Recreation Therapy
Recreation therapy is the use of recreational services to improve or maintain physical, mental, emotional, and/or social functioning to assist individuals in expressing independent leisure lifestyles. Comprehensive recreation therapy services involve a continuum of care including: treatment that uses activities to remediate or rehabilitate functional abilities and to assist in diagnosis; leisure education that uses activities to acquire skills, knowledge, and attitudes that facilitate an independent lifestyle and avocational competence; and recreation that uses activities to enhance health, growth, development, and independence through intrinsically rewarding leisure behavior. Within their courses, students use a wide range of assessment and screening tools, personalize individual treatment plans, provide leisure education programs, and facilitate community integration/ reintegration programs.
Career Opportunities
Upon successful completion of the program, students can find employment in municipal parks and recreation systems, hospitals, rehabilitation centers, prisons, youth organizations, nursing homes, psychiatric facilities, camps, and non-profit agencies. The job outlook for recreation therapists is expected to grow 4% in the next ten years with a median salary of $50,000.
Recreation Therapy Highlights:
- Leading program of its kind in Virginia
- Upon graduation students are eligible to take the national examination to become a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist (CTRS)
- Students earn valuable field experience through a variety of labroatory and outreach services such as: local behviorial health services, therapeutic interventions, Veterans Affairs, working with the on-campus progam for transition-aged young adults with disabilities and gaining skills in adaptive outdoor recreation.
Major Course Requirements
The RCPT major with Recreation Therapy concentration fulfills the R, A, and L areas of the REAL Curriculum. Students will study how leisure has shaped culture and its technical economical, and political significance in modern society. A full-semester internship will provide students with the opportunity to make practical use of principles, methods, knowledge, skills, and materials that have been developed or acquired in the academic program of study. Students concentrating in Recreation Therapy need a major/minor to fulfill the E area.
Upon graduation, students will be eligible to take the national examination for a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist (CTRS) upon graduation. This certification is the most professional advanced credential for the field of recreation therapy. Recreation specialists often work as part of an interdisciplinary team including physicians, nurses, psychologists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, social workers, and speech language pathologists.
Campus Resources and Programs
A recreation therapy laboratory serves as a setting for clinical recreation therapy practice for students and practitioners. Some of the outreach services offered have included: an adventure therapy ropes program for brain injury survivors and caregivers; various social skill development groups using creative arts and games; an inclusive preschool program that teaches preschool-aged children with and without disabilities to work together; and RU Outdoor Accessible Recreation.