College of Education and Human Development - George Mason University

Student Focus: Rachael Wray, Therapeutic Recreation

June 8, 2015

Rachael Wray, a rising senior studying Therapeutic Recreation.

"One of the things I did was talk to each patient, to get a sense of what music they listened to when they were young," says Rachael Wray, a rising senior in the Therapeutic Recreation program.

Wray was discussing the spring semester she spent gaining clinical experience in the Geriatrics Care Unit of Inova Fairfax Hospital.

"Someone had donated iPods to the hospital, and I'd create playlists for the patients to listen to," says Wray.

"Their faces would light up, it would make them so happy to hear the music they grew up with." One patient's family told Wray afterwards that their mother had awakened the next morning singing hymns out loud.

Rooted in neuroscience, the Music & Memory intervention is just one of several tools in Wray's toolbox of activities for working with older patients, particularly those living with Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia. 

"We provide a lot of course work to help prepare students for this kind of experience," says Brenda Wiggins, an associate professor and academic program coordinator in the School of Recreation, Health, and Tourism. "TR students learn to plan, organize, and direct therapeutic activities that encourage the health and well-being of individuals with physical, mental, or emotional disabilities."

In addition to taking several psychology courses as well as physiology and anatomy courses, the students in the program complete five therapeutic recreation courses so they understand how to analyze and interpret a client's situation and intervene in an appropriate, ethical, and therapeutic way.

Wray worked to complete a lace shape with a patient, who proudly displayed her work! Photo courtesy of Inova Fairfax Hospital.

Wiggins noted that each student also completes a 560-hour, synthesis fieldwork course in order to receive national certification as a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist (CTRS). "We encourage Mason students to gain experiences with as many different populations as possible, in both clinical and community settings, and with a full range of ages and disabilities. That way, the students have multiple career options and a good sense of what they want to do once they graduate," she says.

During the spring semester, Wray and two of her classmates spent eight hours a week at Inova, interacting with patients, families, and the hospital care team. "The families really love that we're there," says Wray. "We try to bring in a relaxed energy."

Understanding a patient's strengths, weaknesses, and needs  and then delivering individual or group interventions such as the iPod playlist  is the type of decision-making the students undertake. "I visited a patient with dementia and brought in a deck of cards. We sorted through the whole deck, picking out which cards are red and which are black, just trying to get those cognitive synapses going," says Wray.

She described going to the library to find a large-print Bible for a patient who struggled with an electronic version. The patient, who was "having trouble living," accepted the book and read aloud from it as Wray sat companionably by her side to listen.

The therapeutic recreation field is one that continues to grow. It prepares professionals to look at the whole person in order to find interventions that might help with depression, pain, memory, agitation, fine motor skills, cognition, and more.

The INOVA program that Wray participated in is carefully designed and under the supervision of the hospital's CTRS. The students are required to pass several online training courses on HIPPA issues, client-centered care, and personal protective equipment before interacting with patients.

"One patient, I really connected with her," says Wray. "She already had problems with her left side, and then after a stroke, her right side was affected as well. She was non-verbal but after talking with her family, I found out she used to like to sew." Wray met with her INOVA supervisor and decided to try a lacing project with the patient in order to work on fine motor skills. "At first she was a little overwhelmed," says Wray. "But we worked it through together, and she was really happy about what she accomplished."

Like many students, Wray wasn't exactly sure what she wanted to do after graduating from high school. She spent two years at Northern Virginia Community College working on her general education credits and began to pinpoint an interest in the therapy field. She discovered the Therapeutic Recreation program at Mason and then transferred. 

Wray is the first student to meet all the requirements of INOVA's newly created Geriatrics Integrative Care Service certificate. Therapeutic Recreation students Rebecca Meese and Sydney Reedy are currently completing the program.

Wray's goal, she says, is to work with autistic children. This summer she will work at a therapeutic recreation camp run by Fairfax County Neighborhood and Family Services. In the fall, she will return to Inova to help mentor new Mason students starting their own therapeutic recreation experiences. 

 

This article was written by Pam McKeta.

  


About CEHD

George Mason University's College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) includes two schools: the Graduate School of Education, one of the most comprehensive education schools in Virginia, and the School of Recreation, Health, and Tourism. CEHD offers a full range of courses, certificates, and degree programs on campus, online, and on site to more than 4,000 students each year. CEHD is fully accredited by NCATE, and all licensure programs are approved by the Virginia Department of Education. George Mason University, located just outside of Washington, DC, is Virginia's largest public research university.

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