14-year-old athlete with Down Syndrome advocates for sports

Inspiration!

Check out this kid!

He is 14-year-old athlete who advocates for other children to take up track.

Oh yeah, and he has Down Syndrome.

Read the CBC news article by Sara Vos here:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-jacob-macneill-1.3611054 

Public Speaking for Rec Therapists

I discovered Michael Port in 2007 while taking a business training course right before I launched my site, DannyPettry.com

I read his book, Book Yourself Solid, which is one of my favorites.

I definitely think Rec Therapists could benefit from his public speaking site here:

http://heroicpublicspeaking.com/live/fbhpslive2016ii.html

12 common misconceptions about Down’s Syndrome

I love the Huffington Post!

October is international down’s syndrome awareness month.

There was a neat article by Hayle G. who is an advocate for people with Down’s Syndrome that talks about 12 common misconceptions.

Read it:

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/hayley-goleniowska/downs-syndrome-misconceptions_b_5951198.html

TR with students by Maggie Whaley

Maggie Whaley provided a session titled: Conversation Café’: Exploring therapeutic recreation with students on Saturday, April 2^nd, 2016 at the Great Lakes Recreational Therapy Student Conference.

Maggie is great. She donates her own time to serve at the Student Chair of the American Therapeutic Recreation Association (ATRA). That is really great of you. Also: it is evident that being a member of ATRA also means that she is donating money to our profession/ professional association as evidenced by paying her annual membership dues.

She had the members break down in small groups of three or four.

Groups received a large sheet of paper (like a giant stick-it –note) with instruction to draw/ write/ create answers to several questions:

Regarding how people with various abilities are perceived.

What RT can do to advocate.

It appears that there are many wonderful ideas coming from this.

I feel confident that some neat promotional efforts are going to be the result of the student committee.

Those students will be tomorrow’s leaders of ATRA and our profession.

ATRA has a blog (including a student blog).

I, Danny P. have viewed the student blog a few times and posted feedback and comments.

Get involved. Join ATRA. Participate. Give back. 

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/

Recreational Therapy Month Presentation

I feel 100% confident that the Recreational Therapy month presentation that I had given today was effective. The turnout was a lot better than I had expected.

I had given a one-hour presentation on Recreational Therapy (in mental health focus) at River Park Hospital (Huntington, West Virginia).

It was a full house. Nurses, med students, CEOs, program directors, social workers, LPCs, and of course, our fun folks, the Recreational Therapists!

Way to go RTs! 

Recreational Therapy Month Promotions

Hello friend:

I've been advocating for our profession for many years. ATRA had presented me with a "Recreational Therapy Advocate of the Year" award in 2005.

Here are some things I've been doing to promote Recreational Therapy during this Feb. 2016:

• I had given a presentation about Recreational Therapy to a group of Family physicians at AccessHealth in Beckley, West Virginia on Thursday. 

The Beckley, West Virginia newspaper, The Register-Herald featured a newspaper article here: http://www.register-herald.com/news/beckley-native-celebrates-recreational-therapy-month-with-advocacy/article_82a5befd-5fe9-56e2-8fc2-84d2508d8724.html 

• Next week, I'll be providing a training about Recreational Therapy (with a mental health focus) to the public at River Park Hospital in Huntington, West Virginia. It is also worth one-hour of continuing education. Note: this one hour CE training has not been pre-approved by NCTRC or ATRA, but it has been approved for counselors, social workers, and nurses in West Virginia. 

The Huntington, West Virginia newspaper, the Herald-Dispatch has posted an announcement here:  http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/recreational-therapy-workshop-planned/article_39f0c0ce-d6ce-11e5-b72a-47093090271b.html 

• I had written a blog entry about Recreational Therapy month that you can read here: http://dannypettry.blogspot.com/2016/02/feb-is-recreational-therapy-month.html  

Feb. is Recreational Therapy Month!

February is International Recreational Therapy Month!

Danny W. Pettry, M.Ed., M.S., N.C.C., C.T.R.S., A.T.R.A-Member

            You are in our profession. You might be a practitioner, educator, or a student in a degree program. The primary job of practitioners is to provide RT/TR services to clients. The primary job of educators is to prepare students for a degree and future employment in our field. The primary job of a student is to learn all the skills they can to meet the requirements to become a practitioner in the field. Feel validated because you are doing great things.

           

Here is the big question: whose job is it to provide public relations? We might need a Smokey the Bear mascot who says: Only you can promote your profession!

            February is Recreational Therapy/ Therapeutic Recreation Month! This is a time when the people in our profession make a special effort to promote who we are and what we do to help people with illnesses and disabling conditions through the use of Recreational Therapy/ Therapeutic Recreation.

            Promoting our profession is for the greater good of society. Maybe a patient/ client in a setting will discover our services and seek us out. Maybe an authority for company will discover the therapeutic benefits and outcomes of our services and decide to make choices that are pro-RT/TR. Maybe third-party payers will discover how we are using evidenced-based practice and decide to include our services. Maybe practitioners who feel they are not validated as a professional will feel differently from our collective efforts to promote our profession. It is difficult to determine what the rewards of our efforts could be.

            Promoting TR/RT Month is easy-to-do and you can do. It consists of delivering a message to people who might not know who we are and what we do. These people could include fellow professionals (like nurses, physicians, hospital administrators). It could include people in your local community. It could be family and friends.

            It could be easier to promote our message in relation to specialized areas that the public has more general knowledge about. This could include the specialty areas, including: physical medicine/ rehabilitation, geriatrics, developmental disabilities, behavioral health, and community inclusion services, pediatrics, etc. Explain how RT/TR fits into making a difference for people in these areas. For example, people might have some general understand of behavioral health. However, they might not know what RT/TR practitioners are doing in these settings like helping a person to build new, healthier life and leisure skills they can use as an alternative to past self-destructive or harmful choices.

            Here are some easy ways you can promote our profession during TR/RT Month:

·         Send an email to your fellow colleagues at your place of employment.

·         Post information at your facebook, twitter, or social media.

·         Create a bulletin board at your facility.

·         Give a talk about the profession at your facility. Sometimes food encourages people to attend.

·         Contact your local media (newspaper,local-based magazines, radio, television stations) and ask them to do a story about the profession or what you do. Be sure to get permission from patients/ clients to avoid any patient privacy violations. Some people clients will be very willing to share their story and how RT/TR made a difference in their lives.

ATRA also has three new promotional products that you can order now from the ATRA Bookstore.

ATRA Products: https://www.atra-online.com/store/promotional-items

Charlie Dixon’s TR Directory/ RT Store: http://recreationtherapystore.com/

Danny Pettry’s Rec Therapy Store: http://www.cafepress.com/teachleisure

Share the link below on fb and a Rec Therapy Month graphic will appear!

http://www.dannypettry.com/RTMonth.html

therapeutic and health benefits of knitting...

Did you know there is health outcomes associated with knitting? Yes, it is based on research.

This is what I call “very rec therapy.”

My friend Robin W. a recreational therapist from New York (who I might add is one of the strongest advocates for our profession who I know) posted a link to the New York Times article on the health benefits of knitting, which can be read at this link:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/01/25/the-health-benefits-of-knitting/?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0

Of course, rec therapy is individualized.

I feel certain that knitting would stress me out. I don’t have the patience for it or the close up vision or the fine motor skills or the interest.  In flow theory, I’m not sure if I would be “bored” or “anxious.”

However, my younger brother took home economics in middle school. A lot of us guys laughed at the time. I didn’t laugh when he came out of class with homemade square shaped chocolate chip cookies. I think he even got his first date form a girl in that class. Okay to the point: my brother has been known to pull off some quick repairs sewing – especially when out camping. I think it is a great skill. One which I do not have. 

I'd also add that I know one therapist who uses knitting in therapy. 

TR promotion video

The American Therapeutic Recreation Association (ATRA) posted a "Therapeutic Recreation" promotional video on their facebook page that was created by the Atlantic Coast Therapeutic Recreation Organization.

Here is the video, enjoy:

Who Else Wants to Advocate, Market, and Promote What We Do: Recreational Therapy!

I think there is a huge potential for us, Recreational Therapists to market what we do online.

The problem is: some RTs may not know the first thing about online marketing.
“99 Things you Wish you Knew Before Marketing on the Internet” was written for us Recreational Therapists

Dear Recreational Therapist,

New York Times Bestselling author Peggy McColl has the tried and true formula that can boost the awareness of Recreational Therapy like a rocket through the virtual world and land us right at our rightful place amongst the stars.

Praise for “99 Things you Wish you Knew Before Marketing on the Internet”

• “If you follow Peggy’s guidance you can only win at this game of making money online.” - Brian Proctor, President of InsightoftheDay.com

• “At last, a high quality reference book for all Internet marketers, regardless of what stage they are at.” - Garry Booton

• “If I had known only five of the 99 Things that internet book marketing mastermind Peggy McColl reveals in this book, it would have saved me, and the authors I work with, hundreds of hours and hiccups.” – Judith Briles, Founder of Author U(niversity) and TheBookShepherd.com
  




• “One of the best things you can do for yourself and your business, if you want to succeed, is to study this book!” – John Assaraf, New York Times Best-selling author of “The Answer and Having it All”

Get it at this Amazon link:

“99 Things you Wish you Knew Before Marketing on the Internet” makes the daunting task of marketing your product online, a straight forward step by step process so that you too can enjoy the same success Peggy has realized in her own life.

Your friend,

Danny

P.S. Judy O’Beirn, President of Hasmark Services, (which just so happens to be the #1 company for internet book marketing campaigns) and Peggy McColl (widely acknowledged as a pioneer of internet marketing) collaborated on this book. What that means for you is that you’re getting a ‘behind the curtain’ peak inside two of the brightest minds in online marketing today.

“99 Things you Wish you Knew Before Marketing on the Internet" was written by the best so it’s got to be good!