Seniors can participate in recreational therapy programs during home-based care to benefit their mental and physical health at the same time. Of course, getting some movement throughout your day can help you maintain strength and physical health. But it also helps fight the symptoms of several mental illnesses, including depression and anxiety.
What Is Recreational Therapy?
Recreational therapy isn’t just activity. Instead, a recreational therapy program is created to serve an individual’s unique needs. It’s all about how you, or your senior loved one, can lead a healthier, higher quality life. Our team at Palmeira can plan out the recreational activities after determining patient needs, conditions, and physical and mental abilities in consultation with the referring physician.
What Might Recreational Therapy Involve?
Though hard physical activity might come to mind when you think “recreational therapy,” your program doesn’t have to involve any high-impact exercise at all. It all depends on what you want and need. Any of the following activities might be part of a recreational therapy programs:
- Games: A little competition is fun and healthy. Senior’s cognition, social skills, and emotional health all benefit from being part of a team, and challenging themselves to game, whether it’s cards or bowling.
- Technology: Technology can really benefit senior’s lives, if they know how to use it. Many recreational therapy programs and now teaching seniors how to use the technologies they will enjoy.
- Arts and crafts: Art is emotional and helps us get in touch with good feelings. It engages our creativity, and even our memory. Crafts of all kinds can enrich senior’s lives from clay sculpting to painting.
- Current events: For seniors who have eyesight or co-ordination issues, accessing the news about the things they care about, from their community to pop culture, becomes difficult. Some recreational therapy programs seek to help seniors reconnect with current events, by reading the news aloud or helping them read the news in more accessible formats.
Found something you want to include in your recreational therapy program? Our staff are flexible and sensitive to your needs, so just let them know if there is something new you want to try.
