As recreational therapists we are always looking for ways to effectively promote our services. Here is a list of ideas that may be helpful during National Therapeutic Recreation Week (July 13-19, 2003) and any time that you want to increase understanding about your services and your profession.

1. Wear your CTRS pin on your name badge
2. List your professional credential on your badge (and if your employer is not able to make a new badge for you – just grab a fine point sharpie pen and add it yourself!)
3. Put your CTRS certificate in a frame and put it up in your office (or somewhere visible in your facility)
4. While you are at it, put your ATRA membership certificate in a frame and put it right next to your CTRS.
5. Host a TR week event at your facility.
6. Send your boss a letter for TR week (and feel free to include some great ATRA Marketing materials like the ‘Who, What…brochures)
7. Write a news release about your program
8. Create a flier or brochure about the services in your department
9. Sign everything with CTRS
10. Create an eye catching bulletin board with recreational therapy info
11. Offer to write an article(s) for your facility newsletter about recreational therapy
12. Make table tents to celebrate TR week and put them on every table in the cafeteria or in the staff lounge.
13. Share TR success stories about your clients (this would make a great topic for those articles you’ve volunteered to write)
14. Do patient satisfaction surveys (and since they will be great, make sure to share the results with your supervisor)
15. Send notes or cards to other facility staff during their special week (i.e. National nursing week, PT week, OT week, Social work, etc.)
16. Invite your unit nurse or Doctor to some of your TR programs
17. Track Outcomes – them share this info!
18. Send thank you notes for referrals.
19. Give out small bottles of bubbles with stickers that read “Putting the fun back into functional”
20. Call the local newspaper editor to pitch a story idea about recreational therapy
21. Meet with your facility Marketing person to share resources and ideas
22. Submit Award nominations for your facility/program through ATRA or your local chapter
23. Host a workshop at your facility
24. Get business cards (if you can’t get them from you work order some cheap at www.vistaprint.com)
25. Write a letter to your legislator about recreational therapy (be sure to check the public policy section of ATRA’s website for ideas and info)
26. Volunteer to give an in-service to your facility about recreational therapy
27. Post ATRA’s code of Ethics in your department
28. Write a letter to the editor about what you do and how important it is.
29. Call in to a local talk-radio show to explain about recreational therapy
30. Include information about recreational therapy in your annual Christmas letter to family and friends
31. Be sure to list “Recreational Therapist” on your income tax returns, and anywhere else that asks you to list your profession
32. Wear your ATRA T-Shirt (and if you don’t have one, order one online)
33. Ask your state’s Governor to make a proclamation for TR week
34. Be a mentor for a student or new professional
35. Offer to speak about recreational therapy at a High School Career day
36. Offer to be a guest speaker at a University TR course near you
37. Put in a call for paper to present at a future ATRA conference
38. Make up some “Benefits for recreational therapy” coloring books
39. Host a wheelchair obstacle course for clients and staff (or better yet, clients versus staff)
40. Write a cost benefit analysis for your program and give it to your administrator
41. Do some pro-bono work, Volunteer for some great community TR programs that need your help
42. Lobby your local library to subscribe to TR journals
43. Volunteer to speak at a local Lions or Rotary Club about recreational therapy
44. Make Recreational therapy Posters (or order some from ATRA) and put them up around your facility
45. Ask your facility to use a message about your recreational therapy programs, instead or elevator music, for callers who are put on hold
46. Send an e-mail to all your friends during TR week, and explain what you do
47. Call a local TV station and invite them to come to one of your programs (you will definitely want to clear this on with your boss first)
48. Send your boss a thank you letter when you return from a conference, and explain all of the great things you learned
49. Start a scrapbook about your program and find a visible place to keep it, like the lobby of your facility
50. During your next physical, take a minute to tell your own doctor about what you do (or tell your children’s doctor if you haven’t had a physical in awhile)
51. Leave a message about recreational therapy on your answering machine
52. Write a letter to the producers of ER or any other of your favorite medical TV shows and ask them to include a recreational therapist in their show
53. Contact your health insurance company and ask if you are covered for recreational therapy services. If they say you are not, ask why.
54. Contact your local PTA and offer to speak about recreational therapy
55. Co-treat when possible with other staff, to help them better understand recreational therapy
56. If you work in a skilled nursing facility FILL OUT SECTION T1A.
57. Join a local coalition for healthcare and/or disability issues and get involved
58. Make a contribution to the ATRA Advocacy fund
59. Organize a team of your fellow recreational therapists for a local charity run or race in your community (and this works even better if you win!)
60. Write TR week messages in sidewalk chalk around your facility.
61. Get personalized license plates that say CTRS or RECTX or whatever you can come up with
62. Use your ATRA mousepad on your desk at work (and if you didn’t get one, there may still be some available, check the ATRA website for details)
63. Get a recreational therapy tattoo…. only kidding, that is a bit extreme, but maybe a temporary tattoo
64. Bake a cake to celebrate TR week with all your co-workers and your clients
65. Post the latest edition of the ATRA newsletter in your office
66. Write clear, measurable recreational therapy treatment goals for all of your clients
67. Send your referring physicians a copy of your recreational therapy discharge summary to let him/her know what you have achieved with their patient
68. Have a contest at your facility to see who can be the first person to correctly guess what the initials CTRS really stand for.
69. If you are creative, write a song or a poem for TR week
70. Host an adapted sports and recreation equipment show at your facility
71. Host an art exhibit of your clients art (with their permission, of course)
72. Surf the Internet for Disability websites, and when you notice one that should include recreational therapy but doesn’t, send them and e-mail and offer them some info about recreational therapy
73. Participate in ATRA’s Day on the Hill event
74. Get involved in doing some efficacy research for recreational therapy
75. Donate to the American Therapeutic Recreation Foundation to support research
76. Put a recreational therapy screen saver on your computer
77. If you don’t already have one, get a sign for above your desk or office door that says recreational therapy
78. Use your ATRA lanyard for your nametag at work
79. Volunteer to help with new hire orientation
80. Distribute or post protocols for the groups you do
81. Hand out recreation prescriptions in prescription bottles
82. Give away special promotional items to your facility staff during TR week
83. Have a recreation resource scavenger hunt at your facility
84. Gather some TR promotional materials, one of the things I really like to use is the ATRA Publication 'Recreational Therapy: A Viable Option in Rehabilitation Treatment Through Prevention' It is only $2.00 for ATRA members, and it is a great summary of the positive benefits of recreational therapy for specific diagnostic groups. Give copies to your Doctor or Program director (or both!)
85. Host an open house at your program
86. Offer a free healthy Leisure or stress management seminar for the public
87. Develop a quiz or crossword puzzle about recreational therapy and give prizes at the end of the week for the best entry
88. Have a “recreational therapy Professional” or “recreational therapy Student” honored for each day of the week by his/her colleagues. Publicize who is named and then have a small luncheon for all the winners to celebrate
89. Plan a balloon arch for the facility entrance or for the cafeteria entrance to hold a banner announcing TR Week
90. Have all employees in your recreational therapy department wear the same color shirts, or produce shirts promoting TR week
91. Purchase several bunches of flowers and distribute to the patients in honor of TR Week. Inform the patient that a recreational therapy professional cared them
92. Organize a picnic, potluck dinner, softball game, volley ball, etc. for recreational therapy professionals on one evening during TR Week
93. Have the institution’s President/CEO invite a group of recreational therapists to lunch or breakfast as an opportunity to talk with him/her about recreational therapy contributions/challenges in the institution
94. Invite a select group of local high school students to ‘shadow’ recreational therapy professionals for a few hours to gain firsthand experience and knowledge
95. Invite high school guidance counselors to a luncheon with recreational therapy department heads or educators to discuss opportunities in recreational therapy.
96. Invite all recreational therapy staff to a coffee/donut reception in the morning or to a coke/cookie reception in the afternoon with the institution’s recreational therapy leaders to say “thanks” for their contributions
97. Invite allied health faculty from local college/university to the institution to meet recreational therapy professionals – or –
98. College/university faculty could invite recreational therapy clinical professionals to campus to meet the faculty
99. Contact other professional organizations with which you interact, such as physician groups, and ask that the news release be included in their organization’s newsletter, and/or that they celebrate TR Week by planning an event to honor your profession.
100. Contact your employer’s human resource department and ask them to distribute the information in paycheck envelopes or in your employer’s newsletter or publication.
101. Contact local radio and/or TV stations and arrange to send information to the program manager or director. Ask if they will announce the celebration of TR Week several times during the week. Offer to be interviewed on a “spotlight” program
102. The most important way to promote your program is to have great clinical practice that really help patients achieve their TX goals