Research Paper on:
Therapeutic Benefits of Recreational Therapy

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
response. Play therapy is an accepted therapeutic tool in the field of psychology and, yet, recreational therapists are often considered to be camp counselors or, at best, diversionary experts.  The student may want to explore the reasons that the title of recreational therapist is often denoted as an inferior or semi-professional rather than as a viable component of  the health care profession. It might be that the therapeutic community puts more emphasis on the recreational and tends to discount the therapeutic elements. "Recreational therapists have  learned that play can heal. They share with occupational therapists the view that seemingly ordinary activities can put a disabled person on the road to recovery--or lead to improvement,  at any rate. Also known as therapeutic recreation specialists--a job title that draws attention to the fact that theirs is a health profession--they use recreational and leisure activities as  a form of treatment, much as other health professionals use surgery, drugs, nutrition, exercise, or psychotherapy" (Gamliel, 1985, p. 18). The goals of the therapist are aligned with the  needs of the client as well as determined by the setting. A recreational therapist may have a number of responsibilities, dependent on the setting and need. In  addition to providing therapeutic opportunities for play activities, the recreational therapist is often called upon to make physical and emotional assessment, monitor progress of patients and provide support for staff  and clients alike (Gamliel, 1985). The student may want to include a summary of the skills that are a part of the recreational therapists repertoire and relate them to  the standards of other professionals (for example, according to Gamliel (1985), three states - Georgia, Maryland, and Utah - require a recreational therapist to be licensed and to maintain a