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Plan, direct, or coordinate medically-approved recreation programs for patients in hospitals, nursing homes, or other institutions. Activities include sports, trips, dramatics, social activities, and crafts. May assess a patient condition and recommend appropriate recreational activity.
Communication skills. Recreational therapists need to give clear instructions during activities or for healthy coping techniques. They also must write clearly in documenting patient progress.
Compassion. Recreational therapists may deal with people who are in pain, so they should be empathetic when providing support to patients and their families.
Leadership skills. Recreational therapists must be engaging and able to motivate patients to participate in a variety of therapeutic activities.
Listening skills. Recreational therapists must pay attention to patients’ concerns in order to determine an appropriate course of treatment.
Patience. Recreational therapists may work with patients who require more time and special attention than do others.
Resourcefulness. Recreational therapists must be both creative and flexible when customizing treatment plans and adapting activities or programs to meet patients' needs.
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Characteristics of this Career |
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98% | Concern for Others - Job requires being sensitive to others' needs and feelings and being understanding and helpful on the job. | |
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94% | Cooperation - Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude. | |
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94% | Dependability - Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations. | |
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93% | Integrity - Job requires being honest and ethical. | |
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93% | Adaptability/Flexibility - Job requires being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace. | |
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90% | Social Orientation - Job requires preferring to work with others rather than alone, and being personally connected with others on the job. | |
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90% | Initiative - Job requires a willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges. | |
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88% | Self-Control - Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations. | |
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86% | Stress Tolerance - Job requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high-stress situations. | |
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84% | Leadership - Job requires a willingness to lead, take charge, and offer opinions and direction. | |
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82% | Innovation - Job requires creativity and alternative thinking to develop new ideas for and answers to work-related problems. | |
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82% | Attention to Detail - Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks. | |
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80% | Independence - Job requires developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done. | |
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80% | Persistence - Job requires persistence in the face of obstacles. | |
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73% | Analytical Thinking - Job requires analyzing information and using logic to address work-related issues and problems. | |
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73% | Achievement/Effort - Job requires establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks. |
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Strengths |
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100% | Social - Work involves helping, teaching, advising, assisting, or providing service to others. Social occupations are often associated with social, health care, personal service, teaching/education, or religious activities. | |
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61% | Artistic - Work involves creating original visual artwork, performances, written works, food, or music for a variety of media, or applying artistic principles to the design of various objects and materials. Artistic occupations are often associated with visual arts, applied arts and design, performing arts, music, creative writing, media, or culinary art. |
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Values of the Work Environment |
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100% | Relationships - Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to provide service to others and work with co-workers in a friendly non-competitive environment. Corresponding needs are Co-workers, Moral Values and Social Service. | |
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67% | Achievement - Occupations that satisfy this work value are results oriented and allow employees to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment. Corresponding needs are Ability Utilization and Achievement. | |
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61% | Independence - Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to work on their own and make decisions. Corresponding needs are Creativity, Responsibility and Autonomy. |
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Abilities | Cognitive, Physical, Personality |
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75% | Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences. | |
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75% | Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand. | |
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75% | Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you. | |
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72% | Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing. | |
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72% | Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem. | |
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72% | Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense. | |
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72% | Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand. | |
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69% | Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events). | |
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69% | Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person. | |
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66% | Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations). |
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Attributes & Percentage of Time Spent |
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99% | Face-to-Face Discussions - How often do you have to have face-to-face discussions with individuals or teams in this job? | |
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96% | Contact With Others - How much does this job require the worker to be in contact with others (face-to-face, by telephone, or otherwise) in order to perform it? | |
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95% | Electronic Mail - How often do you use electronic mail in this job? | |
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91% | Work With Work Group or Team - How important is it to work with others in a group or team in this job? | |
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87% | Indoors, Environmentally Controlled - How often does this job require working indoors in environmentally controlled conditions? | |
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84% | Physical Proximity - To what extent does this job require the worker to perform job tasks in close physical proximity to other people? | |
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83% | Structured versus Unstructured Work - To what extent is this job structured for the worker, rather than allowing the worker to determine tasks, priorities, and goals? | |
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82% | Freedom to Make Decisions - How much decision making freedom, without supervision, does the job offer? | |
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81% | Telephone - How often do you have telephone conversations in this job? | |
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75% | Coordinate or Lead Others - How important is it to coordinate or lead others in accomplishing work activities in this job? | |
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74% | Exposed to Disease or Infections - How often does this job require exposure to disease/infections? | |
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74% | Deal With External Customers - How important is it to work with external customers or the public in this job? | |
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72% | Responsible for Others' Health and Safety - How much responsibility is there for the health and safety of others in this job? | |
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67% | Time Pressure - How often does this job require the worker to meet strict deadlines? |
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Tasks & Values |
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97% | Assisting and Caring for Others - Providing personal assistance, medical attention, emotional support, or other personal care to others such as coworkers, customers, or patients. | |
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87% | Thinking Creatively - Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions. | |
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86% | Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships - Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time. | |
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86% | Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates - Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person. | |
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83% | Documenting/Recording Information - Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form. | |
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82% | Getting Information - Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources. | |
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82% | Scheduling Work and Activities - Scheduling events, programs, and activities, as well as the work of others. | |
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81% | Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work - Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work. | |
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77% | Making Decisions and Solving Problems - Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems. | |
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73% | Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge - Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job. | |
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71% | Coaching and Developing Others - Identifying the developmental needs of others and coaching, mentoring, or otherwise helping others to improve their knowledge or skills. | |
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68% | Developing and Building Teams - Encouraging and building mutual trust, respect, and cooperation among team members. | |
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68% | Resolving Conflicts and Negotiating with Others - Handling complaints, settling disputes, and resolving grievances and conflicts, or otherwise negotiating with others. | |
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67% | Performing for or Working Directly with the Public - Performing for people or dealing directly with the public. This includes serving customers in restaurants and stores, and receiving clients or guests. | |
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66% | Training and Teaching Others - Identifying the educational needs of others, developing formal educational or training programs or classes, and teaching or instructing others. | |
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66% | Coordinating the Work and Activities of Others - Getting members of a group to work together to accomplish tasks. | |
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66% | Working with Computers - Using computers and computer systems (including hardware and software) to program, write software, set up functions, enter data, or process information. | |
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66% | Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events - Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events. | |
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65% | Developing Objectives and Strategies - Establishing long-range objectives and specifying the strategies and actions to achieve them. |
Recreational therapists plan, direct, and coordinate recreation-based medical treatment programs to help maintain or improve patients’ physical, social, and emotional well-being. These therapists use a variety of techniques, including art expression; drama, music, and dance; sports and games; aquatics; and community outings.
Recreational therapists typically do the following:
Recreational therapists use recreation-based medical treatment to help people reduce depression, stress, and anxiety; recover basic physical and mental abilities; build confidence; and socialize effectively.
Recreational therapists are trained to use interventions to help patients of all ages. For example, they may help people with physical disabilities by teaching them adaptive sports. Therapists also may inform people about how to use community resources and participate in recreational activities.
These therapists also help people improve their mental health. They may provide interventions to help patients develop social and coping skills for managing their depression or anxiety.
Therapists may work with physicians or surgeons, registered nurses, psychologists, social workers, physical therapists, teachers, or occupational therapists. Recreational therapists are different from recreation workers, who organize recreational activities primarily for enjoyment.
Recreational therapists held about 16,800 jobs in 2022. The largest employers of recreational therapists were as follows:
| Hospitals; state, local, and private | 40% |
| Nursing and residential care facilities | 27 |
| Government | 20 |
| Ambulatory healthcare services | 6 |
| Social assistance | 5 |
Recreational therapists work in an office setting for planning or other administrative activities, such as patient assessment, but they also may travel when working with patients. Therapy may be provided in a clinical or community setting. For example, therapists may take their patients to recreation centers or parks for sports and other activities.
Some therapists spend a lot of time standing when actively working with patients. They also may need to physically assist patients or lift heavy objects, such as wheelchairs.
Most recreational therapists work full time. Some recreational therapists work evenings and weekends to meet the needs of their patients.
Recreational therapists typically need a bachelor’s degree to enter the occupation. Employers may require or prefer therapists to be certified.
Recreational therapists typically need a bachelor’s degree in a healthcare field, such as recreational therapy, or in recreation and fitness.
Recreational therapy programs include courses in physiology, human anatomy, and psychology. Bachelor’s degree programs usually include an internship.
Employers may require or prefer recreational therapists to be certified. The National Council for Therapeutic Recreation Certification (NCTRC) offers the Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist (CTRS) credential. Candidates may qualify for certification in more than one way. For example, one option requires a bachelor’s degree in recreational therapy, completing a supervised internship, and passing an exam. Another option also requires passing an exam but allows candidates with a bachelor’s degree in an unrelated subject to qualify with a combination of education and work experience. In order to maintain certification, therapists must either pass an exam or complete work experience and continuing education requirements after a specified number of years.
The NCTRC also offers certification in specialization area designations, including adaptive sports and recreation, behavioral health, and developmental disabilities. Therapists also may earn certificates from other organizations to show proficiency in specific therapy techniques, such as aquatic therapy or aromatherapy.
A small number of states require recreational therapists to be licensed or certified. For specific requirements, contact a state’s licensing board.
Some employers prefer to hire recreational therapists who have basic life support (BLS) or cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) certification.
Employment of recreational therapists is projected to grow 4 percent from 2022 to 2032, about as fast as the average for all occupations.
About 1,300 openings for recreational therapists are projected each year, on average, over the decade. Many of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire.
Demand for recreational therapists is expected to increase in some industries. For example, psychiatric facilities use recreational therapy as a key component of treatment for people struggling with mental illness or addiction. Recreational therapists will be needed to help these patients regain their physical and mental health and to support them in their recovery.
In addition, as large numbers of the U.S. population move into older age groups, more people will need recreational therapists to help them maintain and improve their functional abilities. Therapists also will be needed to help healthy seniors remain social, active, and independent in their communities as they age. However, funding challenges around the provision of recreational therapy services in some settings, such as nursing homes, may dampen demand for the occupation.
For more information on careers and academic programs in recreational therapy, visit
American Therapeutic Recreation Association
For more information about certification, visit
National Council for Therapeutic Recreation Certification
This table shows a list of occupations with job duties that are similar to those of recreational therapists.
| Occupation | Job Duties | Entry-Level Education | Median Annual Pay, May 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Occupational Therapists |
Occupational therapists evaluate and treat people who have injuries, illnesses, or disabilities to help them with vocational, daily living, and other skills that promote independence. |
Master's degree | $93,180 |
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Physical Therapists |
Physical therapists help injured or ill people improve movement and manage pain. |
Doctoral or professional degree | $97,720 |
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Rehabilitation Counselors |
Rehabilitation counselors help people with physical, mental, developmental, or emotional disabilities live independently. |
Master's degree | $39,990 |
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School and Career Counselors and Advisors |
School counselors help students develop academic and social skills. Career counselors and advisors help people choose a path to employment. |
Master's degree | $60,140 |
|
Speech-Language Pathologists |
Speech-language pathologists assess and treat people who have communication disorders. |
Master's degree | $84,140 |
|
Special Education Teachers |
Special education teachers work with students who have a wide range of learning, mental, emotional, and physical disabilities. |
Bachelor's degree | $62,950 |
|
Athletic Trainers |
Athletic trainers specialize in preventing, diagnosing, and treating muscle and bone injuries and illnesses. |
Master's degree | $53,840 |
|
Exercise Physiologists |
Exercise physiologists develop fitness and exercise programs that help injured or sick patients recover. |
Bachelor's degree | $51,350 |
|
Social Workers |
Social workers help people prevent and cope with problems in their everyday lives. |
See How to Become One | $55,350 |