Recreation Therapy Helps People with Disabilities Enjoy Adaptive Versions of Their Favorite Activities
Jake Newby
| 4 min read
A few years ago, a cancer patient who had been paralyzed from the armpits down due to a rare side effect of her chemotherapy was referred to Disability Network Eastern Michigan (DNEM). According to DNEM Recreation & Health Services Director Carrie Gerdeman, she was an avid outdoorswoman prior to her disability. Kayaking was one of her favorite activities.
“She said, ‘well I can’t do that, I can’t kayak again,’” Gerdeman recalled. “I said, ‘oh yes you can, sister! Yes, you can.’ We used a lot of foam and adaptive equipment and helped with her trunk support, so she was stable. And it was the coolest thing, she came several times to our kayak clinics. I remember the smile on her face once she got out there. And she said, ‘right now, I’m just like everyone else.’”
DNEM’s mission is committed to promoting independent living by breaking down barriers and opening paths toward personal choice through resources, advocacy, information, support and education. Its RecConnect recreation therapy program made it possible for this woman to enjoy adaptive and modified versions of her favorite outdoor activities, which is what all recreation therapy programs strive to do for their patients.
What is recreation therapy? The three key elements
Recreation therapy – also known as therapeutic recreation – is a holistic approach to health care. It features recreation as an intervention to improve a person’s health and allow them to participate in meaningful leisure activities.
The same way a physical therapist reteaches an individual with a disability how to perform essential daily functions like eating, getting dressed and taking a shower, a recreational therapist shows them how to enjoy their favorite leisurely activities again, with adaptive equipment and certain modifications. That’s the first element of recreation therapy.
“When they send you home from physical therapy, there you are,” Gerdeman said. “Maybe you’re in a wheelchair, or you have limited use of one side of your body. Now it’s like, ‘great, now how do I learn to live again and do the things and the hobbies I love.”
There’s also an educational element to recreation therapy, which sees patients learn new skills to increase independence, especially those who are newly injured.
“For example, a lot of recreational therapies work in a mental health setting,” she went on. “It is reimbursable in a mental health setting in a lot of psychiatric hospitals and outpatient facilities. So that might include stress management, anger management, healthy eating for a person who has recently been diagnosed with diabetes. Leisure education, like, how do you have a healthy lifestyle? The education component also incorporates helping someone learn how to adjust to a new disability.”
If therapy and education are the first two components of recreation therapy, the third is participation, Gerdeman said.
“Through RecConnect, we provide opportunities for adaptive and inclusive recreation,” she said. “We have a whole fleet of adaptive kayaks here, we run adaptive workshops and clinics. We have adaptive cycles, some of which are hand cycles, and some are side-by-side cycles, so someone with a cognitive disability can cycle alongside another person.”
Additional adaptive activities offered by RecConnect include:
- Adaptive cooking classes, that include adaptive equipment and technology.
- Adaptive cycles, that include hand cycles and side-by-side cycles for individuals with cognitive disabilities.
- Adaptive dance
- Adaptive fitness
- Adaptive golf
- Therapeutic art, including pottery, painting, mosaic art and music programs.
“Really, we love to try new things,” Gerdeman said. “If someone came to us and said, ‘hey, I would love to do indoor rock climbing, but I am a wheelchair user.’ I would take that on as a challenge and start looking for ways to incorporate it.”
Why recreation therapy is important
Recreation therapy can benefit people with:
- Brain injuries
- Chronic illnesses
- Developmental disabilities
- Physical disabilities
- Mental health conditions
Tailoring an adaptive activity to a patient’s individualized needs is something RecConnect has been doing for three years now. Gerdeman can’t quite find the words to articulate the joy and satisfaction she gets out of helping to restore joy in the lives of people experiencing a traumatic time in their lives.
“Recreation therapy is powerful, it is evidence-based, and it enhances the quality of life by using enjoyable, meaningful, therapeutic activities to promote a positive outcome and a healthier life,” Gerdeman said. “We address the physical, emotional, cognitive and social needs of a person, but we also empower individuals to live healthy and happy lives.”
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Photo credit: DNEM
