What Is Recreational Therapy?
Recreational therapy is a treatment method that uses recreation and activity-based intervention to address addiction and mental health disorders in patients. Recreational therapy helps patients overcome their personal challenges in these areas by improving their social, emotional, spiritual, cognitive, and physical well-being.
What Are The Most Common Recreational Therapy Activities?
Recreational therapy uses activities like arts and crafts, sports, games, dance, yoga, music, and social events. These activities are meant to help reduce the symptoms of addiction or mental health disorders, including depression, anxiety, stress, and poor self-esteem. They also encourage socialization with others who may or may not be in similar places in life.
Common Recreational Therapy Activities
- Art Therapy
- Music
- Yoga
- Drama
- Games
- Social outings
- Cooking
- Dance
- Movement
- Sports
How Effective Is Recreational Therapy?
Recreational therapy can be a wonderful component of a treatment plan as it helps build confidence and embrace a person’s inner and outer being. It’s most effective when paired with effective behavioral therapies, counseling, and medication management if necessary.
What Is The Goal Of Recreational Therapy?
Addiction and mental health conditions can leave a person feeling separated from their peers and their own mind, body, and spirit. Recreational therapy can improve all facets of a person’s being and is a building block for full participation in life.
How Does Recreational Therapy Help Addiction?
In addiction recovery, recreational therapy plays an important role in healing and reconnecting a person to their environment. Substance abuse separates us from being grounded in reality, which is why it’s an unhealthy coping mechanism for many.
When we’ve spiraled into addiction, we can feel out of touch with reality and, as a result, out of touch with ourselves and our peers. Recreational therapy works to reverse this effect by refocusing a person’s attention on recovery through activities that reduce stress and make them more present in the moment.
Recreational Therapy with Into Action Recovery
Addiction attacks every piece of your being. Our team at Into Action Recovery Centers believes that to heal your addiction, you must heal every piece of yourself, including the mind, body, and spirit. Please don’t hesitate to reach out today and learn more about how we can help you or your loved one. We offer comprehensive programs, on-site medical detox, residential treatment, and more. Today is the day to start your recovery, and we look forward to hearing from you soon.
Recreational therapist is the most common name for these types of therapists, but they may also be referred to as therapeutic recreation specialists.
Recreational activities to treat depression can include a plethora of things, such as cooking, animal therapy, art, and dance. The most effective activity will depend on a person’s personal preference, and these can help with alleviating the symptoms of depression and bringing a person greater peace and self-esteem.
Pairing recreational and clinical therapies can provide a more comprehensive treatment approach. Recreational therapy can bring greater healing to a person in recovery by participating in activities promoting peace, enjoyment, and confidence. In contrast, clinical therapies identify ways of thinking and behaviors that contribute to addiction or mental health disorders.
