Day in the Life of a Recreational Therapist
Recreational therapists help people with disabilities and chronic diseases find ways to enjoy themselves, despite their long-term conditions. They focus on helping clients improve and maintain physical and emotional wellness, through both group activity and one-on-one counselling. Daily duties of recreational therapists include designing activities, consulting with other health-care professionals, leading group events, meeting with clients individually and completing paperwork.
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Administrative Duties
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Most recreational therapists have office space in the hospital, rehabilitation center, school district, retirement home or assisted living center that employs them. They start their days by checking their emails, reviewing their appointment schedules and listening to phone messages. Therapists also make time to complete required paperwork. According to CTICareerSearch, documenting patient goals and progress is an important part of the job. The therapist draws up initial assessment notes, conference notes and final discharge reports for every patient they see. While the therapist takes rough notes during meetings with patients, she spends time at the beginning and end of her day gathering her thoughts and drawing up final paperwork.
Activity Planning
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Recreational therapists design activities for the clients, both to promote enjoyment and to help them satisfy long-term interests and objectives. For example, a young patient using crutches following a car crash might be interested in a modified dance program to help him improve his strength while having fun. Because recreational therapists create their programming with the patient's total health in mind, they don't design activities in a vacuum. They meet regularly to discuss clients and collaborate with other health professionals, including doctors, nurses, social workers, physical therapists and occupational therapists.
According to CTICareerSearch, these care team meetings generally happen once a week. Besides meeting regularly with the treatment team, recreational therapists convene with clients and their families a few hours each day to discuss preferences, expectations, progress and goals. Based on their professional expertise and input from others, therapists coordinate sports, games, crafts, music, dance and off-site outings.
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Activity Leading
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Recreational therapists are responsible for executing and observing the activities they organize. No two days are ever the same, since each day features different events. Therapists might spend time one-on-one with a patient, helping him learn to kick a ball, or watch over an evening of dance organized at a retirement home. They might spend a few hours off site with clients at a public pool, and then return to the rehabilitation center to lead a craft project for other patients.
Work Hours and Work Conditions
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Not all recreational therapists work in one setting. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, some recreational therapists work part time hours in multiple settings, and spend part of their workdays travelling between locations. Although most therapists work a 40-hour work week, most don't work nine-to-five, Monday to Friday. Therapists often have to be on duty to supervise evening and weekend activities, and many have irregular schedules that shift to suit the week's events.
Daily Challenges and Rewards
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According to Stanford University's School of Medicine, you need patience and compassion to be a good recreational therapist. Therapists work with people with physical and mental disabilities on a daily basis, and not all clients are positive or cooperative. Sometimes, a recreational therapist might feel frustrated, but creativity and empathy help to overcome workplace challenges. On the positive side, recreational therapists get the joy of watching clients improve day by day, making this career very rewarding for people who thrive on assisting others.
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References
- Photo Credit old games image by Mark Aplet from Fotolia.com
