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Recreational Therapist Providers Job Overview

Recreational therapist providers provide recreation activities to those suffering from physical disabilities. They help lessen the depression of their patients and improve their fundamental motor functioning and reasoning skills. They also help their patients assimilate into the community and to use the resources of the community.

Recreational Therapist Providers Schools and Degrees

To make it as a successful recreational therapist one requires a bachelorÕs degree in therapeutic recreation. A bachelorÕs in recreation also suffices, but one also needs a specialization in therapeutic recreation. An associateÕs degree in the subject enables one to become a paraprofessional. About 130 courses are provided to help aspirants become recreational therapist providers.

Job Requirements

Different states control recreational therapist providers through varied requirements of registration, licensure and regulation of titles. States like New Hampshire and North Carolina, for instance, ask for licensure before allowing a recreational therapist provider to practice.

A recreational therapist provider would benefit from acquiring certification. This is obtained from the National Council for Therapeutic Recreation Certification. The council certifies candidates who have earned a graduate degree in the subject from an accredited institute. However, such candidates also need to pass a written certification exam and finish 480 hours of internship under the supervision of an expert in the field. Most employers look to hire those with certification.

Recreational therapist providers should be at ease working with patients who are disabled and in poor health. Patience, tact and persuasion are the other qualities that can be valuable. They also need to be creative and should be able to adapt to the different requirements of different patients. They need to be physically fit and should be able to demonstrate recreational activities to their patients.

Nature of Work

Recreational therapist providers study a patient's history and execute therapeutic procedures accordingly. They take care of and rehabilitate patients in hospitals through consultations with physicians, psychologists and occupational therapists. In case of long term residential care, they look to improve the patient's general health. Community based therapists aim to develop certain skills in their patients through the help of mental stimulus, exercise and creativity.

Recreational therapist providers generally work in special rooms where they carry out their therapeutic procedures. They, however, also work in offices to do documentation work. They work for about 40 hours in a week but do occasionally extend their work hours to evenings and weekends to accommodate patients.

Recreational Therapist Providers Jobs and Outlook

According to research in 2006, recreational therapist providers held about 25,000 jobs in the US. Employment is highest in the following industries:

• Community care Facilities for the Elderly
• General Medical and Surgical Hospitals
• Nursing Care Facilities
• Psychiatric and Substance Abuse Hospitals
• State Government (OES designation)

The mean hourly wage for recreational therapist providers in the US is about $18.43, while the mean annual salary is around $38,330.

Job Numbers and Growth

There are an estimated 25,000 recreational therapist providers nationally. Most recently, workers have experienced a very low level of joblessness. An estimated 2% of employees did not have employment in 2006.

Area Job Conditions

Workers -of-a-feather seem to flock to Reading (Pennsylvania), Utica (New York), and Peoria (Illinois). They are less likely to be found around Fort Worth (Texas), Dallas (Texas), and Sacramento (California).

Compensation of employees is best in San Jose (California), Brockton (Massachusetts), and San Francisco (California), and much worse in Lancaster (Pennsylvania), Harrisburg (Pennsylvania), and Jefferson City (Missouri).

Training and Education

Workers often find employers are looking for a bachelor's degree. Employees, in 77% of cases, have bachelor's degree or higher. After high school, 14% of recreational therapist providers pursued some additional career education. Recommended schools are shown in the column to the right; request information from them to help you decide which if any could help you with this career.

Part-Time Work and Self-Employment

Recreational therapist providers employed part-time are 16% of the total.

Recreational Therapist Providers by Metropolitan Area (city and its surroundings)

In the table below, a Job Density near 0% means the area has an average number of people in this occupation, for its population. A higher or lower Job Density (e.g., +22% or -45%) tells you there are that many more or fewer workers of that type there than in the average US metro area. So, the higher the number, the more common the occupation.

Alabama

Arizona

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California

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

District of Columbia

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Georgia

Hawaii

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

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Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Missouri

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Nevada

New Jersey

New York

North Carolina

North Dakota

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

Tennessee

Texas

Utah

Virginia

Washington

West Virginia

Wisconsin