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Standards for the Practice of Recreational Therapy and Self-Assessment Guide by Ray West, Marcia Smith, and Jim Barrett (Eds.) ATRA (Revised, 2013)
Dear Therapist,
We know you work very hard for us coming up with effective interventions, documenting our progress, doing a variety of assessments, motivating us to make changes for the better in our lives and a host of other job tasks and involvements. There usually is not enough time in the day as you often work late hours with limited resources and multiple responsibilities. Yet, we are going to ask you to add another task to your schedule, and it is a critical task that will take time and energy. This task is to utilize the ATRA Standards of Practice (revised 2013). How to squeeze it in you ask? We know each of you will make that happen individually as it fits for you and your agency. The rewards are tremendous. Therapeutic recreation/recreation therapy (TR/RT) Services will be brought to an elevated and consistent level, accountability for services will be outstanding and you will provide even higher levels of service than you are now. Thank you for your continued dedication to us and to impacting our lives in such profound ways.
Sincerely,
Your Clients
Why Do We Have Standards of Practice?
Most professions have guidelines that delineate the Scope and Content of their practice, from financial investment professionals to those in the nursing profession to teachers, massage therapists and many more. These guidelines answer the questions of: Who is it that we serve? What exactly is it that we do? Where do we do these practices? When do we do these practices? Why do we do these practices? And, How do we do these practices? The guidelines illustrate a profession's parameters and depth of practice and support the highest ethical approaches. Who puts these guidelines together? For most professions, it is done through their professional organization.
For us in the field of Therapeutic Recreation/Recreational Therapy, our professional organization, the American Therapeutic Recreation Association, through an appointed committee, has, like countless other organizations, completed this endeavor. They have presented our profession with a revised set of Standards for the Practice of Recreational Therapy and Self-Assessment Guide. It took a lot of time and effort...