Recreation Therapy Conference

When it comes to recreation therapy, there were a lot of things I never anticipated myself doing. In fact, in college when they talked about graduating and going on to take the certification exam, and the yearly fees to keep certified and licensed...I'll be honest. I imagined myself getting married and having kids and not being able to use it anyway. I was just going to be happy to graduate.

And then I experienced my very intense, thoroughly educating internship at New Haven under Karie Swenson. It was grueling, and I'll admit I cried a few times and was so happy the day I was finally done! But Karie had changed my outlook and understanding of recreation therapy. It was something I wanted to actually do now!

So I graduated in December, 2006 and passed the certification exam in May, 2007. When I returned from Vegas that summer, there were no job openings for RT. So I worked again as a "mentor" at Willow Creek School. After a month, I realized their potential for RT. I wrote a proposal to integrate RT into the daily schedule and they accepted! And I was able to work full time as a mentor, and part-time as a Rec. Therapist and loved it. Unfortunately, the program closed down, so my career as a Rec. Therapist was a short-lived, 8 month experience.

Still, I was proud of myself, and knew that if I created a job once I could do it again. In November 2008, I was hired for a full-time job at Telos and was so excited because it was everything I wanted as a recreation therapist. Fantastic program, and I loved working with Karl Jensen and learning from him. Unfortunately, I knew I only had 2 months because the board decided to cut the RT program in half to begin a humanitarian program. So my dream was again short-lived, and I was back on the not-so-promising job market.

Telos' after-care program, Transition, hired me for a few hours a week to work with their small house of boys. But I still needed more work. Through word of mouth in my ward, I interviewed at Extended Family Inc (a state program in Spanish Fork) and told them what I do. And I was again able to create a recreation therapy program! So I was able to beat the odds of the economy and gain some great experience through marketing myself. And I was able to keep it up even after having Ty.

So here's where the conference comes in: My friend Kristin Warren (who was another RT at New Haven during my internship) called me up and asked me to present with her at the Utah Recreation Therapy Association conference. The topic she wanted to present was on marketing yourself, and keeping up your certification as a mom. This was a month or so before Ty passed away, so as terrified as I was to present, I said, "sure!"

When Ty passed away, my first instinct was, "I quit. I quit everything. My job. My novel and writer's conference. That RT conference. Everything!" But it only took a couple days before I realized I needed all of those things to maintain my sense of self - to have something to get up and do everyday. This included the conference I was so intimidated to do. But I did it, and Kristin and I had a great experience.

Here we are, after presenting our one hour session. We titled it, "Keeping RT Alive in a Dying Economy." And we did a great job! I shared my experiences of creating jobs, emphasizing that just because you are afraid to do something, doesn't mean you can't (which included presenting at a conference, something else I was sure I would never do!) There was great discussion and people left, saying they were inspired to go out there and create jobs instead of waiting for one to open up perfectly for them. It could not have gone better, and I'm proud of myself for sticking with it - especially since it was 3 weeks after the funeral. I also realized I'm not as bad at public speaking as I thought I was! I have again gained more courage to do something that once was so far out of my comfort zone. It's amazing how just doing something once can boost your self-esteem and belief in yourself.

Recreation Therapy has been a crazy adventure as I've tried to find my place in the RT world. I've learned a lot and come so far from the scared, insecure intern I once was. Karie Swenson wrote on my evaluation papers, "Believe in yourself...take initiative." I'd like to think I've followed her advice through and through. She was even there at our presentation, along with one of my BYU professors who promised my class we'd be doing these things someday. I didn't believe him then. But here I am, doing it now. I could not be happier at any other job. I love being involved with these kids' lives, and I appreciate how therapeutic it's also been for me.