In Case You Missed the Lessons Learned Announcement

New Book Announcement from Sagamore Publishing, LLC

Lessons Learned: An Open Letter to Recreational Therapy Students and Practitioners
David R. Austin, Ph.D.

Description: Lessons Learned provides a personalized approach and a fresh, bold guide for students and practitioners in recreational therapy. This thought-provoking, inspiring, and accessible text will help the next generation of recreational therapists to find purpose, meaning, and fulfillment in their own lives and to bring health and happiness to their clients.

Lessons:
Understanding Recreational Therapy
1 Recreational Therapy is a Lot More than Diversion!
2 Our Mission Includes Health Promotion
3 What Makes RT Therapeutic?
4 Do You Know Who We Are?
5 Recreational Therapists Need a Philosophy of Practice
6 The Importance of Recreation and Leisure

Approaches to Recreational Therapy
7 Recreational Therapists Use a Strength-Based Approach
8 Client Strengths Include Traits and Resources
9 Recreational Therapy is Action Oriented, but the Emphasis is on the Client and Not on the Activity
10 Recreation and Leisure Activities Offer Fun with a Purpose
11 The Therapeutic Relationship is at the Heart of Recreational Therapy
12 Recreational Therapy Offers a Unique, Caring Atmosphere
13 Recreational Therapy is Customized Care
14 Recreational Therapy as a Dress Rehearsal for Life

Conceptual Foundations for Recreational Therapy
15 The WHO Definition of Health and Its Acceptance by Recreational Therapists
16 Carl Rogers: The Grandfather of Recreational Therapy
17 Positive Psychology and Recreational Therapy
18 Freud and Skinner Weren’t Completely Wrong

Working With Groups
19 The New Recreational Therapist’s Anxiety in Group Leadership
20 Recreational Therapy Groups Offer Participants Numerous Benefits
21 Group Processing Should Be Regularly Completed with RT Groups
22 Techniques When Clients Don’t Participate in Group Discussions
23 Get a Background in Group Dynamics, Because You’ll Need It

The Recreational Therapist
24 Recreational Therapists are Models for Clients
25 Is Recreational Therapy an Art or a Science, or Both?
26 Enthusiasm
27 Extroversion
28 Dare to Share
29 Learn to Relax
30 Value Values
31 Gaining Cultural Competence
32 Maintaining Confidentiality
33 Burnout
34 Why Clients Like RTs: The Norm of Reciprocity
35 Clinical Supervision
36 Self-Awareness
37 Being a Team Player
38 Being Professional
39 Being an Advocate for Our Profession

Techniques for Recreational Therapists
40 Learning by Doing
41 It’s Good to Give Feedback
42 When Clients Change
43 Engage Your Clients
44 Aggression Begets Aggression
45 Use Self-Disclosure Sparingly and in a Timely Fashion
46 Be Supportive of Clients
47 The Use of Gimmicks Can Be Good
48 Employ and Foster Intrinsic Motivation
49 Here and Now
50 Build Self-Esteem
51 Leisure Counseling
52 Activities Spur Conversation
53 Use Touch Therapeutically
54 Therapeutic Communication Skills Are Not Esoteric
55 My Favorite Approaches to Effective Listening
56 Top Teaching Principles

Social Psychology and Recreational Therapy
57 Recreational Therapists as Applied Social Psychologists
58 The Overjustification Effect
59 Self-Efficacy: Why Some Clients Try and Others Don’t
60 Social Facilitation
61 Self-Handicapping
62 Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
63 Learned Helplessness

What to Do and Not Do as an RT
64 Evidence-Based Research: A Concept RT Should Embrace
65 Say “Yes” to RT Research
66 Never Become Sexual with Clients
67 Never Become Anti-Intellectual
68 (Almost) Never Make Choices for Clients
69 Cherish the Opportunity to do Recreational Therapy

What people are saying about this book:

“I think this is a 5-star/ must-read book for any student in a TR/RT degree program or recreational therapist. If you've not done so already -- read this book.” -Danny Pettry, CTRS

“It is a short and readable introduction to recreational therapy where you feel the "fire and enthusiasm" from a professional with many years of experience.” -Joav Merrick, MD, MMedSci, DMSc, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Kentucky Children’s Hospital, & University of Kentucky

"I am using Lessons Learned in my foundations of TR class this semester. I require the students to read 6 lessons every week, and I have a quiz each week on one or more parts of what they have read. It is a positive addition to the other TR books I use. Lessons Learned has given the students in my course some very good first hand information and I think it makes it easier for them to relate to things they do and see in their volunteer experiences." -Joe Wilson, Ed.D., CTRS, CPRP, University of Northern Iowa

“The outstanding features of this text include personal insight by Dr. Austin based on decades of his passion for recreational therapy; 69 lessons (chapters) that cover a breadth of issues that all practitioners encounter during the course of their careers; and the manner in which the lessons are written provides an opportunity for readers to feel that it is written specifically for them from someone in the know.” -Victoria Dawn Shelar, Ph.D., CTRS, Middle Tennessee State University

“This is an excellent read – every recreation therapist, either starting out or a veteran, should read this wonderful book.” -Charlie Dixon, CTRS, Therapeutic Recreation Directory

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Price: $17.96
Size: 7 x 10, Paperback, 147 pp
Copyright: 2011
ISBN: 978-1-57167-582-8
Lessons Learned is also available in eBook format via Sagamore Publishing for $13.00 and Amazon.com.