Recreational Therapy

Recreational therapy is a treatment designed to use recreational skills and other activities as tools to address substance use disorder.

What is therapeutic recreation?
Recreational therapy is an effective way to improve someone’s:

• Mental health
• Physical health
• Relationships and communication
• Recovery
• Independence

In this way, recreational therapy in Glen Burnie is not only interested in reducing the unwanted side effects or symptoms of a problem. Instead, they focus on improving all aspects of a person’s life.

It may seem like recreational therapy is only people playing games or making crafts, but the activities are therapeutic and tailored specifically to the person.

Counselors will:

• Assess the person to understand their goals, supports, stressors, and current status
• Plan a series of strategies to move the individual toward their established goals
• Intervene with skills from the planning stage
• Evaluate the effectiveness of the plan and the interventions incorporated
• Document the experience to track the procedures

Our counselors build a recreational therapy treatment plan based on an individual’s specific needs and symptoms. This step is important because someone with long-term and frequent use of heroin will likely benefit from different interventions than someone with a short-term marijuana issue. In this way, recreation therapy is always an individualized treatment. When treatment is unique and expertly tailored to the specific person, there is a greater chance of success from the level of care.

For people with substance abuse issues, recreational therapy goals and interventions are all aimed at helping with the recovery process.

When use has been eliminated, therapy shifts towards maintaining sobriety. With time, recreational therapy interventions can shift again into the stage of sustaining recovery. Sustained recovery does not require the same intensity of treatment needed in early recovery.

The goals of recreation therapy in Glen Burnie are always the same: to improve a person’s level of functioning and happiness. In the case of substance use disorder recreational therapy is a great way for individuals to practice new coping skills that replace previous substance use.