College of Education and Human Development
Internships Help Students in Therapeutic Recreation Explore Their Interests
Internships in therapeutic recreation offer undergraduate RHT students pathways to a career in the health services field.
A recreation therapist assists a young boy on the slopes. Photo courtesy of Pennsylvania Center for Adapted Sports.
(This article was written by Frances Womble and originally appeared on Mason News.)
In the College of Education and Human Development, the School of Recreation, Health, and Tourism offers students pathways to careers in the health field, one of them being the BS in Health, Fitness and Recreation Resources with a concentration in therapeutic recreation. The concentration teaches students how to use activities as therapeutic tools for people with disabilities to help improve their quality of life.
Heather Shoushanian and Melissa Rudy, who graduated from the program in August, shadowed certified therapeutic recreation specialists during internships and implemented new projects that will be carried on even after they've left.
Shoushanian's interest in working with veterans led her to the Washington DC Veterans Affairs Medical Center (DCVAMC), where she created a recreation therapy web page for the DCVAMC website.
The site provides information about the recreation therapy services offered in the DCVAMC, including an overview of recreational therapy and the benefits and programs offered.
"I believe my internship experience gave me a competitive edge in the field because I worked with our military veterans, and that is a growing population that will benefit most from recreation therapy," she says.
Rudy's 12-week internship took her to MedStar National Rehabilitation Hospital in Washington, D.C. "I facilitated a weekly art group for the pediatric patients that allowed them to be expressive and take their mind off being in the hospital," she says. "I took pictures of the children's artwork at the end of each art group session and chose 12 photos I thought best represented the pediatric unit for each month of the year."
She then created a personalized calendar using the images she had selected.
Rudy also proposed that the calendar be added to the welcome basket that each new pediatric patient's family receives when the child is admitted to the hospital.
Since graduating, Shoushanian works part-time for Specially Adapted Resource Clubs, an organization that provides various types of individual and group activities for young adults with lifelong disabilities.
Rudy is currently taking prerequisite courses in order to apply for admission to Mason's School of Nursing.
For additional information:
- Contact CEHD Communications: cehdnews@gmu.edu
- College of Education and Human Development: cehd.gmu.edu
- School of Recreation, Health, and Tourism: rht.gmu.edu
- Therapeutic Recreation program: rht.gmu.edu/programs/prls/degree_requirements/trdr
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