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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."

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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,