Marklund is a center that works to enrich the lives of people of all ages and backgrounds with special healthcare needs. Disabled individuals from various situations (such as those with complications during pregnancy, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, genetic disorders, or acquired disabilities due to tragic accidents) may come to Marklund to utilize the professional services that may enrich their lives. They offer several programs and services to promote a meaningful life, as well as a nurturing community environment for their clients. Among the services offered are 24-hour skilled nursing care, dental services, meal service, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and the focus of my investigation, recreational therapy.

The therapeutic recreation director that showed me around Marklund knew each client very well, along with the clients strengths and weaknesses. He also showed me the various equipment provided to each person to assist them in daily living and recreational activities. For example, one cabin that I visited was full of interactive people and another cabin was a much more sedentary lower functioning group. In the higher functioning cabin, the staff was playing games and helping the clients read, whereas in the lower functioning one much equipment was needed just to move the clients in and out of bed, or bathe and feed them. I think this flexibility and expertise is much the reason that Marklund exists and is very successful in their area of service.

There are many employment opportunities available at Marklund, however because of the nature of the work each position requires very specific certification. Part of the reason Marklund is such a great facility is that the workers are very specialized and knowledgeable in their area of expertise. The position that I learned most about, as well as the most relevant position to this course is a CTRS (Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist). To achieve this certification, one should have a baccalaureate degree or higher from an accredited college or university with a major in therapeutic recreation, recreation or leisure studies with an option of therapeutic recreation. At this point the CTRS exam needs to be passed before certification. Since Therapeutic Recreation Specialists deal constantly with physical, occupational and other types of therapists careers in these fields may be a good way to be in the same field, but will require very specific certifications as well.

In this type of

field there are constantly issues and trends needing to be kept up with. Since every client is different, adjustments and modifications are constantly being made to make it the most beneficial living and learning situation as possible. The biggest challenge for Marklund is making it a great fit for each of their 120 clients. They do this by staffing adequately and adding variety and flexibility into their schedule and budget. They also try to keep up with modern trends as far as recreational activities so that their clients can get the maximum amount of enjoyment.

Since the target population is very specialized in nature, their definition of leisure is quite different than that of other places and is in a much simpler form. However they do a great job to maximize the leisure of their clients. For example, there are several types of recreational aids to help the clients play as well as use their sensory skills.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed my experience at Marklund and got a lot more out of this project in many ways than I thought I was going to. My experience was very eye-opening to the difficulties and lifestyles of people with special needs and made me really think about things that I am able to do in my recreation that I may take for granted. A career at a place like Marklund is not for everyone, and is probably not for me. The pros of this career is that it is a very fulfilling thing to do and has more of a positive impact on more people than almost any other career could. However the cons of entering into this field is that it is very challenging and takes a very patient person.

Since many clients cannot even speak it is very hard to communicate and be good at the job. I think that therapeutic recreation contributes to leisure service delivery on a much smaller scale (since it pertains to a fewer number of people) but contributes at a very high level of quality. The people in this industry really give all that they can to ensure that their clients live the fullest and most enjoyable life possible. In closing, I am very glad that I chose this topic to do my project on and this is an experience that will stay with me for a very long time.