Returning to My Roots
The Recreation Therapists of Indiana (RTI) Annual Conference will be held this Thursday and Friday in Evansville. I feel honored to be have been invited to give the Keynote Address at the Opening General Session.
In Evansville, at the Evansville State Hospital, I really learned what recreation therapy was all about when working under Al Grubb. Al was a Board Member of the National Association of Recreational Therapists (NART) and served as NART's Executive Director (a part-time position).
Al liked to term RT a "tool for treatment." At Evansville RT was just that.
There we had a well developed assessment program, sophisticated treatment planning, and many fine therapy programs. Fortunately for me,at the time I worked there, Evansville State Hospital also had some excellent recreational therapists, occupational therapists, and music therapists from whom I was able to learn how to be a therapeutic agent.
When I was at Evansville I must confess that I didn't know just how lucky I was to work under Al Grubb in such a well conceived program. But that experience provided me with a wonderful foundation for my career in RT.
My guess is that others have enjoyed similar growth experiences in working under senior therapists in well designed programs. If so, please do comment.
In Evansville, at the Evansville State Hospital, I really learned what recreation therapy was all about when working under Al Grubb. Al was a Board Member of the National Association of Recreational Therapists (NART) and served as NART's Executive Director (a part-time position).
Al liked to term RT a "tool for treatment." At Evansville RT was just that.
There we had a well developed assessment program, sophisticated treatment planning, and many fine therapy programs. Fortunately for me,at the time I worked there, Evansville State Hospital also had some excellent recreational therapists, occupational therapists, and music therapists from whom I was able to learn how to be a therapeutic agent.
When I was at Evansville I must confess that I didn't know just how lucky I was to work under Al Grubb in such a well conceived program. But that experience provided me with a wonderful foundation for my career in RT.
My guess is that others have enjoyed similar growth experiences in working under senior therapists in well designed programs. If so, please do comment.
posted by Hoosier RT | 7:23 AM
1 Comments:
I wish I had an equally inspiring story, but I do not. Like so many of my colleagues, I am flying solo in my job. I have not worked under a senior therapist or a true RT mentor. I wish that I had. I love hearing stories of other programs and the great accomplishments of my peers. This is why I think it's really important to NETWORK in our field. And this requires WORK! It means e-mailing, calling, using discussion boards, etc. I am sad to see the lack of responses to this blog. As a side note, but on the networking topic, I have added 2 new components to CDARTA's website...a discussion forum and a Facebook group. We'll see if they get used or not...
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