Strategies for
Growing Your
Profession
Randy Wyble, MS, CTRS
wybler@gvsu.edu
Dawn De Vries, DHA, MPA, CTRS
devridaw@gvsu.edu
For a copy of this PowerPoint, go to:
gvsu.edu/tr
Click on the faculty link to the left and it will
be listed in our faculty sketches.
• Participants will identify 2 strategies to become active
members and professionals.
• Participants will state 2 qualities of professional membership
that they value.
• Participants will express 2 techniques to grow the TR field.
Learning Objectives
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Introductions
Personal: Where are you in valuing the TR profession?
Yesterday: Where have we been?
Today: Where are we now?
Tomorrow: Where do we want to be?
Strategies: How do we get there?
Wrap Up
Session Outline
PROFESSIONAL EXCITEMENT
QUIZ
When the most recent issue of
Annual in Therapeutic Recreation
becomes available online, I ….
A. laugh... What is Annual in Therapeutic Recreation
Journal?
B. Delete the message.
C. Bookmark it; I’ll get to it later.
D. Skim the Table of Contents to see what’s in it.
E. Read it ferociously to gather pertinent information.
I am presently a member of…
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Nothing, other than my family.
Rotary Club or similar service organization.
A local recreation therapy group.
A state recreation therapy group.
At least one national and state recreation therapy
organization.
For my own continuing education, I
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Sleep.
Read People Magazine.
Watch PBS.
Attend a conference every few years.
Attend local, state or national workshops/
conferences annually
When I hear about budget cuts that may have an
impact on recreational therapy, I ...
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Pray I finish my MBA soon.
Stock up on food and store it in my basement.
Complain about the system.
Talk to other professionals about the issue.
Write to local, state or federal legislators.
Getting a degree in recreational
therapy…
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Was a waste of time.
Lacked foresight.
Enables me to help people.
Was necessary for professional employment.
Allows me to promote the use and value of what I
do.
I know I am delivering quality recreational
therapy services because:
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
My significant other tells me so.
My clients tell me so.
I just know so. Okay?
My boss/co-worker tells me so.
I have established a system for continuous process
improvement that tells me so.
The future of recreation therapy…
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
What future? It is non-existent.
Relates to the future of all allied health professions.
Depends upon my agency.
Depends upon our leaders.
Depends upon me.
SCORING OF THE PROFESSIONAL EXCITEMENT QUIZ
• You may score your quiz in the following manner:
A = 1 Point
B = 2 Points
C = 3 Points
D = 4 Points
E = 5 Points
• After you have coded each question, add your points
for a total score. The following scores are presented as
a summary of your results on the Professional
Excitement Quiz.
You are majorly excited about your profession just about 24
hours per day. You eat, sleep, and breath recreational therapy.
Some even call you a recreation therapy geek.
You wear your ATRA button and ATRA pens along with your
calculator in your shirt pocket. You network daily with other
recreational therapists and consider yourself a "web site" for
other professionals.
You've been heard using such high tech RT language as: CQI,
outcomes, TPO, CMS, and “e-mail me at therapist @RT.com."
You read all the standards manuals and professional journals for
the latest trends and developments.
45-50 Total Points
You are still excited though you take breaks for major bodily
functions.
You have ATRA buttons and pens but keep them in your
briefcase. You network with other recreational therapists
and have a keen professional awareness in locating
recreational therapy websites.
Your high tech RT vocabulary includes QA, TPO, and
outcomes. You know where to find the standards manuals
and professional journals and read them occasionally.
40-44 Total Points
You're occasionally on and occasionally off in being excited
about recreational therapy.
You've been somewhat involved in professional
organizations and have dabbled with networking with
other professionals, though your networking is low tech
and passive.
Your RT tech vocabulary includes words such as
programming, evaluation, and marketing. You know where
to find the standards manuals and journals. You even know
what a policies and procedures manual looks like.
35-39 Total Points
You're more off than on when it comes to being excited
about the profession.
This may be your first recreational therapy networking
opportunity and you are learning how to connect with
other recreational therapists.
Your RT tech vocabulary includes words such as sports,
crafts, and sandbox. This may be the first you've heard of
standards manuals, and professional journals are just too
much trouble to read.
25-34 Total Points
You are off line.
You wandered into this conference by accident because
Maryland was on your ten favorite U.S. states list and your
agency paid.
Your RT vocabulary includes words such as “See Spot Run”.
You devalue RT opting instead for food, sleep, and Monday
night football. Your journal exposure is limited to Reader’s
Digest, Sports Illustrated, and People Magazine.
15-24 Total Points
Hmmm… maybe you better see us after the session.
0-14 Total Points
SO WHERE ARE YOU AT AS A
PROFESSIONAL?
TELL YOUR NEIGHBOR…
AND NOW A WALK DOWN
MEMORY LANE…
YESTERDAY
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
REVISIT LATE 1990S SURVEY
• Survey conducted in late 1990s by Dan Ferguson
(unpublished)
• 3500 CTRS surveyed, 1000+ responses
• Joiners (2/3) and Non-Joiners (1/3)
• Non-joiners
• Membership is less important (no benefit in current
job)
• Uncertain about affordability
• Not exposed to TR organizations as students
• Both Groups
• Value for $ is lacking (benefit doesn’t = cost)
Remember this postcard? 2003
Help Us Make
Your Goals
A Reality
Respect
Recognition
Reimbursement
RT MEDICARE PROJECT
Top 10 Reasons to Join ATRA
from 2005
An annual membership costs less than eating at McDonald’s once a week.
CEUs…..CEUs…..CEUs….We all need valuable and easily accessible
CEUs.
3. Leadership skill development – A chance to be a leader in a national
association.
4. Website resources.
5. New treatment ideas and strategies tailored to your professional needs
through the ATRA treatment networks.
6. Collective impact on 3rd party payers and regulators.
7. One of the least expensive allied health professional memberships.
8. One to one support and networking opportunities.
9. A chance to impact legislative decisions and Medicare and Medicaid
practice.
10. Because together we can grow as a profession towards Greatness!!!
1.
2.
LOOKING IN THE MIRROR
TODAY…
WHERE ARE WE TODAY?
HOW TO CREATE AN EFFECTIVE
ORGANIZATION
Borrowing from a horse of a different color….
• Member participation is the key to building an effective
professional organization.
• Increasing member commitment to the professional
organization is the key to increasing member participation
• New member orientation is seen as a key opportunity to
influence level of commitment – which is impacted by
attitudes/beliefs related to the organization.
• New member orientation is the perfect time to share the values
and expectations of the organization such as:
Values
• Recognition & respect for the work we do
• Having a voice in the workplace
Expectations
• The profession organization IS the members
• Members have a responsibility to participate
• Member participation is the key to building an effective
union.
• Increasing member commitment to the union is the key to
increasing member participation
• New member orientation is seen as a key opportunity to
influence level of commitment – which is influenced
about attitudes/beliefs related to the union
• New member orientation is the perfect time to share the
values and expectations of the union such as:
Values
• Recognition & respect for the work we do
• Having a voice in the workplace
Expectations
• The union IS the members
• Members have a responsibility to participate
(Building More Effective Unions by Paul Clark)
THE FUTURE’S SO BRIGHT… BUT
WE NEED YOUR HELP
TOMORROW
WHERE DO WE WANT TO BE AS A
PROFESSION?
WHAT DOES AN ACTIVE AND ENGAGED
PROFESSIONAL LOOK LIKE?
GROUP BRAINSTORMING
STRATEGIES
HOW DO WE GET THERE?
IDENTIFY STRATEGIES TO
PROMOTE THE PROFESSION
SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION
STRATEGIES
REPORT OUT
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Top 5 Strategies for
Promoting the Profession
• Professional selfdevelopment
• Engaging and attracting
students
• Awareness of benefits
• Costs
• Self-promotion of own
profession
• Standards of practice
• Values
• Educational and
credentialing standards
• Research
• Attitudes and societal
acceptance
• Sense of
professionalism
• Legislation and public
advocacy
Promoting a Profession
from the Literature
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Breeden, L. E., Fultz, R. L., Gersbacher, C. A., Murrell, J. L., Pedersen, K., D. et al. (2000). The
relationship among demographic variables, professionalism, and level of involvement in a state
occupational therapy association. Occupational Therapy in Health Care, 12(2/3), 53-72.
DeLeskey, K. (2003). Factors affecting nurses’ decisions to join and maintain membership in professional
associations. Journal of PeriAnesthesia Nursing, 18(1), 8-17.
Dollinger, M. L. (2000). Professional associations: Ethics, duty, and power. Journal of the New York State
Nurses Association, 31(2), 28-30.
Esmaeili, M. Dehghan-Nayeri, N., & Negarandeh, R. (2013). Factors impacting membership and nonmembership in nursing associations: A qualitative study. Nursing and Health Sciences, 15, 265-272.
Funderburk, J. A., Skalko, T. K., & Baumann, D. (2004). Benefits and barriers of membership in TR
professional associations: A comparison of two states. Annual in Therapeutic Recreation, 8, 93-108.
Nelson, R. M., Cardwell, L. A., Reasner, R., & Hack, L. M. (1995). Membership status as a reflection of
students’ perceptions of the American Physical Therapy Association. Journal of Physical Therapy
Education, 9(1), 10-16.
Weis, D. & Schank, M. (2002). Professional values: Key to professional development. Journal of
Professional Nursing, 18(5), 271-275.
Wynd, C. A. (2003). Current factors contributing to professionalism in nursing. Journal of Professional
Nursing, 19(5), 251-261.
References
QUESTIONS? COMMENTS?