Counseling Resources Toolbox
Recreational Therapy
Recreational Therapy is a purposeful intervention designed to help clients relieve, or adaptively cope with, problems and concerns and experience the highest levels of wellness possible for them through participation in recreation and leisure activities. They are good to use with KIDS, TEENS, ADULTS, FAMILIES. All Recreational Therapies utilize processing questions to apply different activities therapeutically.
RECREATIONAL THERAPY OVERVIEW
This gives an overview of Recreational Therapy with several different techniques.
PROCESS QUESTIONS
Process questions are what makes a regular activity therapeutic. They guide the client through deeper thinking about the situation and how to apply what they have done in the session to other situations in their life.
EXPRESSIVE ARTS THERAPY
Drama therapy is enacting a story or portraying a character pretending to be someone else which can enable them to express themselves or situations. Music therapy can help reduce stress and depression and increase relaxation. Photography can be expressing emotions pictorially. All are powerful expressive therapies.
MAGIC THERAPY
Magic Therapy was developed initially for helping clients with physical therapy. However, the mental health benefits quickly became clear. This is a workshop on Magic Therapy.
SUPERHERO THERAPY
We all can relate to different characters in movies or literature. Using Superheroes (or other characters) can help clients learn more about themselves and how to deal with life challenges.
YOGA THERAPY
Yoga is a powerful way to practice mindfulness as well as ground our bodies in the present. Many people who have experienced trauma can benefit from yoga especially in helping with dissociation. You don't have to be fit or experienced to experience the benefits.
ADVENTURE THERAPY
Adventure therapy is a type of experiential therapy that uses challenging adventure activities to aid the therapeutic healing process. Adventure therapy helps promote healthy identity development, self-efficacy, grit, and a growth mindset.
NARRATIVE THERAPY
Using stories is a great way to get at a deeper level in therapy. Narrative therapy uses stories that clients project aspects of their life onto that helps the client process difficult situations, learn about emotions, and/or help the counselor learn about the internal landscape of the client.