Position Summary:

The Activity Therapist develops and implements an age appropriate therapeutic activity program for patients to improve patients’ social,  leisure, psychological, cognitive and physical functioning.   Assesses patients’ leisure and functional capabilities, deficits and needs and plans individual or group activities.  In collaboration with interdisciplinary team members develops individualized patient plan of care.

Essential Responsibilities and Duties:

1. Assesses and reassess patient’s social, leisure, recreational and functional capabilities and deficits.

2. Collaborates with interdisciplinary team to develop a comprehensive, written, individualized plan of care based on interdisciplinary assessments and patient needs

3. Descriptively documents patient progress that reflects the patient’s individualized treatment goals, interventions and the patient’s response.

4. Collaborates and communicates effectively with all members of the health care team. Maintains awareness of verbal/nonverbal communication in interactions with staff, other departments, physicians, patients and families.

5. Plans, prepares, coordinates and conducts psycho-education and activity groups to facilitate patient improvement in functioning and demonstrate ongoing active treatment.

6. Demonstrates the knowledge and skills necessary to provide services appropriate to the patient population served.

7. Facilitates patient and family engagement with community resources as part of discharge plan.

8. Participates in age appropriate patient education plan according to individual needs of the patient and learning preferences using available teaching resources.

9. Provides staff education in the area of therapeutic recreation or activity therapies for the behavioral health setting.

10. Participates in department performance improvement activities to improve patient care, Identifies processes for improvement and communicates to Service leadership. Assists in data collection as directed.

11. Demonstrates knowledge and understanding of new policies and procedures, best practices, changes in practice and initiatives. Obtains this knowledge through staff meeting attendance, required hospital education, literature review and discussion with department leadership and colleagues.

12. Coordinates work to achieve maximum productivity. Able to multitask, be flexible and prioritize workload.

13. Perform other duties as assigned.

14. Supports Behavioral Health Service internal and external customer service standards.

15. Follow Psychiatric Resource Partners’ Time and Attendance policy.

EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE/SKILL REQUIREMENTS:

· Bachelor's Degree in Therapeutic Recreation, Recreational Therapy or related field required.

· Master’s degree preferred.

· Three or more years’ experience in recreation in a healthcare setting with knowledge of patient population served by the facility required.

· Previous experience in recreation in a healthcare setting is preferred.

LICENSES/DESIGNATIONS/CERTIFICATIONS:

· Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist (CTRS) or currently in the process of obtaining national certification; OR certified in the area of specialty (Art, Dance, Music, etc.) OR clinical professional licensure (LCPC, LPC, etc.) with certification in expressive therapy area required.

· CPR and de-escalation and restraint certification required (training available upon hire and offered by facility).

· First aid may be required based on state or facility requirements.

Physical and Mental requirements of Job:

Able to stop, crouch, reach, walk, and stand for sustained periods of time; use extremities to press against something with steady force, as well as pull objects, using extremities to draw, drag, haul, or tug in a sustained motion; able to feel, grasp, and finger objects and lift them from a lower to higher position or horizontally from one position to another; express and exchange ideas via spoken or written work to convey detailed information in an audible and quick manner, able to make fine discriminations in sound and to perceive the nature of sounds with no less than a 40lb loss @Hz, 1,000 Hz and 2,000 Hz, with or without correction; able to substantially move wrist, hands and/or fingers in a repetitive motion.

Must be able to exert up to 20 lbs. of force occasionally, and/or up to 10 lbs. of force frequently, and occasionally exert up to 50 lbs. of force.

Visual Acuity:

Visual acuity required adequate for preparing and analyzing data and figures, accounting, transcription, characters on computer terminals, reading, and visual inspections necessary.

Physical Surroundings:

The worker is not substantially exposed to adverse environmental conditions.

Emotional or Mental Stress

Must be able to work with several distractions including light conversations.  Must be able to deal with aggressive, hostile and irrational behaviors of patients.  Must be able to respond immediately in crisis situations concerning patients and/or family members.

The worker may be subjected to environmental conditions that occur inside and outside via routine travel; much work, however, occurs inside under typical hospital conditions.

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this classification.  They are not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills of personnel so classified.

We are committed to providing equal  employment opportunities to all applicants for employment regardless of an individual’s characteristics protected by applicable state, federal and local laws.