Friend of Health Sciences Award honours influential therapeutic recreation expert

caroline.zentner — Tue, 18 Sep 2018 16:38:16 +0000

With more than 45 years of experience working and teaching in therapeutic recreation, Dr. Jerome (Jerry) Singleton was the perfect person to advise the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge when it established a therapeutic recreation degree program.

The U of L seconded Singleton from the School of Health and Human Performance, Recreation and Leisure Studies Division at Dalhousie ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ to help develop the program, a job he accomplished in six months of intense and driven work. In honour of his contribution, the Faculty of Health Sciences is presenting Singleton with this year’s Friend of Health Sciences Award.

“I worked with excellent faculty and staff at the U of L, so it was an enjoyable time,” says Singleton. “When I heard about previous recipients of this award and that they, on average, gave 20 to 35 years to their respective fields, I said ‘This is a great honour to be recognized for six months work with the faculty.’ It’s outstanding; I was shocked.”

Singleton entered the field of therapeutic recreation after having summer jobs where he worked with children with disabilities and found that it aligned with what he wanted to do — give a voice to those individuals who have been marginalized and empower them to reach their optimal level of ability. In the last 30 years, Singleton has worked with people who have dementia and helped train generations of people who now work in the field.

“Inclusion is a gradual process and I think it’s getting there,” he says. “We have more champions across Canada and there’s great leadership through Alberta Therapeutic Recreation Association (ATRA) and the Canadian Therapeutic Recreation Association (CTRA). We’re moving in a direction in Canada that the persons who are going to be providing service will have a minimum entry of practice standards.”

“Jerry’s contributions to our program are immeasurable,” says Dr. Chris Hosgood, dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences. “We have a first-class therapeutic recreation program thanks to Jerry’s generosity, expertise and dedication.”

Singleton arrived in Lethbridge in January 2015. Preliminary work had been done by Dr. Dayna Daniels, a faculty member, and Tristan Hopper, a PhD student at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta. Along with support from faculty and staff in health sciences and at Lethbridge College and the ATRA, Singleton began setting up the program within the guidelines of the Committee of Accreditation of Recreational Therapy Education (CARTE) and the National Council for Therapeutic Recreation Certification (NCTRC).

“It really was an opportunity to give back to the profession, to move the profession forward, but also give us another solid therapeutic recreation program that’s out west,” says Singleton.

The program was designed to meet the requirements for accreditation and graduates are prepared to complete the national certification exam to become a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist. A therapeutic recreation advisory committee was established to provide consistent input. In the first year of the program, Devan McNeill taught three on-campus classes and Hopper provided two distance education classes. When additional faculty members were hired, Drs. Sienna Caspar and Pei-Chun Hsieh, all courses were provided on campus and Zac Crouse was hired to teach many online/blended courses.

“The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge really has a very innovative therapeutic recreation program and it’s because the village of the Faculty of Health Sciences empowered the creation and delivery of this program, with connections to the ATRA and Lethbridge College,” says Singleton.

The award will be presented to Singleton at the Friend of Health Science dinner on Oct. 4 at 6 p.m. in the U of L Students’ Union Ballrooms. Tickets are $50 each or $400 for a table of eight and are available online at Friend of Health Sciences.

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ establishes first therapeutic recreation degree program in Alberta

trevor.kenney — Fri, 27 Feb 2015 22:46:10 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s Faculty of Health Sciences is unveiling a new post-diploma degree program that will advance the discipline of therapeutic recreation and eventually lead to the establishment of the first accredited therapeutic recreation degree in Canada.

The Bachelor of Therapeutic Recreation is designed to prepare graduates to become eligible as Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialists (CTRS), a career field that is emerging as one of the most promising growth professions in health care.

“In conversation with government, employers and other post-secondary institutions we became aware of the need in Alberta for a degree option in therapeutic recreation,” says Dr. Chris Hosgood, dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences. “In the spirit of Campus Alberta, we created a task force that included all stakeholders in the province, including NorQuest College and Lethbridge College, to develop a laddering opportunity for students to move into a two-year post-diploma degree program at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge.”

Therapeutic recreation is described as a process that utilizes functional intervention, education and recreation participation to enable individuals with cognitive, physical, emotional and social limitations to acquire or increase the skills and knowledge that allow them to enjoy the leisure aspects of their life.

What it translates to in the workforce is varied and open-ended.

“The profession is really client driven, having the client tell you what they need as opposed to a therapeutic recreation professional telling them what they need,” says Tristan Hopper, a CTRS and master’s student who is currently at the U of L supporting Dr. Jerry Singleton as he assists in setting up the new program. Singleton is on secondment from Dalhousie ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, where a therapeutic recreation degree has been offered since 1990.

“I’ve worked in hospitals with clients who have a mental illness. People often think that therapeutic recreation has to be involving clients in sport, but some people aren’t into that,” says Hopper. “Maybe they just want to go to a coffee shop to meet friends and socialize but don’t know how to ride transit or how to properly order a drink once they get there. That’s all a part of what we do.”

The new degree program is being lauded by the Alberta Therapeutic Recreation Association (ATRA) as addressing a provincial need. The program will begin accepting students for the Fall 2015 semester.

“This degree program supports ATRA’s mission to regulate therapeutic recreation through defined programs of study and educational courses for the purpose of registration requirements, a clearly defined entry level for applicants and continuing competence programs for practitioners, standards of practice and a code of ethics,” says ATRA Executive Director Dianne Bowtell. “With this clearly defined therapeutic recreation educational program in place in Alberta, the profession can advance the discipline to improve the health and quality of life of Albertans living with disabilities and illnesses, older adults and others who are marginalized in society.”

Those eligible to apply to the new degree program must first complete a therapeutic recreation diploma course, such as that offered at Lethbridge College. Singleton says the value of the added two years of study and a degree designation is substantial.

“Lethbridge College is doing great things with their program but a diploma allows graduates the ability to be a programmer, not a CTRS,” he says. “The two extra years will enable the individual to develop the critical thinking skills to not only provide an engagement opportunity but to assess the effectiveness of it and how it could be applied to help other individuals in the future. The degree also indicates to the field a minimum level of competency, a quality assurance that will enable graduates the opportunity to compete for positions across Canada and the United States.”

The U of L is also beginning the process by which the degree program will be professionally accredited, something that even Dalhousie has yet to pursue. It would make the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s Bachelor of Therapeutic Recreation the first accredited therapeutic recreation degree in Canada.

UNews - Tristan Hopper

Friend of Health Sciences Award honours influential therapeutic recreation expert

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��Ѹ�����Դ���߿�Ƭ establishes first therapeutic recreation degree program in Alberta

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��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ establishes first therapeutic recreation degree program in Alberta