The Therapeutic Recreation (TR) Club is a returning organization to the Kean involvement network. Their main goal is to provide students with a better understanding of therapeutic recreation, as well as how it applies itself in the real world.
TR is a type of therapy that uses activity-based interventions to treat individuals. The TR club will introduce a wide range of activities, how and why these specific activities help people and how to administer them. The most important thing is that the TR club will be a safe haven to openly discuss ideas, thoughts, suggestions about therapy, and everyone on campus is welcome to join in.
The club was recently re-established on campus to help bring awareness to what recreational therapy really is. Recreational therapy is just as important as occupational therapy and physical therapy for all Kean students to learn about. The club plans to change their name from the Therapeutic Recreation club to the Recreational Therapy club in the near future.
Recently, TR has been conducting their events online, due to the transition to remote education, but the organization plans to be more interactive, hosting many events when students can return to campus. Some of these planned events include volleyball tournaments and fundraisers that will benefit both the club as well as the university.
The club's current president, Nadya Diaz, a senior majoring in therapeutic recreation, talked about the club's mission statement, as well as what the future holds for them in the Kean community.
"The mission of the Recreational Therapy club is to learn from each other, to discuss and to share information from what we learned, to inspire those around us in their pursuit to reach each unique individual's maximum potential," said Diaz.
Diaz continued, "We want this to be more than just an ordinary club on campus. We want our members to feel united through us, and have a place where people feel comfortable, in an environment where they can learn from one another and share with others throughout their lives."
Majoring in therapeutic recreation has many benefits, such as learning about physical movement, cognitive and social skills, emotional health as well as wellness. Learning these skills can assist those with disabilities, illnesses, injuries and other challenges that make it difficult to participate in daily activities.
"People with disabilities are excluded from participating in many activities that can benefit their health. Our job in the organization is to step in and make them able to participate with the rest of the world...There are many well-respected people out there who are very successful that have a disability. It serves as an example for our club, because we want a diverse group of students [to] reach their maximum potential so they can be future leaders of tomorrow, serving as an inspiration to other students," said Diaz.
More information regarding the Therapeutic Recreation Club can be found on their club page on Cougar Link. More information about the major is available through the major catalog page under Therapeutic Recreation on the Kean University official site.
