#TR

Therapeutic recreation is my life; literally it is my passion, major, and career.

In case you don't know what therapeutic recreation is, it is another form/theory/branch of therapy that uses recreation as it's main tool. Sometimes play is just inherantly therapeutic, sometimes it is overcoming challenges that raises the individual to another level, sometimes it is relating the activity to the patient's life that helps them get through their struggles, and sometimes it is the skills learned in play that the individual needed in order to progress. For example, a child with any sort of disability may only need a hobby or a group of friends to play with to obtain a normal level of well-being. A juvenile might just need to learn how to play a game (like bowling) to give them something to do other than rob stores. Maybe the same juvenile needs to learn patience, perhaps through fishing, in order to function at a higher level. There is a recovery program called addicts to athletes that replaces addictions to drugs with addictions to running. These addicts come and run, and when they do they learn to do hard things, to overcome pain, and that there is reward in hard tasks and in health. These addicts learn skills, learn to build character, and relate their running challenges to their addiction challenges. Let me tell you it is a cool thing to watch. You can check out their program via their website: http://addicttoathlete.org/

Recently I've been volunteering with addicts to athletes, and this past week I've had a lot of really good, inspiring moments with therapeutic recreation.
The first was on tuesday during the athletes weekly meeting/workout they really just touched my heart on all levels. There were a couple athletes who got up and told about their experience with running for kids with disabilities. This is where I found out that these addicts that turn into athletes mostly run charity races, they give and they give and they love it. There were some men who told about pushing wheelchairs while they run their races and I was so touched by their stories of their experiences because they have gone above and beyond the mark, they don't just run for their own recovery anymore, or to stay in shape but they reach out and run for other people. These athletes have overcome their own challenges and are now taking on even harder things for children who can't walk.  That is huge progress and so giving of them; there arn't a lot of people I know without an addiction who would push a kid while they run. So I was really touched by their deeds and impressed at how far they have come.
The next one was a movie we watched in one of my recreation classes, "Radio." It's an inspiring movie about a boy with a mental disability who wanders around town quietly until the football coach lets him participate in the football team. Before you know it the boy goes from walking vegetable to fully-functioning adult who is only a little bit challenged mentally. I was inspired by how sports brought that boy out of his shell, and then I remembered other movies based on true stories like "The Blind Side," "Forest Gump," and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," where other boys improve/benefit dramatically as a result of recreation they take part in. This also really inspired me to the effectiveness of my field, and how recreation can really benefit people and improve the quality of their lives.

So, here I am now, more eager than ever to get out there and make a difference in others' lives'. I have more knowledge about how to help, and more proof than I thought I would get in college about the efficacy of my field. These experiences convinced me that my field is good, and I love my field so much more now than I did at the beginning of the week. I hope you also have a better appreciation in your heart for recreation therapy after reading these wonderful things it has done for other people.

~Birdy