Incorporating Interests for Effective Results
Recreational Therapy focuses on the power of pleasure, play, and hobbies to improve physical and mental health. It utilizes leisure activities to help people improve their social skills, abilities, overall health, and emotional well-being. It is a process that utilizes activity-based interventions to address the assessed needs of individuals with disabling conditions.
Play is a powerful thing. For people with intellectual disabilities, physical and mental health issues “play” in the form of recreational therapy, is a powerful and effective tool to help build skills, improve mood, boost quality of life and strengthen social connections. However, it is not all fun and games the activities and interventions are designed to target the needs of each individual. It incorporates the needs and interests of those people we serve.
Goals and benefits of Recreational Therapy
Increase Self-esteem
Recreational Therapy provides opportunities to help improve a person’s self-esteem and self-confidence.
Cognitive Abilities
Recreational Therapy offers the opportunity to engage in physical exercise, social engagement and games that stimulate your brain and improve healthy brain functioning.
Increase Independence
Recreational Therapy can make a difference in the level of independent functioning.
Increase Strength and Fitness
Recreational Therapy includes exercise, yoga, dance and sporting activities, and other types of movement which may help with balance, physical strength, and flexibility.
Increase Social Interactions
Recreational Therapy provides opportunities for people to engage with others in positive activities that increase feelings of belonging and meaning. Strong social bonds are needed to build a meaningful life.
Play is the brain's favorite way of learning
-Diane Ackerman
Our Team Consists of Talented, Experienced Therapists and Consultants
Meet the TeamFive Domains of Recreational Therapy
Physical
Physical activities improve physical functioning
Social
Social activities aid in the development of social skills and building new relationships
Emotional
Emotional activities help reduce stress and anxiety
Cognitive
Cognitive activities help to improve cognitive functioning
Spiritual
Spiritual activities help foster a sense of inner peace and well-being
Each Domain Promotes Improvement in the Overall Well-Being and Health of All Clients.
Recreational Therapy Activities
Adaptive Sports
Adaptive sports can be competitive or recreational in nature. Modifications are allowed for individuals with disabilities. Those participating may play a different version of the same sports as their abled peers. Examples of sports that may be adaptive are swimming, sledding, sitting volleyball, bowling, and golf.
Aquatic Sports
Aquatic sports offer a unique environment for individuals with disabilities to attain a change in functional status. Many positive benefits may be obtained utilizing aquatic interventions. These include relaxation, stretching, aerobic exercise, improved muscle tone and flexibility. unique properties of the aquatic environment enhance interventions for clients across the age span with musculoskeletal, neuromuscular, cardiovascular/pulmonary, and integumentary diseases, developmental disabilities, disorders, or conditions.
Behavioral Therapy
The primary goal of all behavioral therapy is to replace maladaptive behaviors with healthy behaviors that will enable individuals to achieve their life goals. Learning coping skills and social skills may be achieved through play. These activities may include board games, concentration games, and team play.
Health and Wellness
Health and wellness and the achievement of a healthy lifestyle for all individuals we work with is a goal of STRIDE. Working with our recreational therapists provides an opportunity for our clients to develop positive self-care skills and implement a plan that incorporates healthy, self-nurturing skills in their daily lives. Providing opportunities to benefits of engaging in recreational therapy include improved self-image, decrease in obesity, improved in cardiovascular fitness, and decrease in anxiety.
Cognitive Retraining
Cognitive retraining is a therapeutic strategy that seeks to improve and/or restore a person’s skills in the areas of paying attention, remembering, organizing, reasoning, and understanding, problem solving, decision making and higher cognitive abilities. These skills are interrelated. The primary goal of cognitive retraining is the reduction of cognitive problems associated with brain injuries, other disabilities, or disorders aging. The overall purpose of the therapy is to decrease everyday problems faced by individuals with cognitive difficulties, thereby improving the quality of their lives.
Some examples of cognitive retraining activities include attention and concentration exercises such as rhythm matching, picture recall, using non-dominant hand, activities that practice fine motor skills, stacking items, jigsaw puzzles and problem solving and strategy exercises.
