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Professional Membership Criteria
A profession is partially defined as having a commonly held body of knowledge. This body of knowledge becomes the basis for identifying those individuals who are qualified for some form of professional recognition. For professional membership and professional registration, the Alberta Therapeutic Recreation Association (ATRA) requires an applicant to have a degree or diploma which contains a minimum number of specific content courses.
ATRA makes no attempt to prescribe how content is packaged into courses. That remains the choice of the curriculum developers. ATRA does determine the general nature of content that is acceptable to meet the professional membership and registration criteria. To do this, it is necessary for ATRA to deal with titles of courses in their review process. Thus, the titles of courses remain critical in identifying the nature of course content. ATRA does not "read into" or read beyond the titles of courses. Course titles are assumed to reflect the true nature of the course content. Courses must be valued at three credits or higher, with three credits being equal to three lecture hours per week.
Currently, the criteria for professional membership and professional registration in the Alberta Therapeutic Recreation Association is:
A degree or diploma in recreation therapy, therapeutic recreation or recreation and leisure studies from a nationally or internationally accredited post-secondary institution. A degree or diploma in a related health field will be considered on an individual basis provided the course content criteria have been met.
Course Content Criteria:
- Three Therapeutic Recreation Courses; and
- Three General Recreation Courses; and
- Six supportive courses from three clinically related areas
Therapeutic Recreation Courses
A therapeutic recreation content course is a highly structured and university/college approved course which focuses on the theory and/or philosophy and/or content of the field. The course title must refer to Therapeutic Recreation. While important to the overall preparation of the student, practicum or internship courses do not fulfill the requirement for therapeutic recreation content courses.
General Recreation Courses
General recreation course requirements refer to general, not specialty, recreation areas of study. General recreation courses must be theoretical and/or philosophical in nature. The course title must include the words Recreation, Leisure, Play or Leadership. While important to the overall preparation of the student, practicum or internship courses do not fulfil the requirement for general recreation content courses.
Supportive Courses/Related Fields of Study
In reviewing the client populations served by Therapeutic Recreation, the expressive art therapies involved in Therapeutic Recreation, the functional processes involved in Therapeutic Recreation and the clinical skills used in Therapeutic Recreation, the following areas have been determined to be related to Therapeutic Recreation:
- Psychology (General, Abnormal, Educational, Counseling)
- Sociology (Group Dynamics, Leadership, Volunteerism)
- Education (Special, Physical, Early Childhood)
- Therapies (Music, Art, Dance, Drama)
- Health (Health Promotion, Wellness, Health Trends, Community Health, Rehabilitation)
- Aging (Gerontology, Aging, Aging Disorders)
- Medical (Anatomy, Biology, Physiology, Medical Terminology, Pharmacology)
- Research (Statistics, Evaluation, Research Methods)
NOTE: New graduates as of May 1, 2011 will be required to demonstrate completion of a minimum of 320 hours of internship placement/practicum. A minimum of 250 hours of this placement must have a clinical component and be completed under the supervision of a recreation therapist who is registered with their provincial association.
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