Importance of ATRA with Dr. McCormick, GLRTSC

Where do you get your insights and updates about our profession?

My answer: Our professional association!

Dr. Bryan McCormick (professor) at Indianan presented on the importance of professional associations at the Great Lake Recreational Therapy Student Conference (GL RT SC)on Sat. April 2, 2016.

Dr. McCormick is well known in the field. He has served on the board of directors for ATRA. He is also the author of nearly 50 peer-reviewed publications and 11 book chapters.

Dr. McCormick was my professor when I had attended Indianan University.

I’ve been a member of the American Therapeutic Recreation Association (ATRA) since either 2000 or 2001. I may have joined in 1999. Regardless, I wanted to share some of the information about it.

Here are a few of my personal notes taken during Dr. McCormick’s session:

We NEED strong local and national associations.

Our collective efforts are stronger over any one of our individual efforts alone.

ATRA has two main purposes:

1.)    Advocate
2.)    Enhance outcomes for the public/ clients we serve

All members of ATRA are part of the association.
Danny’s comment: as a member, I think it is a really cool club.

The majority of the work done for the association is done by volunteers/ members of the association.

Peter Thomas is the association’s legislative counselor. Danny P. comments: Mr. Thomas is a great guy. I’ve met him a few times before. His story: car accident as a child. He lost both legs. Received recreational therapy at the hospital (I think in Denver). He is an advocate for Rec therapy today.

When did ATRA start? 

Way back in 1984, 50 individuals founded the association with their own money. Dr. McCormick didn’t say how much they donated during this session, but I [Danny P.] believe recalling that each one of those individuals donated $1,000 of their own money to start the association.  Nobody asked them to do this. They took the initiative and did it.

Here are four areas that ATRA covers:

a.)    Credentialing
The number one reason to license a profession is to protect the public.
Danny P. comments: A person without a license (the layperson) who is not trained and experienced is most likely a good person. He or she wants to help as well. This person has very good intentions. However, because of their lack of training they could cause serious harm to a person with serious illness or disability.

b.)    Evolving healthcare
U.S. is # 1 in cost. It is expensive. Norway is second in expense.
However, despite these costs, the U.S. is ranked 11^th in being effective.
The least costly setting is in the community. It consists of keeping people healthy in the first place. It is preventative healthy. Prevention is a lot cheaper than treatment.

Three levels: it is a lot like a triangle.

Top very small part of the triangle is: prevention
Secondary – middle part of triangle: reduce the consequences of the problem.
Primary: treating illness.

Evidenced-based practice is that there is scientific research that gives proof that an intervention/ treatment/ activity really brings about outcomes. Dr. McCormick said it takes 16 years to go from discovery (that it works) to being implemented in practice.

c.)     Affordable Care Act (ACA)  - Obama Care
The future is uncertain. Many politicians claim they will repeal it. However, there are many aspects of it that has been implemented that would be hard to change.
The individual mandate may be repealed.

d.)    Public Policy and Advocacy

ATRA has very low numbers. Only 11% of Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialists (CTRS) are members of ATRA. That is not even 1/3.

• The physical therapy association has an annual budget of 26 million
• The occupational therapy association has a budget of 9.5 million a year.
• ATRA doesn’t even have a million. It has a .25 million annual budget.

Barriers: people claim it is the cost.

The physical therapy association has higher membership dues. Of course, many people claim, sure they make more. However, the cost based on salary is still more expensive for PT to be a member compared to the cost of a RT being a member of ATRA.

What does it cost?

Dr. McCormick shared the example of someone brining two happy meals in and saying the cost of ATRA is two-happy meals a month. It is affordable.

Dr. McCormick shared that membership is different from being a customer.
A customer wants to get the most out of it for the cheapest price.

Membership is different. Like the JFK quote: ask now what you country can do for you but what you can do for your country. Membership is really about taking the personal responsibility to stand up for your profession and the people who receive recreational therapy services (in the U.S.) by making a membership donation to a very good cause: ATRA.

Danny's comments:

There are two ways you can help advocate for our profession.

# 1. Money: donate your money to ATRA. I’d like to argue that membership is given to anyone who makes the membership donation.  No other person is going to advocate for RT like you can. Your boss/ supervisor, co-workers, or anyone else is not going to do it. It is up to you to promote ATRA.

# 2. Time donate your own time to serve ATRA. I don’t want to sound ageist. I hope I am being politically correct in saying this. ATRA as a whole has a lot of aging members. There are people who are ready to retire and move on in life. The association needs more active/ younger blood. I’d argue that if you (the person reading this blog) wanted any position in ATRA that you could get it. Run for any position and get elected. So what if you don’t get elected the first year. There are many more years. You’ll get your turn too.

Transparency: You might be asking, "Danny, why are you not a board member?" As you already know, I run and operate, DannyPettry, LLC, which could be a conflict of interest if I was on the board. However, I do volunteer my time to present at conferences, to assist with projects and other activities. I also make my annual membership donation to ATRA.

JOIN ATRA!

Note: I danny pettry, am not an official spokesperson for ATRA. I am simply one member who encourages more to join our cause. http://www.atra-online.com/

Join ATRA!

Dear friend,

I am a member of the American Therapeutic Recreation Association (ATRA).
Their recent newsletter was released by email. It is for members only.
I must say I do enjoy reading the newsletter.

I am not an official speaker for the organization.

However, as a member, I would like to invite you to join our professional association.

There are many benefits.

Go here for info.:

https://www.atra-online.com/welcome/become-a-member

Call for Manuscripts

Linda L. Buettner, Ph.D, LRT, CTRS sent an email with the subject line
"Call for Manuscripts"

Here it is:

American Journal of Recreation Therapy, an independent double-blind peer-reviewed print and online journal, welcomes original research manuscripts that contribute to the field of therapeutic and recreational therapies in the management of rehabilitation and quality of life for persons with disabilities of all ages. The journal also receives and publishes original papers regarding all uses of recreation therapy, as well as articles on the legal and regulatory issues surrounding this important field.

Manuscripts are accepted for review as original clinical or basic science research, case reports, clinical reviews, literature reviews, practical application, inservice updates and letters to the editor. Manuscript submission is handled electronically.

To submit a manuscript, please follow this link to http://ajrt.allentrack2.net.

For additional author guidelines and instructions please visit the journal's webpage, www.recreationtherapy.org .

American Journal of Recreation Therapy is the journal of record in the field and features a distinguished Editorial Review Board led by Editor-In-Chief, Professor Linda Buettner, PhD, LRT, CTRS. Dr. Buettner has a long standing reputation as one of the country's most respected leaders in the challenging field of recreation therapy.

As Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Buettner guides the journal's leadership role at a time when the spotlight has been switched on to the rising problem of abuse and poor quality of care for the disabled and long term care patients. We are actively seeking papers dealing with all aspects of recreation therapy. These include: - Basic Science and Research in RT- Innovative RT therapies for pediatrics, rehab, mental health, and geriatrics - Evidence to support recreational therapy - Innovative education and training for recreational therapy students- Exceptual student papers- Best practices for various disability groups- Advocacy and public policy issues vital to the profession - and more...

To submit a manuscript, please visit http://ajrt.allentrack2.net . There are no submission, editing or layout fees for articles submitted and published in the journal. American Journal of Recreation Therapy features a short time to publish as well as an online edition of the journal that can integrate audio and video presentations not available with the print version. Published authors receive print copies of journal with their article.

To submit an article click here. To subscribe immediately click here. For other details, contact the publisher, Weston Medical Publishing at 781-899-2702, or visit the Web page at www.recreationtherapy.org .

Programmatic Quality (before and after a CTRS)

I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the “Programmatic Quality: Before and After the Introduction of a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist (CTRS).” It was presented by Carolyn McDowell, M.Ed., CTRS on Wed. Sept. 21, 2011 at the American Therapeutic Recreation Association’s 2011 annual conference in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Carolyn had presented the effects of creating a CTRS position for a day program that served adults with developmental disabilities. She covered the restructuring of the program, satisfaction surveys (prior to) and (after) a CTRS, and the justification for a CTRS position.
I’m very pleased with what Carolyn has been doing!

Penn-Mar Human Services in the Baltimore area has been providing services for consumers since 1980.

Carolyn was hired as a CTRS in 2012. The day program was previously described as, “oh, that is a place where they do arts and crafts.”

Carolyn didn’t want the day program to be described this way. She took time to survey consumers, families, and staff.

Previously consumers were passively sitting all day. Some of the consumers would participate in a preferred activity such as a book or puzzle. There weren’t any real activity programming being provided for the consumers. They were sitting around in an activity room (that looks like a warehouse).

Carolyn was specifically hired to quality assurance. She helped to assure quality programs were being provided for this program. The new programs consisted of: social skills training, expressive arts, physical fitness at the gym, and a self-selected activity time. There are also community outings too.

In one year (from 2010 to 2011) surveys showed that consumers were more actively engaged in programs. Carolyn claimed that they’re not where they want to be yet, but they have made positive changes.

I think what Carolyn is doing for this population is wonderful. She is helping assure that consumers are receiving quality programs that could help the consumer to develop skills that could help them to obtain a job.

The benefits (as evidenced by 2011) surveys show improvement in a one-year timeframe!
Here are some of the take-home lessons that I received from this session:
Develop a satisfaction survey for the patients/ customers/ clients/ students/ consumers who you’re providing services for. I think a simple rating scale would be appropriate (“0” meaning not happy at all to “5” being very happy with numbers in between.
Questions could focus on several areas of programming, including:

Social, physical, cognitive, leisure, spiritual, time of group sessions, schedule, group setting/ environment, etc. Naturally questions should reflect the population being served. These questions should also be worded so the consumers taking the survey would understand it.

I had the opportunity to do something similar to what Carolyn has done while I was working on my graduate degree in Recreational Therapy while taking a consulting course at Indiana University.

I surveyed patients and staff about programs at a residential treatment facility for teens with offending issues in 2004. I regret to say I don’t have these survey results here right now. Several of the teens wanted more activities during group times opposed to watching t.v. and movies. They wanted more physical fitness activities too. Here was one of my surprise findings. Several of the direct care staff who oversees patients didn’t feel comfortable with providing group activities due to lack of experience, training, and other reasons.

I developed an Activity Training Program that taught the direct care staff how to lead group activities. I enjoyed providing the training session the most! And I felt the staff at this program got a lot of benefits from the training too. I should have done a follow-up on the training.

You may want to develop a satisfaction survey for your setting to assess your own setting. Develop improvement plans, Implement them and evaluate the outcomes. It sounds like the Rec. Therapy APIE process to me.

Rec. Therapy in Pediatric Pain Rehab.

I had the great privilege to attend and participate in the training session on “The Role of Recreational Therapy (RT) in Pediatric Pain Rehabilitation Program” by Gayle Kanary, CTRS. This was the first session she has presented and I'm glad she did because I admire her a lot. She is providing many neat RT interventions for Peds. in pain.

Gayle is a Recreational Therapist at the Children’s Hospital, Cleveland Clinic, Shaker Campus.

This is a three-week Pediatric Pain Program Rehabilitation and it is CARF accredited.

She played a quick video at the start of this session about their program. I felt very impressed at their overall program and what they’re doing to help children who are in pain. The video showed Occupational Therapists, Physical Therapists, and of course, Recreational Therapists!

You can watch that video at this link. It is a smaller video on the right side of the screen: http://my.clevelandclinic.org/childrens-hospital/specialties-services/therapy-rehab/pain-rehab.aspx

The children who are admitted into this program are diagnosed with some type of pain. It could be Headaches (chronic daily or migraines), abdominal pain, Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), Fibromyalgia, or pain associated disability syndrome.

I felt that I [Danny Pettry] had empathy for this population. I know what it is like to experience pain. I had dislocated my left shoulder from a skateboarding accident in 1996 (when I was 16-years-old). It was quite painful. This accident was during the summer so I didn’t miss any school. I had outpatient Physical Therapy (PT) and I thought PT meant Painful Things. It hurts, but it does get movement back.

Back to the training session:

The Pediatric Pain Rehab Program is designed to help get the child back to a full day of school, return to leisure and sports, recognize stressors in her (or his) daily life, use new tools to cope with stress and to help the individual switch from being in a “sick” role to more of a healthy/ well, role.

Their program is chockfull of individual and group sessions. The child isn’t allowed to stay-in-bed at this facility. Their day is full of sessions including: Aquatics, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Psychology, Recreational Therapy, School, Nutrition, and Music Therapy.

Their treatment staff acknowledges the child’s pain and express belief in it from day to day. They do not promise to eliminate the pain. They do help the child to change her (or his) mindset so that pain is no longer the focus.

Their program takes a holistic approach.

Although my [Danny Pettry] personal background has been in Behavioral Health with pediatrics, I think I would enjoy working in a rehabilitation setting like this one.

It appears to be rewarding work based on my observations from this training session.

Gayle uses two assessments. The CAPE/PAC is a standardized assessment designed by Occupational Therapist. This tool works for her population and she selected it with the help/ assistance of the OTs who work at her facility. She also uses the “Pie of Life” assessment. This is a circle with all the hours of the day from midnight until midnight. The child colors each part of the pie a different color for activities, including: sleep, school, homework, passive leisure activities, active/ physical leisure activities, etc. She said that many of the children have a lot of time napping, sleeping, and being passive during the day.

Gayle does so many wonderful Recreational Therapy Interventions to help each child to get back to life.

Here is a brief summary of the RT Interventions she facilitates:

• Aerobics: dance, Zumba, pool.
  
  


• Use of the swimming pool: swimming laps, treading in water, running, jumping, steps, noodle work, weight balls, and teambuilding.
  She went into detail about the expressive arts projects that she provides. I plan to implement some of these interventions to assist the patients who I provide services for in learning how to express themselves.
  


• Journaling: each child receives a prompt for the day. The child can choose to share aloud or not. It is their choice.
  


• Body Drawing: The child’s body outline is traced on a giant sheet of paper. Each child has to write something about each of these parts: eyes, heart, ears, mouth, hands, and feet. It can’t be generic like my eyes are blue. It must be in more detail.
  


• Masks: They can decorate a mask. They can choose to draw what they’re feeling for the day, a feeling they frequently have, a feeling they try to display to others, a feeling they’d prefer to have. They write words and phrases on the inside of the mask about what they have learned about themselves.
  


• Inside-Outside Box consists of a heart-shaped box. The child decorates the oustisde of the box with words that describe what others know about them. They put words on the inside of the box that are hidden from other people. They can also put their hopes and dreams on the inside of the box.
  


• Qualit making: the child receives a quilt square. I [Danny Pettry] don’t sew. I’d have my children draw the picture on a sheet of paper and compile them as a quilt. Gayle will hang the small qulity sheets from the ceiling.
  


• Time Capsule: This is a good family intervention. At the start of the program she has the child to write letter to future self. A parent writes a letter to a future self. The child can open it when she (or he) is discharged.
  


• Community Re-integration: The patient sets a goal to practice new skills in the community. They can go to a zoo, hiking, museum, or beach.
  Their program also offers evening activities that could consist of: games, crafts, movies, outside activities.
  


• Reiki: This is a Japanese technique of stress reduction that Gayle knows how to use.
  It promotes healing. ATRA is providing training on this topic at the ATRA conference. I regret to say that I’m not attending this training. This is based on an unseen life force energy that flows through us. It sounds interesting to me.

Gayle pointed out a few important reminders:
Regular exercise decreases stress, anxiety and depression.

Remember to help the person to return to fun and functioning!

Gayle said that they help the patient to control her (or his) response to the pain. The therapists help to motivate, encourage, and support the patient!

Overall, I give this session an: “A +”

I think it was awesome!

Here is a link for their program:
http://my.clevelandclinic.org/childrens-hospital/specialties-services/therapy-rehab/pain-rehab.aspx

Networking

Looking for great ways to network with other professionals in our field?

Look no further. Here are four great ways to network:

• The American Therapeutic Recreation Association (ATRA) offers several great ways to network. First, “Friend” ATRA on Facebook. You don’t have to be a member of ATRA to be their friend on Facebook. Go here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/americantherapeuticrecreationassociation

• Second, Join the ATRA ListServ. Again, you don’t have to be a member of ATRA to join this. Go here to subscribe. It is easy to do: http://www.atra-online.com/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=98

• Third, participate in the ATRA forum online. I think you might need to be an ATRA Member to participate in this online forum. You can post questions and get answers! http://www.atra.affiniscape.com/forum.cfm

• Fourth, participate in one of the treatment networks that ATRA has. They’ve got several, including: behavioral health, geriatrics, physical rehab and medicine, and pediatrics. I believe you need to be an ATRA member to participate in this one.

Heart Rate Variability

I attended a training titled: “Using heart rate coherence and variability as indicators of well-being” at the ATRA conference this morning.

It was presented by Diane Groff, Ed.D., LRT/CTRS.
I’m a big fan of this and I have attended similar trainings at nearly every ATRA conference I’ve attended: Annual in Kansas City, Mid-year in D.C. area, Annual in Minneapolis, and today’s session.

I’ve decided that I must start using this with the patients who I serve in my own practice.
Diana had shown data from cancer survivors that showed why the Heart rate coherence and heart rate variability are important to well-being.

I think this is wonderful!

I provide services for children who have had explosive physical and verbal outbursts. I think this equipment could be a great pro-active tool for teaching the child how to self-regulate her (or his) emotions.

We, recreational therapists can have a strong impact in regards to emotions.

Naturally, people experience a wide-range of emotions. All people feel anxious, stressed, angry, or sad from time to time. Recreational Therapists can apply “Choice Theory” when working with clients to help teach them that they can decide how long they want to stay in a certain emotional state.

There are techniques that can help a person to move into more balanced states.

The basic techniques taught during this session include:
a.) Deep-breathing (in through the nose and out through the mouth)
b.) Focus on heart (as in breathing out of your heart area)
c.) Focus on a time (and actually feeling) love and appreciation.

The computer monitor had showed the measurements on the screen with a volunteer.

Diane Groff had first got a baseline to show where the volunteer is on a normal basis. She then asked some very difficult math and history questions to purposely stress the volunteer. The monitor showed dramatic changes on the screen immediately as the volunteer was trying to solve these. Diane said that with enough practice a person could learn to control their HRT and HRC so they would not respond in a negative way. It takes some practice.

There is a company called the Institute of HeartMath that had several products that measure heart rate coherence (HRC) and heart rate variability.

There web-site is:
http://www.heartmath.org

I plan to order their hand-held device for both personal and professional use.

I hope to teach the children who I provide services for to learn how to self-regulate their emotions so they can be in a more calmer state so they’re better able to solve difficult situations in non-violent methods.

Diane gave a list with many resources, including: book and articles.

There are two books that I want to read:

1.) "The Coherent Heart: Heart-brain interactions" by R. McCraty, M. Atkinson, D. Tomasion, and R. T. Bradley.

2.) The appreciative heart: the psychophysiology of positive emotions and optimal functioning" by R. McCrary and D. Childre

Day # 1 ATRA 2011 & Josh Bleill

I arrived in Indianapolis, Indiana for the American Therapeutic Recreation Association (ATRA conference today.

I made it in good time driving from Huntington, West Virginia.

However, once I was in town my GPS said that my approximate arrival time would be in 3-minutes. I thought sweet!

However, that 3-minute trip took me 2 hours and 20 minutes!

Why did it take so long once I was in town?

The Indiana Colts/ Cleveland Browns game had just ended and traffic was crazy. There were tons of people walking across the streets.

I had never seen so much blue and white in my life. Well, the Colts had lost to Cleveland. The final score was 27-19.

Every time I tried to make a turn the police had roadblocks in place that prevented me from turning the direction I needed. The GPS recalculated and I hit another road block (laugh aloud). It was an adventure. I drove by the state capitol building once. It is a big capitol.

I arrive and discover that I was scheduled to arrive yesterday and that I lost my room because I didn’t register yesterday. I felt angry because I had paid for the room. They worked with me and got me a new room on the first floor. Thank goodness. I get there and my room key didn’t work. I sighed because I knew the opening ATRA session had started. I just ran to it instead and unpacked my stuff after that.

I didn’t a notebook to write down important messages that I wanted to post at my blog here for the readers.

I did see the ATRA board and heard the announcement for the Presidential Award. I saw many leaders in the profession.

I was fortunate that I had the opportunity to hear Josh Bleill speak. I felt he was very inspirational. I didn’t have my camera. I forgot it in the rush so I didn’t get any pictures.

Here is an older youtube video of him speaking:


Here is the link for his book on Amazon, which I hope to eventually read:

2011 ATRA Conf.

Please visit my blog often during the next few days for updates on the ATRA conf.

I’m going to the annual American Therapeutic Recreation Association. It is in Indianapolis, Indiana this year. Woo-hoo. I graduated with my Master of Science degree from Indiana University!

I just love those Recreational Therapists!

I’ll be excited to see some of the leaders in the field again such as:

David Austin
Tim Passmore
Diane Skalko
Peg Connolly
Ray West
Bob Riley
Michael Sutherland

People who I hope and expect to see:
Lisa Morgan
Mary Ann Aquadro
Vicki Scott
Kari Kensinger

Personal Note from Danny Pettry:

I have been a good-standing member of the American Therapeutic Recreation Association (ATRA) since 2000. I’m not an official spokesperson for the professional association. The comments made at my blog are my personal views and opinions.

I highly encourage you to join our professional association if you have done so already. Go here to join today: http://www.atra-online.com/registernewmembers.cfm

Dr. Austin's Blog

My academic advisor and professor during graduate school, Dr. David Austin has a really great RT Blog.

Dr. Austin became a "Professor Emeritus" after serving 29 years as a Recreational Therapy facultry member at Indiana University. He has written several books on Recreational Therapy, including my personal favorite, "Therapeutic Recreation Procesess and Techniques (currently in 6th ed.). Dr. Austin was also a founding member of the American Therapeutic Recreation Association (ATRA) and past-president.

Be sure to follow his RT blog here for weekly updates:


http://rt-blog.blogspot.com

Pre-Approved CEUS for the Rec. Therapist

I have some good information for the CTRS, of course, you should have already received an email from NCTRC at this time about the NEW pre-approved CEU program!

ATRA also sent an email.

Here it is:

The American Therapeutic Recreation Association (ATRA) and the National Council for Therapeutic Recreation Certification (NCTRC) are proud to announce the formation of a joint committee to establish a CEU Pre-approval Program. The purpose of the CEU Pre-approval Program is to improve services to CTRSs seeking to complete recertification requirements by assuring that potential ATRA CEU opportunities are approved by NCTRC prior to enrollment. It is envisioned that the CEU Pre-approval Program will result in an improved level of CEU related offerings and ultimately will expand the depth of critical knowledge gained via the NCTRC recertification process.

Representatives from both organizations have been working diligently during the past several months to complete a draft pre-approval process. A pilot project to test the newly developed process will commence with the 2011 ATRA Annual Conference to be held in Indianapolis, IN, September 18-21. CTRSs who attend the ATRA Annual Conference will be able to participate in educational sessions and earn continuing education hours that are pre-approved by NCTRC. It is anticipated that if the pre-approval process is successful during the initial pilot phase, then the program will be expanded to include other conferences and CEU related events.

Additional information about the CEU Pre-approval Program will be forthcoming from the joint committee on behalf of both organizations.

I, Danny Pettry will have the opportunity to attend the 2011 ATRA Conference in Indianapolis. I hope to see you there.

Who Wants to be a Good Rec. Therapist?

As you already know, I’m a Recreational Therapist. I am not a certified teacher. However, we, RTs do provide some education. In my case, I teach social skills, life skills, calming skills, problem-solving skills, as well as many more. Our allied professionals are also educators, too. Here is an example, nurses, providing nursing education to their patients.

Why am I talking about education at my Recreational Therapy blog?

Teachers are under a lot of pressure for performance.

I discovered this from watching the 2010 documentary “Waiting for Superman.”

Wow – that documentary is unbelievable.

The major point that I got was that the United States is ranked in the 20s among nations in major subjects like Math and Science.

Bill Gates goes on the record to say the problem with companies in America is that they’re having to look outside of the United States to fill high-paying positions because there aren’t enough Americans who are smart enough to do the job.

Wow, we’ve got a problem and guess who they blame? The answer is: teachers.

Okay, that is the teaching profession.

We’re in the Recreational Therapy profession.

I think this documentary could teach us RTs a lot.

First, we must produce results. Teachers and schools that don’t perform and have low graduates are criticized in the video.

Teachers get paid about the same regardless if they’re an outstanding teacher, mediocre teacher, or poor-performing teacher.

I’m not sure if that is the case with RTs. As far as I’m aware, we, RTs don’t have contracts like teachers have.

However, I do have a lot of passion for RT and want us as a profession to be outstanding. I’m a big advocate for what we do as Recreational Therapists to help the people who we serve. After all, The American Therapeutic Recreation Association (ATRA) had identified me as an “Advocate of the Year” in 2005.

My big challenge to all of us in Recreational Therapy is to provide outstanding services and to go the extra mile to being about the best outcomes possible for our clients/ patients/ people who we serve.

One bad recreational therapist could leave a bad impression for the entire profession.

Here is an example. I heard this story when I was in graduate school for Recreation Therapy. A nursing home or rehabilitation hospital had a lobby area with a television and VCR. They had several patients sitting in wheelchairs in this area. Apparently, they were calling this “Recreational Therapy and Cinematherapy.”

I’m not sure of the full situation. But simply playing a VCR tape for people in a room does not consist of “Recreational Therapy.” That seems nearly fraudulent to me.

There is a big difference between “Recreation” and “Recreational Therapy.” They’re not the same. The U.S. Dept. of Labor even clarifies in “The Occupational Outlook Handbook.” In Recreational Therapy, they say that “Recreation workers” are identified elsewhere in the manual. Simply providing recreation activities does not make it therapy.

This is the same for many other professions, too. Being a caregiver does not mean a person is providing nursing care.

Recreational Therapist consists of several things, including:

A Physician’s order for a clinical setting: rehabilitation, skilled nursing, psychiatric.

An assessment that gains information regarding the person’s strengths and areas of needed improvement in the following domains: social, physical, emotional, cognitive, and leisure.

A treatment plan (developed with patient/ person served) to address her (or his) areas of needed improvement and to build upon strengths. Include patient/ person’ served consent to treatment.

RT or TR interventions that are purposely provided to assist the patient/ person served with meeting his (or her) treatment goals.

Evaluation of outcomes.

For more information, I’d recommend for a Recreational Therapist to read ATRA’s “Standards or Practice.” A copy of this manual can be purchased at the ATRA web-site here:

http://atra-online.com/storelistitem.cfm?itemnumber=19

Here are two books by Jim Collins (a leadership expert) that may be interesting to read. They’re both books that argue that “good” is the enemy. The goal is to be great.

One book is on managing a company and one book is about principals of schools. I’m certain that we, RTs could take useful ideas from both books and apply them to our practice in order to move from “good” to “great.”

Who wants to settle for being a good RT when they could aim for becoming a great RT?

FREE Washington State TR Membership if you pre-register for conf.

Great benefit from WSTRA - attend the 12th Annual NW TR Symposium and receive a free year of WSTRA membership, effective 4/1/11 through 6/30/12!Register today! By mail using the brochure available at http://www.wstra.org/documents/2011SymposiumBrochure.pdf or online at http://www.wstra.org/sympRegistrationForm.htmlYour WSTRA Board of Directors

CMS and RT

I follow Jim Sabin’s National Healthcare Organizational Ethics blog. Sabin has been in health care for 40 years. He’s worked as a psychiatrist, medical director, teacher/ researcher, consultant, and he is a leader of the ethics program for a health insurer.

Other recreational therapists may be interested in following his blog, too.

Today (7/7/10) Sabin posted this following comment:

“CMS [Centers for Medicare and Medicaid] is the closest we come to a national voice. It's the crucial player in the health reform process.”

CMS sets the standard.

It reminds me of the process in which the American Therapeutic Recreation Association (ATRA) had worked to get CMS to explicitly list Recreational Therapy as a covered service in the manual. [which, CMS has done. Thanks to the great effort of ATRA advocacy.] R.T. has always been a covered service for three in-patient settings, skilled nursing, rehabilitation, and psychiatric. Some people were not getting services because of agencies were not certain RT services were covered since it wasn’t written in the manual.

What CMS does, others often follow because, as Sabin said, “they are the national voice.”


http://healthcareorganizationalethics.blogspot.com/2010/07/don-berwick-medicare-and-congress.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FfpPe+%28Health+Care+Organizational+Ethics%29

ATRA Conference

I received a flyer in the mail for the American Therapeutic Recreation Association (ATRA) Annual conference.

The dates are September 11 – 15, 2010.

It will be at the Doubletree Hotel/ Spokane City Center and Riverpoint Campus Eastern Washington University (Spokane, WA).

For more information, go to their web-site:

http://www.atra-online.com.

I wish I could attend this conference.
I had a blast last year at the ATRA conference in Minneapolis.

Topics

Here is a list of the main topics that are covered at my blog:

• CEU Opportunites
• Career Posts
• Research Updates
• Conferences
• Professional Association
• RT/ TR Books
• RT/ TR Resources
• RT/ TR News Updates
• College and University News Updates