, recovery and well-being." (ATRA, 2009). This service helps restore and rehabilitate the functional ability and reduce the limitations one may have due to injuries or illnesses. A few of recreation therapies overall goals is to improve the functional behaviors of a client, whether that be a physical cognitive emotional, or social improvement. Recreational therapists strive to give their client the opportunity
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The first person that had a great impact on the start of recreational therapy was Florence Nightingale. She came to the British military hospital in Eastern Europe during the Crimean War in hopes of changing the way medicine, nursing, was practiced. She wanted patients to have more focus on them and to have better treatment and hospital conditions to improve their health (James, 2016). She succeeded in doing so and wanted to grow the field even more, but in a different light. She wrote about how beneficial it is for patients to care for pets and to listen to music, participate in needlework, writing, and other forms of creative activity. She saw this as a way to improve the life of an ill individual and used this to urge health care administrators to think about the patient 's conditions more thoroughly because they are the ones with the opportunity and health to do any job and participate in any recreational activity. Nightingale 's efforts helped establish the Inkerman Café, which was a wooden hut in the middle of the hospital complex in Britain and was used for recreational purposes and a coffee house …show more content…
In order to take the certification exam, one must complete at least fourteen weeks or five hundred and sixty-hour internship that is overseen by a recreational therapist that is certified. This requirement is often covered in a recreational therapy degree, but shows how important it is to gain experience. Experience not only allows one to access more knowledge about their future job, but it put them in the setting where they will start a career in. Recreational therapy, or therapeutic recreation, is a field that is still growing and always will be. It is becoming a popular degree among throughout the nation. More universities are becoming accredited in recreational therapy. Thomas Skalko, who wrote an article on the main accreditation committee, The Committee on Accreditation of Recreational Therapy, said, "Accreditation of academic programs in allied health disciplines is the dominant mechanism to assure that graduate of accredited academic programs possess the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) required for safe and effective practice (Skalko, 2013). The accreditation of universities is to confirm that they are providing the students with the appropriate curriculum that will advance then in their career. I think that this is an important part of recreational therapy. I think this is a good recent step to improving the
The first person that had a great impact on the start of recreational therapy was Florence Nightingale. She came to the British military hospital in Eastern Europe during the Crimean War in hopes of changing the way medicine, nursing, was practiced. She wanted patients to have more focus on them and to have better treatment and hospital conditions to improve their health (James, 2016). She succeeded in doing so and wanted to grow the field even more, but in a different light. She wrote about how beneficial it is for patients to care for pets and to listen to music, participate in needlework, writing, and other forms of creative activity. She saw this as a way to improve the life of an ill individual and used this to urge health care administrators to think about the patient 's conditions more thoroughly because they are the ones with the opportunity and health to do any job and participate in any recreational activity. Nightingale 's efforts helped establish the Inkerman Café, which was a wooden hut in the middle of the hospital complex in Britain and was used for recreational purposes and a coffee house …show more content…
In order to take the certification exam, one must complete at least fourteen weeks or five hundred and sixty-hour internship that is overseen by a recreational therapist that is certified. This requirement is often covered in a recreational therapy degree, but shows how important it is to gain experience. Experience not only allows one to access more knowledge about their future job, but it put them in the setting where they will start a career in. Recreational therapy, or therapeutic recreation, is a field that is still growing and always will be. It is becoming a popular degree among throughout the nation. More universities are becoming accredited in recreational therapy. Thomas Skalko, who wrote an article on the main accreditation committee, The Committee on Accreditation of Recreational Therapy, said, "Accreditation of academic programs in allied health disciplines is the dominant mechanism to assure that graduate of accredited academic programs possess the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) required for safe and effective practice (Skalko, 2013). The accreditation of universities is to confirm that they are providing the students with the appropriate curriculum that will advance then in their career. I think that this is an important part of recreational therapy. I think this is a good recent step to improving the