Being the amazing recreation therapist you are, you spend your time and energy creating outstanding recreation therapy groups.
You are pretty much recreation therapist of the year right?!
…where do I pick up my award?
But humor me and let’s role play a pretty common recreation therapy scenario.
You are preparing for an upcoming group at work. You have completed your recreation therapist duties including:
- considering all the unique treatment needs of your clients,
- spending time carefully preparing the supplies and materials needed, and
- setting up your programming space to create an inviting, warm environment.
It is group showtime!
You wait and wait. As time passes you realize your clients are not going to show up to the group.
Puzzled and disappointed, you collect your program materials and vow to try again tomorrow.
Sounds familiar?
During my time as a recreation therapist, I have learned that although it sucks when no one shows up to your group, this ‘no show situation’ can be traced back to a pretty common issue – lack of motivation.
If you are looking to motivate your clients to come to groups, while also setting and achieving treatment goals, then keep reading The Recreation Therapists Guide to Motivation.
What is Motivation?
Motivation in the why behind our everyday actions.
It is the biological, social, cognitive and emotional forces that initiates, guides, and maintains our goal-oriented behaviors.
Throughout history, philosophers and scientists have attempted to theories the contributing factors to motivation.
Lets quickly talk about three relevant motivation theories that all recreation therapist should know.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
The Hierarchy of Needs states that needs as necessary for human survival and development.
These needs are sorted into a pyramid.
- Basic survival needs, such as breathing, food, safety, and health found at the bottom.
- Psychological needs such as friendships and self-esteem are found in the middle, and
- Self-fulfillment needs can be found all the way at the top.
If your basic needs are met, you able to move up the pyramid to meet psychological and self-fulfillment needs.
But, if your basic survival needs are not satisfied, you cannot be driven to satisfy any further needs higher up the pyramid.
Makes sense though right? Who can focus on the complexity of human connection when you are hungry and have to pee?
Check out this quick video diving a little deeper into the theory.
Arousal Theory
Arousal Theory believes that humans are motivated by pleasure-seeking behavior that releases the neurotransmitter dopamine.
And our brains LOOOOVVVEEEEE dopamine.
For example, a long distance runner may choose to run for many, many miles to achieve the runner’s high effect.
Or an individual with an addiction to opioids may risk losing everything due to their brains biological need for more dopamine.
Incentive Theory
Incentive Theory states that humans are motivated in response to extrinsic or intrinsic incentives.
Extrinsic motivation occurs when you are motivated to perform a behavior or engage in an activity to earn a reward or avoid punishment.
“If I clean my room, my mom will give me 10 bucks.”
Intrinsic motivation occurs when you engage in a behavior because it is personally rewarding, rather than engaging to receive an external reward.
“I love the feeling of accomplishment and organization when I clean my room”.
In contrast with other theories that suggest we are motivated by our internal drives, incentive theory believes that we are pulled into action by external motivators.
Sure, I’ll babysit your kids… but only if you take me out for tacos… every Tuesday… for the next 5 weeks…
For more reading, check out the 8 Theories of Motivation here.
Photo by: Xan Griffin
Understanding our Clients Motivation
Why should we learn about the different theories of motivation?
Well, if we can understand what ignites the spark of motivation, we can tap into the why behind that keeps us enthusiastically propelled towards our goals.
Motivation is a key component to initiating lifestyle change.
Understanding what motivates those we serve will help us to encourage, engage, and inspire.
Also, you will be more likely to remain motivated in the future if you can identify the source of your motivation.
Do I clean my room because I want my allowance or to feel organized and accomplished … or do I just need to find a clean pair of socks…
FREE RESOURCE HERE– Help your clients find their motivation with the What Motivates You – Worksheet
Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation
As recreation therapist, we want the people we serve to reach their goals because they want to for themselves.
This is because intrinsically motivated people are more successful due to a strong inner desire to control their own lives.
Intrinsic motivation is endgame, but external rewards aren’t all bad. External rewards can spike interest and encourage participation and motivate folks to learn new skills.
Just be aware of the overjustification effect.
When rewards such as gold stars, money or other extrinsic prizes are given for behaviors that folks were already intrinsically motivated to do, in time they will become less motivated.
Bottom Line:
- Motivation in the why behind our everyday actions.
- Understanding what causes us to feel motivated is step #1 to creating a lifestyle change.
- You can use rewards, just don’t give out too many gold stars 😉
Do you have any tips on how to motivate those we serve?
Share with the recreation therapy community below 🙂
Here I am, intrinsically motivated to reach my “learn to rock climb” goals this year 🙂
