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DOUGLAS COLLEGE

  
   

Mad Hatter Page 3

 

 

Therapeutic Recreation

When a person starts something new -
like a job or hobby - it is very
easy to become excited. Along with
the opportunities to meet people
comes the anticipation of discovering
whether or not you are actually
headed in the right direction.

Geri Paterson knows she has some-
thing good. The Therapeutic
Recreation Training program she
coordinated at Douglas College is
rapidly becoming a great success.

The program is designed for people
with a genuine concern to help others,
especially those who would not nor-
mally have the chance to become

involved in recreational activities.

"Helping people with special needs
develop a fulfilling and independent
lifestyle is the number one thing for
TRT," Paterson says. And with a 12
month specialized course load, her
students learn exactly what is ex-
pected of them.

"In the past, if a person was re-
covering from a serious head injury
or was confined to a wheel chair,
their possibilities for having fun
and finding fulfillment in their life
were restricted" Paterson says.

TRT's Put Their Skills to Work

TRT's learn to talk with people,
discover their own expectations, and
put their skills to works as “facili-
tators", educators of recreational
activities, Paterson adds.

One major aspect of the program is in
the designing, implementation and
evaluation of these activities for
people with a variety of special
needs. TRT graduates may be involved
in recreation on their own.

 

These three areas of TRT can be used

together or individually, depending
upon the needs of the client, says
Paterson.

"Suppose a graduate was working with
a person whose special need involved
the development of hand/eye coordi-
nation as a precursory skill to
further recreation involvement,"
says. "The TRT would choose some
recreation activities that the cliert
wanted to become involved in at at
the same time work on hand/eye
coordination."

she

TRTs are into Recreation

And the list of possible activities
is almost endless. Tennis, bridge,
golf, curling, swimming and badmnton
can all be included because, as the
name suggests, TRTs are into recrea-
tion.

"We basically teach people about
leisure, and how to develop their
own appropriate leisure lifestyle,"
Paterson says.

But just because the program empha-
sizes the fun things in life does
not necessarily mean the courses will
be all easy, she adds.

"Everyone in TRT goes through the
trials and tribulations of doing some
parts of their training extremely
well, while struggling through other
parts," Paterson says. A good exam-
ple of this is the diversity of
recreation skills that the students
learn - interview techniques, care
programming plus physical activity
skills, craft skills and drama skills.

Up to 30 people at a time are regi-
stered in Therapeutic Recreation

Training, but learning activities in
classes are done in smaller groupings
of three or four students to help
each other practise their skills.

 

These small groups will work, play,