Georgia Southern University - GSU
speciality: Biological Sciences

All I knew is that I wanted to help people improve their lives in an enjoyable and meaningful way. I felt a bit lost as I faced the struggle of having to choose between enjoyability and conventional healing practices.

I was approached by professors who introduced an innovative holistic therapy concentration called Therapeutic Recreation (TR). Also known as Rec Therapy, TR utilizes leisure activities to improve individuals’ overall well-being by focusing on the whole individual – enhancing physical, mental, social, emotional, cognitive, and spiritual health.

I loved the idea of addressing all aspects of a person’s life, and because all areas are connected I thought, “What better way is there than to use exciting, impactful, and successful activities for individuals with illnesses or disabilities improve their health and recovery?”

Therapeutic Recreation is where Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy meet. I enjoyed art therapy and dance therapy just much seeing first-hand how much the patients enjoyed the many recreational activities that can be applied to their individualized treatment plans.

Campus life becomes a unique journey because TR is a holistic blossom while PT and OT have been blooming for quite awhile. Although my classmates and I experienced were among the first in the new program, we became the faces of having fun doing activities as class exercises. We had a unique balance of studying processes and structuring treatment plans with taking trips to the recreation center for sporting activities – much of which align for addressing all areas of life simultaneously.