13 books that encourage children to be kind.

Buzzfeed featured 13 books that encourage children to be kind!

Read it here:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/emeynardie/13-childrens-books-that-encourage-kindness-toward-26paw

6 books that can help calm anxiety

The Book Bub Blog featured six books that can help calm anxiety.

Now that is a type of Biblio-therapy.

Check them out here:

https://media.bookbub.com/blog/2016/05/31/books-to-help-relieve-anxiety/

Neil Gaiman's Library!

I enjoy reading and collecting books. and going to bookstores, and everything books.

So, naturally, I was super excited to see a picture of Neil Gaiman's library.

I've read a few of his books, which I find to be very odd and unusual, which I enjoy.

Here is a picture of his library:

http://io9.gizmodo.com/5352953/take-a-peek-inside-neil-gaimans-library/

12 books that everyone should read according to a Neuroscientist

Mikaela is one of my best friends from graduate school. I had taken classes with her at Lindsey Wilson College while we were both working on our Master of Education in counseling.

Mikaela is a great friend and a great resource.

She posts many interesting things on her facebook and her pinterest page.

Today, my friend introduced me to a link that includes 12 books that everyone should read according to neuroscientist Sam Harris.

I regret to say that I haven’t read any of the books that Mr. Harris had recommended, but I’ll do a quick amazon search to read the reviews at the least.

I do think that reading and learning is a key to success.

Here is the link:

https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/07/21/sam-harris-reading-list/  

Seize control of your destiny. Live life on YOUR terms!!

If you’re like me, you’ve thought about it a million times. The freedom that comes with entrepreneurship. The professional fulfillment that can only be achieved if you’re working for yourself.

 

The security of owning a business where you can’t be downsized, reshuffled, pushed into retirement, or asked to absorb the work of yet another phased-out colleague into your own jam-packed work day. 

 

The days of long-term “security” that used to come with a corporate career are gone. And they’re never coming back—especially if you’re in your mid-forties or crossed over into your fifties.  We live in an age when real security comes not from having a job, but from owning a business. 

 

That’s why I’m so pleased to tell you about a special new book by a colleague for whom I have a ton of respect. His name is Pete Gilfillan, and he’s widely respected as a thought leader in his field.

 

In his new book, HIRE YOURSELF – Control Your Own Destiny Through Franchise Ownership, Pete shows you exactly how business franchising can open the door to exciting new career opportunities, and total professional freedom!

 

Let’s face it. True career freedom is everyone’s dream. However, few people achieve it. But today can be the day you take a giant stride toward being among the few who answer only to themselves.

 

You can take that giant step because HIRE YOURSELF is an incredible resource that

bridges the chasm between the corporate grind and career independence!

 

I’m not sure what your personal situation is. Maybe you’re burned out on the corporate game.

 

Or maybe you’re at a crossroad due to a downsizing, or a reorg, or a buyout, or a merger…or some other fiscal event you can’t control.

 

Maybe you have a close friend in this situation.

 

Or perhaps you’re developing a five- to 10-year plan for escaping the corporate grind and choosing a next phase of your life where YOU call the shots.  

 

Whatever path you’re on, HIRE YOURSELF will expose you to a thriving world of franchise opportunities where you…

 

- Chart your own course

- Leverage your passion and skills

- Make your own schedule

- Embrace a professional life of integrity and self-respect

- Generate the revenue you desire and deserve

 

“You have the choice to either work toward your goals or someone else’s so why not be your own boss. HIRE YOURSELF is THE best tool you can have when taking that step in your franchise investment.”

                                                                                                                                                           

—ROBERT HUDGENS, Entrepreneur, success coach and self-made millionaire

 

 

A Book Review of: Hope: a memoir of survival in Cleveland: Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus with Mary Jordan and Kevin Sullivan

Disclaimer: This is a book review by Recreational Therapist Danny Pettry. If you suffer from a health condition, you should never use Rec. Therapy Today blog and newsletter entries instead of professional medical advice. Please seek a professional evaluation for treatment. For practitioners (recreational therapists, counselors, healers), many of the suggestions at this blog could be used in medical treatment under the recommendation and supervision of attending physician.

 

Title: Hope: a Memoir of survival inCleveland

 Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus (two of the three girls who were kidnapped in Cleveland).

It was written with Mary Jordan and Kevin Sullivan.

Published: 2015, Viking, Penguin Publishing Group, Penguin Random House.

 

I work at a residential treatment facility where I provide services for children ages 7 to 12 who have suffered trauma. (physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, severe neglect, or domestic violence or have witnessed a disaster).

I read books on trauma to learn more about resiliency and to build more empathy for those who I provide services for.  In the past, I’ve read books about those who have survived and escaped, like

• Natascha Maria Kampusch,
• Jaycee Lee Dugard; and
• Elizabeth Smart.

I’ve also read Jessica Lynch (who was rescued in Iraqi freedom operation).

 

About the book: Hope:

Amanda Berry had been kidnapped by A. Castro in Cleveland on her way walking home from her shift at Burger King. He raped her and held her captive for ten years. There was another woman who was already being held captive there (Michelle Knight). However, she was not part of this book. Later, A. Castro kidnapped a third victim, Gina DeJesus.

Amanda became pregnant and had his child, Jocylyn (Joci)

The three women were raped often. They were chained to radiators and locked in their bedrooms (with boarded windows) or in the basement. They suffered emotional abuse (being called names and having put-downs). They were physically abused beaten.

Finally, one day, Castro let his guard down and didn’t chain Amanda or lock her in her room. Her daughter Joci told Amanda that her dad was gone. Amanda sneaked downstairs, knowing if caught she could be beaten and tortured. She discovered Castro was gone and then realized the front door had another padlock. She was able to yell for help and beat down the door and got out and rescued.

 

My Thoughts and Feelings:

I think it is awful what these girls have experienced. I think Amanda was very brave to do what she did (to escape). Amanda new her mother had passed away from the news. She said she felt her mother pushing her to go and escape.

 

I thought it was awful when Amanda reported that one woman (who was older) outside didn’t believe Amanda was Amanda and didn’t help. It sounded like the woman was shaming Amanda. I felt real irritated at that.

I thought many times during this book: why does this have to happen?

 

More Feelings:

I felt a mix of emotions reading the book.  It was an emotional roller-coaster ride of empathy. Of course, I’ll never truly know what Amanda, Gina, and Michelle felt and experienced.

I know I felt extreme sadness during the book. Feelings of excitement, delight, and hope filled my heart when Amanda went for the move to escape. I’m so glad she did.

 

My Hopes:

I hope we are able to find more missing people.
I hope we can find ways to help stop these things from happening.

 

My Plans:

I am trained as a recreational therapist and a mental health counselor. I’m currently a provisionally licensed counselor and working towards obtaining a full license to practice counseling. Counselors work with all age groups and for people with a variety of needs. I’ve worked with children who have been abused since 2002. I plan to continue working with this population and continuing advancing my training to be the best service provider I can be. I find this to be meaningful work.

Naturally, I want to be an advocate for people who have suffered traumas, abuse, or other major problems. I plan to help teach safety skills to children and teens. I plan to encourage children in my family to have cell-phones handy so they can contact someone in case of an emergency.

Who might benefit from reading this:

Some therapists may consider using this book as a biblio-therapy technique to help teens or adults who have suffered trauma and abuse.

Some therapists who teach Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Skills may want to have teens or adults to read this book as a comparisons tool. One DBT technique is to compare yourself to others who are in worse off situations. I can’t imagine many people who have experienced worse than these girls and yet, here they are, bright as ever today and resilient.

 

Source:

Jordan, M, and Sullivan, K. with Amanda Berry and Gina Dejesus. (2015). Hope: a memoir of survival in Cleveland. Viking: Penguin Publishing Group, Penguin Random House: New York, NY.

 

Borderline Personality Disorder (memoir)

A memoir by Talya Lewis (released in 2014) about growing up with borderline personality disorder (BPD) is FREE today on the kindle. Not sure how long it will be free. I thought my therapist friends would be interested in this book. I purchased it and plan to read it this week.
The girl had been several inpatient psychiatric experiences as well as a “special school” According to the book summary, she survived and is a healthy adult.

How to be more creative

Here is an interesting video on creativity:

Dr. Bryan MCCormick - distinguished fellow

My professor at Indiana University, Dr. Bryan McCormick had won distinguished fellow award at the 2014 American Therapeutic Recreation Association (ATRA) conference.

I was real pleased about this.                                

You can read an article about Dr. McCormick here:

http://www.idsnews.com/article/2014/10/sph-professor-reecives-distinguished-fellow-award

Dr. McCormick posted a picture of his new book on FB, that I’m sharing here:

 

You can get this book here:

http://www.sagamorepub.com/products/recreational-therapy-4th-ed-ebook

 

My good friend and fellow West Virginian, Charlie Dixon had won this award last year. I was very pleased about this. I was in attendance at this conference and had heard him speak.

Charlie operates the TR Directory online: http://www.RecreationTherapy.Com

NEW TR Book! Get yours today!

Dr. Norma Sumbo posted the following at the ATRA ListServ Today:

Just wanted to let you know that the new Facilitation of Therapeutic Recreation Services: An Evidence-Based and Best Practice Approach to Techniques and Processes is now available. Attached is a flyer that lists the chapters (such as Social Skills, Sensory Stimulation, Community Integration, Anger Management, Stress Management, Virtual Reality, etc.)

You can get the book here:
http://venturepublish.com/product.php?id=172

Here is the Table of Contents:

Chapter 1: The Need for Evidence-Based and Best Practice Interventions;

Chapter 2: Leisure Education;

Chapter 3: Selecting and Programs and Activities-Based on Goals and Outcomes;

Chapter 4: Planning and Leading Group Activities/ Group Interventions;

Chapter 5: Communication Techniques;

Chapter 6: Instructional Techniques;

Chapter 7: Counseling Theory and Practice: Some Applications for Leisure Education;

Chapter 8: Health Behavior Change Theories and Models;

Chapter 9: Problem Solving Therapy;

Chapter 10: Anger Management;

Chapter 11: Social Skills Training;

Chapter 12: Assertiveness Training;

Chapter 13: Physical Activity;

Chapter 14: Pain Management;

Chapter 15: Cognitive Behavioral Approaches to Therapeutic Recreation;

Chapter 16: Intergenerational Programming;

Chapter 17: Stress Management;

Chapter 18: Sensory Stimulation and Sensory Integration;

Chapter 19: Reality Orientation, Validation, and Reminiscence;

Chapter 20: Community Integration;

Chapter 21: Virtual Reality Technologies

You can get the book here: http://venturepublish.com/product.php?id=172

Rec. Therapy in Public Schools.

I had the great privilege and opportunity to attend the “Recreational Therapy in School Settings: Current Status and Future Directions” at the 2011 American Therapeutic Recreation Association (ATRA) conference.

It was provided by: Lisa Mische Lawson, Ph.D., CTRS (of Kansas City area), Kathy Coyle, Ph.D., CTRS, and by one practitioner: Thea Kavanaugh, CTRS (New Mexico).

Note: Thea claimed that she found her position via the RecreationTherpay.Com job page. That web-site is operated by my good friend and fellow West Virginian Charlie Dixon. Here is the link: http://www.recreationtherapy.com/jobs

Okay, let me get back to the session. Sometimes I get off on tangents when I’m writing.
The purpose of this session was the take a look at the current status of Recreational Therapy in the school systems. There are Recreational Therapists in a number of schools throughout the United States. Several states were shared aloud. My state “West Virginia” was not one of them. I already knew this.

Recreational Therapists could work in three different positions for schools

These could include:

• Full-time staff



• Consultant



• Contractual employee. I think any real go-getter could create businesses and start providing services as a contractual employee.

Overall it will take strong advocacy! A Rec. Therapist could attend a local Board of Education meeting!

A Recreational Therapist can’t just go in and do anything in the school setting.

There are regulations.

• Recreational Therapists in community settings must follow the American with Disabilities Act (ADA).



• Recreational Therapists in behavioral health and rehabilitation must follow Medicare.



• Recreational Therapists in Schools must follow the Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and No School Left Behind.

The good news is that “Recreation and Therapeutic Recreation” is a covered service under IDEA. A child with special needs has the right to these services when they can help a child to function more independently in a school setting.

IDEA mandates: zero rejection, non-discriminatory evaluation, appropriate education, and least restrictive environment.

The services must be listed on the child’s Individual Education Plan (IEP). It might not specify for a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist (CTRS) to provide the services. The rules vary from state to state. Most states will claim the highest qualified person. Naturally, a person with CTRS credentials would be the most qualified to provide Therapeutic Recreation (TR) a.k.a. Rec. Therapy services. This would be an easy argument to make if interpretation of the best qualified was an issue.

It is important that the IEP is written in a way that demonstrates the child will function more independently in the educational setting.

Thea had shown several examples of her IEP goals, quarterly progress reports, and annual progress reports for students. I think she is very through and she is setting a good example for recreational therapists in all settings. I felt very inspired by the picture slideshow of the things she is doing to help the children in her school district! It looked awesome! I’m so glad the students there have her.

There are four things that a Recreational Therapist in a school setting can do:

• Assessments



• Planned Therapeutic Recreation (TR) interventions



• Social skills training/ Activity skills training, Leisure Education



• Recreation opportunities/ Community

It is important that Recreational Therapists are using interventions that are based on research. Evidenced-based practice is important. It shows that interventions have been proven to be effective. The school system calls this Scientific Evidence Practice.

There are several laws that RTs should know about:

• Clarion-Goldberg, Comm. School Dist. (1994) showed that leisure goals can be on an IEP



• Re Child with Disabilities (1993) showed that social skills can be on an IEP



• Franklin # 5 School Dist. (1985): a child with autism had been banned from afterschool program due to disruptive behaviors (which is typical for a child with his diagnosis). This law showed that a child can’t be denied services due to his (or her) disability.
  

Two more to look up and know about are:
Montgomery Co. Public Schools (1998) and Silsbee Independent School District (1997).
Information can also be found at:
http://www.wrightslaw.com/

I work in a residential behavioral health treatment setting. We have an on-campus school. Sometimes a child will arrive to our facility with an IEP. I’ve never seen one that identified a Recreational Therapist as a “Service Provider.” I think that would be awesome!

There are many things that I provide at the facility that could be on an IEP for a child with special needs. Some of the interventions that I provide include: assertiveness training, social skills training, conflict resolution skills, community re-integration, opportunities for physical fitness, leisure education, and recreation/ activity task skills.

I don’t do much with fine-motor skills or transition skills. There have been a limited amount of children with these needs.

You can get in touch with Thea Kavanaughat the ATRA site here. Note: you must be a member of ATRA to access this forum:

http://atra-online.com/forumviewmessage.cfm?forumnbr=6775&topicnbr=13582&discussionnbr=786585

ATRA also offers a good book Therapeutic Recreation in Special Education. Here is a link for that book:

http://atra-online.com/storelistitem.cfm?itemnumber=85

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:

Prevent Cognitive Loss

Brenda Torress, CTRS informed me about Dr. Levine's TTAP Program that teaches Brain and domain functioning in preventing cognitive loss, Alzheimer's, and rebuilding/maintaining a healthy brain!

Brenda is also TTAP Certified and she plans to utilize the technique in her professional practice through cognitive,physical,social,emotional,and spiritual stimulation!

Here is a video with Dr. Levine that Brenda had shared:




Here is a link for Dr. Linda LEvine's book:

A FREE Book!

Steven Pressfield is the author of one of my top 10 favorite books.
It is called, "The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles."
I think this is one of the best books on promoting creativity. This book was ranked #60 in best-selling books today at Amazon. Here is the link. I think the cost is $7.44.



You may have seen the movie "The Legend of Bagger Vance." The movie was based on the book by Steven Pressfield.



I was so excited when I found a FREE book by Pressfield.

It is called, "Do The Work" and it is by Steven Pressfield. It cost money to have a copy sent to you. However, the kindle version of this book is FREE (or at least it is today). I downloaded it. I like to share good information with people when I find it.

Here is Product Description: Could you be getting in your way of producing great work? Have you started a project but never finished? Would you like to do work that matters, but don't know where to start?

The answer is Do the Work, a manifesto by bestselling author Steven Pressfield, that will show you that it’s not about better ideas, it’s about actually doing the work.

Do the Work is a weapon against Resistance – a tool that will help you take action and successfully ship projects out the door.

“There is an enemy. There is an intelligent, active, malign force working against us. Step one is to recognize this. This recognition alone is enormously powerful. It saved my life, and it will save yours.”

Creativity is one of the key qualities that a Rec. Therapist should have. I think this book would be good for creativity.

Here is the link for the book:



During my leisure, I read a lot of books. I enjoy end of world stories (Dystopian novels)
Pressfield has a book coming out in June 2011. This book takes place in the year 2032. Here is the link for people who'd like to pre-order it.

Do you work with people who have Cancer?

Dear Friend,

Do you work with people who have cancer? If so, you might be interested in this book. It could be a good book to share with your patients.

The veil is pulled back and we are able to enter into the
strength, courage and fortitude of another soul who found themselves walking through the dark night.

The courage and choice for life on all levels gives the reader
the opportunity to reconnect their forgotten strength that lies within.

This is a story of inspiration and encouragement that will
ignite the heart and soul of anyone who encounters it."
-- Lauren E. Miller, Cancer Survivor

Important Notice: A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the book are being donated to cancer research so please make sure you let your list know how important it is to buy this book next Tuesday (May 3rd).


Here is a Short You-Tube Video with the Author:

Info. About The Book:


You have the opportunity to purchase a book about a truly magnificent person. Carole’s Story…A Scottish Gem will take you on an adventure, which involves romance, courage, strength and hope. Befriend her, and live vicariously through her life.

You will become empowered, your inner strength will be ignited and it will make you follow your heart. Put your faith into action and start out on your own life-changing journey as well as taken action in Michele’s journey of HOPE.

As Michele Rodger, author of “Carole’s Story…A Scottish Gem” was writing this book in tribute to her sister-in-law Carole’s life, she came into contact with so many people who wanted to support her cause, and her vision became crystal clear.

This book will be used as a vehicle in supporting the kanzius Cancer Research Foundation, a non-invasive treatment using radio waves.

Portions of the proceeds from the book will be donated to this research therefore, if you own this book you not only have purchased an incredible book but you have also personally contributed and became part of this journey of hope.

Peggy McColl said: This is a wonderful heartfelt account of her sister-in-laws life, which will touch upon your emotions. As you travel through this book, you will vicariously live through Carole and will become a close friend, mother, sister or daughter. She will inspire and empower you, but most of all it will give you a fresh outlook on your own life.

Over 60 Free Gifts are available for you today!

(Including a $5 coupon for the book that I've written, Building Character with Sam, Izzy, & Many Other Dogs.

There are many people who are supporting Michele in this journey of hope and they have donated individual free gifts for you if you become a proud owner of this book. There are over 60 free gifts and you can have as many as you like. Become part of this journey of hope today and become inspired as you read this incredible fantastic book about a lady who always reached for the stars.


You'll get the Gifts if you order from this Link:


http://www.aScottishgem.com/book

Or you can get it here from Amazon:

A Great Book for Children!

I am a big fan of Sandra McLeod Humphrey's (2007) book, "Hot Issues, Cool Choices: Facing Bullies, Peer Pressure, Popularity, and Put-downs."

I'm a Recreational Therapist for children ages 7 to 13. I teach social skills, character development, coping skills, and problem-solving skills.

The therapeutic use of stories is one technique that I use to help teach children these valuable life skills. I often use the stories and discussion questions from Humphrey's book. I'll have the children put on a play to role-model the stories from the book. I encourage the children to use the social skills and character values taught from previous sessions in their role-play.

Here is a video for Humphrey's amazing book! I suggest that every parent or teacher for ages (7 to 14) should get a copy of the book for their child or classroom. Watch the video here:



Here is the amazon link for the book:


And if you've not done so already, get a copy of my children's book that uses pictures of cute animals to teach character values. Go here:

Coverage of Rec. Therapy -- Book Review.

I recently read Tim Passmore’s “Coverage of Recreational Therapy: Rules and Regulations” (2nd ed.). This book is published by the American Therapeutic Recreation Association (ATRA). All profits from this book to to ATRA. Passmore does not receive any.

I admire Tim Passmore and what he is doing to advocate for the profession. Recreational therapists need to know what the requirements are to assure coverage of services.

Here is an example:

I work in an inpatient psychiatric hospital setting. Passmore points out the requirements for “active treatment” that are outlined in the Medicare Benefit Policy Manual. One requirement is a physician’s order for treatment.

I first learned of this requirement when I had attended a session "on coverage" by Passmore at the 2009 ATRA conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I immediately went back to work and checked into this. I discovered we do have a standard order for all admissions (where I work at -- in one of the two Virginias).

Basically, our order is a checklist of therapies to be provided such as: individual therapy, Therapeutic Recreation/ Education (TR/Ed), and others. It is checked off (usually by an admission nurse) and the physician signs it. Of course, the physician can always write an order for other interventions when needed, too, such as: Community Re-entry outing.

Many of the requirements for “active treatment” are the same as the standards of practice for our profession, including: conduct assessment, work with patient/ client to develop an individualized treatment plan, provide interventions to assist the patient in meeting her (or his goals), evaluate outcomes, and form a discharge summary at the time of discharge.

Naturally, active treatment requires the goals to address areas of functional improvement. Here is an important concept: Simply providing recreation activities in a clinical or hospital setting does not constitute as “therapy” or in this case “active treatment.”

Don’t get me wrong. I think recreation is great! My undergraduate degree is in Park Resources and Leisure Services. Of course, I have an emphasis in Therapeutic Recreation. I think recreation activities are great! I also realize that simply providing an activity like “Bingo” or “DVD Movie” in a hospital setting isn’t Recreational Therapy. It is just divisional activities.

I think activities for diversion is great! However, these activities wouldn’t be covered under “active treatment” in the Medicare policies manual.

Be sure to get a copy of this book to make sure you’re in alignment with requirements for coverage for your setting. Passmore covers the required steps for inpatient physical rehabilitation and inpatient psychiatric hospital facilities.

Here is the link for the book: http://www.atra.affiniscape.com/storelistitem.cfm?itemnumber=1

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?

Initiative

I finished reading Seth Godin’s (2011) book, Poke the Box. The subtitle is “When was the last time you did something for the first time?”

This book is all about taking initiative, doing something, being creative, failing, and of course, succeeding.

I thought many recreational therapists might enjoy reading this book.
Godin talks about Ford’s assembly line and how the managers wanted compliance to get cars created.

In today’s word, that isn’t enough. The world is changing. Those types of jobs are being sent to other countries. We need people who’ll be brave enough to be initiative, even if their first ideas fail.

Godin said in his (2011) book, “They don’t understand that Excellent isn’t about working extra hard to do what you’re told. It’s about taking initiative to do work you decide is worth doing.” This quote reminds me a lot of Daniel Pink’s recent book, “Drive.”

Godin ends the book by sharing a quote by Siddharth Gautama:
“There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth. Not going all the way, and not starting.”

You may want to start reading Godin’s new book. You can download it in under a minute if you have an amazon kindle or have it shipped right to your door.
Here are the Amazon links:

A.) Kindle is only $4.99 at the time I’m writing this blog. That price may change by the time you’re reading this. I read it on my kindle. Here is the link:


B.) Book sent to your door:

Coverage of Rec. Therapy

Tim Passmore's (2nd Edition) of Coverage of Recreational Therapy: Rules and Regulations has been released this year. It is published by ATRa.

You can get it at this link:
http://www.atra.affiniscape.com/storelistitem.cfm?itemnumber=1

I placed an order for a copy tonight.