Fin

Crazy how time flies and this is the final post for the semester. Yikes! Ashley Hildreth did a great job wrapping up how I feel about everything this semester in her toolbox post from last week. She said, "I think helping others will help me love myself and become closer to Christ." That literally sums everything up for me over the course of these last 12 weeks.

This week I have really come to appreciate the lesson of planning and working ahead. Doing so has made the "final" week of the semester seem a lot easier than it usually does. Also, I loved reflecting back over my practicum and relishing in the accomplishments I made in it. Working with those who have special needs is exactly what I want to do with my life and will bless me temporally and eternally.

The last thing I want to add to this blog for future reference is the website I found all about Therapeutic Recreation. It has links for job postings, information regarding the career, and helpful links to help anyone be successful at being a Recreational Therapist. Other than that, great time!

Recreational Therapists Rock!

After going over last weeks posts, I really enjoyed this link shared by Sara Hopkin. As she says, "It had really good ideas on how to encourage schools to have mixed ability gym classes. I think that inclusion is so important and we shouldn’t limit people on what we think their abilities are. We should encourage them to be as good as they allow themselves to be." I couldn't have said it better. A lot of really great information and ideas to keep and have.

What I loved from this week was all the explanations for what a Recreational Therapist is and what they do. Specifically, I liked this video, "Therapeutic Recreation Program - Colorado Springs." It showed some great examples of what a recreational therapist does and showed the short and long term benefits of therapeutic recreation within a community.

Something I found while researching this week about Recreational Therapy was this link on job outlooks and what a career path in rec therapy means. Personally, I think this is a great resource to help others better understand that this is a legitimate career path and that it isn't a career that is going away anytime soon. Though I think anyone can be successful at anything if they are driven and passionate about it, I think this helps give a logical explanation for those that need it. From past experience, I know a lot of people have family members or friends that will question rec therapy as a career choice. So this can help give fire power to those in need.

Remembering All Disabilities

Last week Katelyn Fick posted a list of things that can be forms of art. This was part of her post.

Some of the videos that really stood out from this week for me were the video of the "Wounded Warrior Project" and "Ben Comen - The Cross Country Runner."

I also played around on the wounded warrior project webpage to see what it was all about. There was some really interesting information on there. Personally I have an uncle who suffers from ptsd, so this project and what they stand for is extremely interesting to me. What a great thing to be a part of! It can be easy to lump people into needing help with activities and such based off their outer appearances (or what you can physically see that is "wrong.") But, it is a lot harder to understand and see what is going on mentally with someone. There are a lot of disorders that get overlooked because they aren't seen as anything needing help, like ptsd. This is something I have had to realize through the years and have grown to better understand through interactions with others and family. Something to always remember is there can always be something on the inside we don't initially recognize.