NEWS
Recreation therapy a key component to overall success at West Ridge Academy
August 3, 2010
Since 1964, West Ridge Academy has been offering hope and healing to young men and women ages 9 to 18 and their families by providing quality clinical services, education, and experiences which promote spiritual awareness, personal accountability and change of heart.
According to John Webb, West Ridge therapeutic recreation director, one of the best ways to effectuate this change is by offering healthy and purposeful alternatives in recreation and leisure.
Webb knows what he's talking about. He holds a Master in Clinical Counseling degree and Bachelor's degree in Recreation Therapy to go along with eight years of experience working with youth and their families as a therapist. As well as being a licensed professional counselor, Webb is rope-course certified, a wilderness first responder, a lifeguard and a Red Cross instructor-trainer.
"Our recreation program is recognized nationally and provides excellent opportunities for learning and growing," says Kenneth R. Allen, Executive Director at West Ridge.
Under Webb's direction, the West Ridge therapeutic recreation team provides individual, family and group therapy on a weekly basis. Officials say it is the goal of the team to work past the presenting symptoms to get to the core of what is really running a child's behavior.
"Therapy will focus on these core issues. Once these issues are addressed, a new individual with a different perspective on life emerges," according to WRA therapists. "They are healthier, happier and more equipped to problem-solve and communicate with everyone. The once combative and oppositional attitude is replaced with cooperation and insight. Problems simply become an opportunity to learn."
Webb describes the life-building concept of therapeutic recreation vs. diversionary recreation: "Therapeutic recreation is a purposeful intervention designed to help clients grow and assist them in relieving or preventing problems through recreation and leisure."
The therapeutic recreation process contains four key components: assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation. A sequenced curriculum is implemented to ensure learning and growth. Topics include leisure education, weekly therapeutic recreation groups, a ropes course, parent retreats and a therapeutic recreation adventure and camping program.
Along the way, setting and achieving goals are key, Webb points out. He lists the following "Leisure Education Goals":
* To teach students how to use their leisure time in healthy ways.
* To enhance quality of life.
* To identify and use personal, social and community resources that are available for leisure purposes.
* To improve mental, physical, social and emotional development through broad-based leisure experiences.
Healthy activities and lifestyle choices include photography, aviation, dance, lacrosse, pottery, leather work, rock climbing, swimming and fly fishing, to name a few.
The therapeutic recreation doesn't just mean individual work, either. Group settings are also used at WRA, as these groups "allow students to discover their strengths and overcome weaknesses, strengthen relationships between student and therapeutic recreation staff and provide students with skills that will assist them in their treatment at WRA."
