CONTACT: Nicole Bonomini
Marketing Coordinator
Rainbow Rehabilitation Centers, Inc.
734.482.1200
nicole.bonomini@rainbowrehab.com
Rainbow Rehabilitation Centers Celebrates Recreational Therapy Week July 13-19
YPSILANTI, Mich. July 17, 2009 – Recreational Therapy is a vital part of the rehabilitation process for brain injury survivors. Using a range of therapeutic activities, recreational therapy helps clients maintain their physical, mental and emotional well-being, helps to build skill sets and more.
To celebrate Recreational Therapy Week July 13-19, Rainbow Rehabilitation Centers hosted a variety of recreational activities for its clients, including an ice cream social, informational lunch hour about recreational therapy and a leisure games outing.
What is Recreational Therapy?
Recreational therapy provides treatment to individuals with disabilities or illnesses through therapeutic activities. Using a variety of techniques, recreational therapy treats and helps maintain the physical, mental and emotional well-being of clients.
These include:
- Community outings: When clients go on community outings, it helps increase general activity levels and social skills.
- Community reintegration: Recreational Therapy involves teaching clients how to use community resources, which prevents social isolation and develops self-advocacy skills.
- Pet therapy: Being with animals has been shown to alleviate stress and reduce depression and anxiety.
- Aquatics groups and fitness groups: Aquatics and fitness groups engage patients both physically and socially, improving physical fitness, and helping to maintain a healthy lifestyle. The increased balance and coordination that comes from the important exercises is critical to long term health and safety of clients.
- Game nights: Games provide clients time to interact with peers and encourage appropriate social interaction
- Arts and crafts: Arts and crafts are used to improve motor skills and expressive functioning.
At Rainbow, recreational therapists use these activities to engage clients. Many individuals with traumatic brain injuries cannot participate in activities in the same way they did before their accident. Through recreational therapy, they can discover new activities or relearn hobbies clients enjoyed before they were injured. Recreational therapy treats the whole individual, body, mind and spirit. Having fun and enjoying life is the best therapy, and Recreational Therapy Week is about bringing awareness and involvement to as many people as possible.
To learn more about Rainbow’s therapy programs, go to www.rainbowrehab.com.
About Rainbow Rehabilitation Centers, Inc.
Rainbow Rehabilitation Centers, Inc. has been a provider of rehabilitation services for children,
teens and adults with brain and spinal cord injuries since 1983. With more than 30 residential
locations, two treatment centers, a NeuroRehab Campus® and two vocational centers, Rainbow
offers services that span nearly every aspect of brain and spinal cord injury recovery and
rehabilitation. Residential settings include adult homes, child and adolescent homes, town
houses and semi-independent living apartments. Day treatment, home- and community-based
rehabilitation and outpatient services are also available.
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Rainbow Rehabilitation Centers
5570 Whittaker Road
P.O. Box 970230
Ypsilanti, MI 48197
Toll-Free: (800) 968-6644
5570 Whittaker Road
P.O. Box 970230
Ypsilanti, MI 48197
Toll-Free: (800) 968-6644
Rainbow's Continuum of Care spans a broad range of brain and spinal cord injury recovery and rehabilitation services including: medical, physical, cognitive, occupational, psycho-social, behavioral, vocational, educational, and recreational. Learn more.