Koplow 1 Running Heading: Theoretical Foundation and Service Delivery

Katherine Koplow- u0700381 PRT 3360- Assessment and Documentation in Therapeutic Recreation University Of Utah

Therapeutic Recreation (TR) is a health and human service where therapists choose to embrace their clients strengths while providing a therapeutic practice. As therapist they focus on abilities rather than disabilities, because regardless of ones abilities, all people desire to have a life filled with meaning where they can experience pleasure, be viewed as equal with others and contribute back to their community and world. The goals of a TR is to help clients develop or reach the highest level of functioning by helping them develop their strengths and resources and providing opportunity so they are empowered and able to add meaning to their life. The profession as provided models grounded in theoretical support to help clearly articulate the practice of the profession. One of the best-researched contemporary service delivery models that is practiced is the Leisure and Well-Being Model (LWM). This new addition to the TR service delivery model literature and was developed by Hood and Carruthers in 2007. This model based on positive psychology and leisure behavior, helps move TR from a medical model, looking at the individuals problems or limitations and focuses on well-being and individuals strengths and assets, being the desired outcome of service. The model has two distinct parts: Enhancing Ultimate Leisure Experience and Developing Resources in order to reach the goal of well-being. Each of these parts provides a focus so therapy can be focused on strengths of the client and facilitation of positive aspects of life, where recreation is an end and a means and coexist together. The distal outcome of this model is well-being, defined as, a state of successful, satisfying, and productive engagement with ones life and the realization of ones full physical, cognitive, and social-emotional potential (Carruthers & Hood, 2007, P. 208). The proximal outcome of this model is the experience of leisure, the development of resources, capacities and assets, and strength-based philosophy that provides a clear direction for practitioners. Therapists develop well-being

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through two mechanisms, (a) to increase the value of leisure in building resources, creating, creating positive emotion, and cultivating ones potential, and (b) to provide psycho-educational interventions that facilitate resource development (Hood & Carruthers, 2007, p. 300). The TRSs goal is to help clients as they identify, enhance, and utilize their strengths to achieve personally meaningful goals (Carter & Andel, 2011 p. 17). The first component, enhanced leisure experience, recognizes that leisure doesnt always give ride to positive emotions or always support the development of capacities and resources. So, the TRS assists clients in developing skills that, allows them to realize the greatest benefit from leisure involvement (Carter & Andel, 2011 p.17). This model is broken into five specific ways to help the enhancement of leisure experience. They include: savoring leisure, authentic leisure, leisure gratifications, mindful leisure and virtuous leisure. Savoring leisure is defined as paying attention to the positive aspects of, and emotions associated with leisure involvement and purposefully seeking leisure experiences that give rise to positive emotions (Hood & Curruthers, p. 310-311) The context in which leisure is provided is important in how to enhance savoring, thus increasing the ability to attend and fully experience those emotions. Authentic leisure is knowing and owning ones personal experiences, be they thoughts, emotions, needs, wants, preferences or beliefs (Harter, 2002, p. 382 (as in Intro to recreation services for people with disabilities). The role of leisure is knowing oneself and how leisure plays a role in expressing the true self. This plays a big role in identity development and developing true values. Leisure gratifications suggests that most people want more from life than just to feel good. These gratifications cant be obtained they have to be developed in learning about personal

virtues and strengths. People want to develop themselves in a meaningful way and want their lives to serve a purpose. Mindful leisure is leisure experience that facilitates nonjudgmental full engagement and conscious awareness of ones unfolding present express with a simultaneous disengagement from concerns about daily life, the past or the future (Hood & Curruthers, p. 315 as in Therapeutic Recreation Journal)) This causes the client to pay attentions to their current issues and the reality they are facing presently. Virtuous leisure encourages the client to build their life around their strengths and use them to contribute to the world. Virtuous leisure is defined as the capacity to engage in leisure abilities in the service of something larger than oneself (Hood & Curruthers, p. 316 (as in Therapeutic Recreation Journal)). The therapist can help manifest this leisure for patients in many ways including involvement in volunteering. The LWM program design and delivery focuses on the goals and aspirations of the client while trying to develop resource knowledge. The second component, developing resources, recognizes the need to develop support and strength resources that individuals can fall back on during a time of need. The TRS facilitates the development of resources by helping them engage in meaningful leisure experiences and clients may also be affected through targeted psycho-educational interventions. This model has five specific resources that fit within the TR practice. They include: psychological, social, cognitive, physical, and environmental resources. The psychological resources the model provides is capacity or happiness, emotion regulation, self-awareness/self-determination/self-congruence, autonomy/self-determination/goal directedness, competence, optimism/hope/positive illusions, sense of meaning. Seligman and

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Lykken (2002) suggested that people can intentionally cultivate a capacity for happiness, maximizing their individual potential for happiness. This resource helps one realize and label emotions and express them in an appropriate manner, provide increased self-awareness. This resource helps people feel competent and thus helping them experience positive emotions. Life has meaning, and those who have a vision of what matters most in life can construct their lives around what gives them meaning are able to experience lifes greater well-being and personal happiness as a result. Cognitive resources are the ability to attend, concentrate, following directions, problem solving, memory, and goal setting. This resource provides a holistic perspective of cognition and is defined as the ability to learn and process information in order to engage optimally with ones environment (Lahey, 2001 (as in Therapeutic Recreation Journal)). This resource helps people recognize hat cognitive resources are important but those who have limited cognitive resources can still experience well-being. Social resources stems off the human need of social connectedness and how that relates to well-being, happiness, strength and capacity. The LWB model considers social resources communication skills, interpersonal skills, reciprocal relationship skills, social confidence. These resources help allow for a meaningful social engagement. Physical resources such as physical health, physical fitness, memory, and goal setting all help in ones overall well-being. Those with greater physical activity are stronger and have more endurance which provide them increased energy and an increased desire to participate in activities leading to a positive spiral (Fredrickson & Joiner, 2002 (as in Therapeutic Recreation Journal)). A stressful life can decrease ones motivation to for physical involvement and reduce energy.

Finally, environmental resources are the resources outside the individual that helps with well-being. These include social connectedness and social networks and community engagement/empowerment. The Recreational Therapist addresses individuals assets and strengths and engages them in their community. Many people with disabilities want to participate but because of their disability statue are viewed differently in taking on social roles. Those with disabilities want to feel like valued members of society. The social connectedness and social networks help inform people of new possible experiences and community resources and the possibilities that lie outside the individuals. Community engagement and empowerment helps individuals feel empowered and more competent allowing for more positive sense of self-identity (Scales & Leffert, 1999 (Bullock, C., & Mahon, M. 2010)). The Leisure and Well-Being model has proximal and medial goals of enhancing leisure experience and developing resources. These components of TR service delivery help develop positive affect, emotional, and experience and cultivation and expression of ones full potential which are the components that lead to the distal goal. The distal goal being well-being. Using the Leisure and Well-Being model as the frame work my program helps addresses both the need for positive experiences to help my clients during therapy and provides them with the opportunity to learn resources to help them create a greater quality of life. In my program I will be working with latency aged children from age 6-14. The population group will be children from culturally diverse backgrounds and races coming from many different ethnic backgrounds. Many of these children will be from low-income families and will be experiencing cultural barriers with peers, causing emotional, behavioral, and psychiatric problems.

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Because of their diverse backgrounds these children will need many programs to help increase their self-awareness and provide them with resources needed to reach their full potential. I will use the foundation of this model to help facilitate change with over come emotional issues from their past or present and help them develop psychological resources in hopes of increasing competence, optimism and a sense of meaning of their life all while trying to increase their well-being and capacity for happiness. I will use social resources to help break down the language or cultural barrier that these kids face due to family influence. Many of these children will experience a lack of cognitive skills and as a Recreational Therapist I hope to help them develop skills that will help them excel. Through leisure experiences I hope to provide them with new ways to recognize and be their authentic self and be mindful about the things they are experiencing, have experiences or will experience. I hope to expose them to opportunities that help them realize that they are larger than themselves and provide leisure opportunities that give them positive emotions. I can do this by educating the youth on physical resources that use external assets and contexts to help one engage with others and their community. I hope to provide leisure experiences that are intrinsically motivated and autonomous. Leading the client to continue to participate in the leisure experience after therapy, helping them increase their engagement with others, and supporting their happiness and well-being. The facility I will be working at is a Residential Treatment Center that has both inpatient and outpatient activities. This model will help me implement programs outside using the environment, low level ropes course and inside using the art room and gym. The goal while the children are at this RTC is to help them obtain academic skills, receive academic enrichment, and correct behavioral, emotional, and social deficits. In addition, we will help each patient make

a successful transition to a safe school environment that meets his/her educational needs. The LWB model can help this mission. In summary, Ross and Ashton-Schaeffer (2009) state LWM requires the therapeutic recreation profession to rethinking its niche, return to its roots and identify the uniqueness of therapeutic recreation within the realm of leisure thereby distinguishing it from other allied health providers. The hopes is that the activities provided to the clients will be positive and rich experiences that will help the client understand their upbringing and cultural circumstances that have greatly impacted their life and encourage the clients to create the best possible life. The major goal is to help explore clients strengths and provide them with the needed resources to have a greater well-being of life.

Work Cited Bullock, C., & Mahon, M. (2010). Intro to recreation services for people with disabilities. (3rd ed.). Urbana, Illinois: Sagamore Carruthers, C.P. & (2007). Building a life of meaning through therapeutic recreation: The leisure and well-being model, part I. Therapeutic Recreation Journal, 41(4), 276-297. Carter, M., & Andel, G. (2011). Therapeutic recreation a practical approach . (Fourth ed., p. 17). Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, Inc. Hood, C. & Carruthers, C.P. (2007). ). Building a life of meaning through therapeutic recreation: The leisure and well-being model, part II. Therapeutic Recreation Journal, 41(4), 298-325. Negley, S. (2010). Therapeutic recreation a practical approach .