I love, love, LOVE Recreation Therapy Month.
Since the beginning of the February there has been this amazing sense of excitement in the air. We can feel the growing support and praise from others for the work we do.
Throughout the month we also grew closer as a recreation therapy community, rallying behind each other by connecting on recreation therapy inspired social media posts. We joined recreation therapy meet-up groups and potlucks. We also worked hard at creating fun educational sessions to spread the love of recreation therapy.
As the month closes, I want to take some time to reflect on all that was accomplished. I also want to set some intentions and future actions that we as recreation therapist can continue to take on as we enter a new chapter of our ever-evolving profession.
(I will be using therapeutic recreation and recreation therapy interchangeably in this post.)
History of Therapeutic Recreation Month
Before we can move forward, it’s important to look back and appreciate how far we have come. Let’s quickly talk a little bit about the history of recreation therapy month.
It all started in 1984 when the National Therapeutic Recreation Society (NTRS), a branch of the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) at the time, established National Therapeutic Recreation Week as the 2nd week of July.
With a little research, I have quickly come to learn that the shift from the NTRS to the American Therapeutic Recreation Association (ATRA) was a bit of a tumultuous one. Get the tea here.
Meanwhile, in Canada, the Canadian Therapeutic Recreation Association (CTRA) began celebrating Therapeutic Recreation Awareness Week the first week of February since the association began in 1998.
It wasn’t until 2012 that both ATRA and CTRA, as well as the National Council for Therapeutic Recreation Certification (NCTRC) came together to officially proclaim February as International Recreation Therapy Month.
And here we are – it is 2019 and Recreation Therapy Month is stronger than ever!
Why do we Celebrate Recreation Therapy Month?
Aside from posting fun pictures on social media, exclaiming to the world how awesome our jobs/degrees are, we celebrate Therapeutic Recreation month to:
- Enhance public awareness of therapeutic recreation
- Connect with other recreation therapists and recreation therapy supporters
- Create a culture of empowerment for the growing community of recreation therapists, and boy is it growing! Did you know that every year 1500 people apply to take the NCTRC exam?! That is bonkers.
- To provide an opportunity to re-energize and promote new and innovative ways we approach our daily work and the future growth of the profession.
How do we Celebrate Recreation Therapy Month?
Throughout the month of February, so many amazing things took place. By highlighting the holistic nature of our work, recreation therapist really stepped it up this year. Here are a few of the awesome way’s recreation therapists celebrated this month.
Educated others about Therapeutic Recreation
This was done at the facilities we work at, on social media platforms and other online communities, at post-secondary institutes, and in the community with key stakeholders such as potential program partners, government officials, and future participants.
Connected with other Recreation Therapists’
It is so much fun meeting other recreation therapists, isn’t it? I’ve made so many connections this month and I couldn’t be happier. Some of the ways we connected were:
- Attending recreation therapy meet-up groups
- Joining growing online recreation therapy communities on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn
- Becoming Members of national/state/provincial recreation therapy associations (ATRA, CTRA, NLTRA, etc.)
- Making future plans to attend an upcoming recreation therapy conference of this year (ATRA, CTRA, STRS, etc.)
Advocated for Therapeutic Recreation Services
This one is super important which is awesome because we have experience advocating on a regular basis. Here are some of the way’s recreation therapist advocated this month:
- For the advancement of the profession by becoming Practice Advocates
- For those we serve by becoming a Coalition Advocates
- For changes in legislation that affects the profession of recreation therapy, including the VERY IMPORTANT Rehabilitation Therapy Act of 2017 (H.R. 626)
So much amazing work was done – but we still have lots left to do. I highly encourage you to check out ATRA’s Take Action page as well as connect with your state/provincial organization to see what you can do to support the continuation of advocacy efforts.
Moving Forward into 2019
The Recreation Therapy Month theme for 2019 was Energize and Innovate.
As recreation therapists, we do a fantastic job of energizing. We are excited and motivated by the work that we do. We also do a pretty swell job of innovating, but it is 2019 and the world is evolving fast. We need to be intentional about keeping up with trends and the future needs of our clients.
Remember the famous quote by Albert Einstein, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”? The future of recreation therapy is dependent on our ability to grow and adapt to our ever-changing culture and society.
In order to stay energized and innovative, my intention is to move forward into 2019 with these four questions in mind:
- What am I doing to stay current and updated on trends in the field?
- How am I truly providing evidence-based programming for those I serve?
- What am I doing to measure the effectiveness and quality of my programs?
- Are there other ways to serve others by filling current gaps in service?
Bottom Line
As Recreation therapists we know that when we facilitate a group our participant’s enthusiasm is most often reflected in the facilitator’s enthusiasm – correct? If we are working on spreading the love of recreation therapy – we must first LOVE it.
Take a moment to be proud of everything you accomplished this month. Let’s move forward together and grow this amazing profession.
Share below how you celebrated Recreation Therapy Month this year and what you plan on doing to continue the energy and innovation into 2019.
