Recreational Therapy: An Interdisciplinary Team

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Working in an interdisciplinary team, gives the team an ability to address the patients’ needs from different perspectives and different strategies. The interdisciplinary team works together to provide the individual with the most beneficial possible outcome. Interdisciplinary teams can include physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, social workers, and other health care providers (Mellor, Cottrell, & Moran, 2013). The challenge for being a recreational therapist among a health care field is that many health care providers do not see recreational therapy as a serious, legitimate, and beneficial program for their health service patients as well as for their other health care providers. This idea creates a challenge for not …show more content…

Recreational therapy works with populations such as mental health, gerontology, pediatrics, veterans, and many more populations that involve individuals with and without a disability, allowing their scope of practice to be very broad. Recreational therapists work with clients to restore motor, social and cognitive functioning, build confidence, develop coping skills, and integrate skills learned in treatment settings into community settings. Intervention areas vary widely and are based upon client interests and needs. Examples of intervention modalities include creative arts, sports, adventure programming, dance, movement, and leisure education (The Recreational Therapy Professional, 2012). Recreational therapy services are recognized in some health care fields, as well as throughout the community depending on the population they specialize in. Through the use of recreational therapy, individuals receiving treatment would be able to reach a better quality of life through the facilitation of activities that are designed to benefit the individual in all aspects of his or her …show more content…

Designing an interdisciplinary team should be based on techniques and outcomes, rather than a hierarchical status (Lancaster, Kolakowsky-Hayner, Kovacich, & Greer-Williams, 2015). When involving different treatment team members, benefits should outweigh the beliefs of others, especially in a healthcare setting. Having the lack of research to back up the importance of recreational therapy among an interdisciplinary treatment team leads to a weakness in addressing the challenges recreational therapists face. Since recreational therapists address so many different aspects of life when compared to other treatment specialists, it is easy to accept why it is such a benefit to patients receiving the treatment. Recreational therapy engages goals based on activities to include the body, spirit, and mind. Something many other professions such as physical therapy, and occupational therapy do not address (Pei-Yi, & Yen-Cheng, 2014). Through word of mouth, and proof of the effectiveness of recreational therapy, many individuals will see what recreational therapy is all about, and why it should be involved in an interdisciplinary team. Recreational therapy is a treatment that includes the individual in a holistic manner, unlike other disciplinarians such as physical therapy and occupational therapy. Since

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