ASTRA Exhibits at the Case Management Society of Arizona Workshop

Jill Greenlee, CTRS and Becki Chilcote-McGrath, CTRS

Arizona State Therapeutic Recreation Association (ASTRA) recently exhibited at the Case Management Society of Arizona's (CMSA) fall workshop. With the recent investment of a tri-fold display board, ASTRA featured pictures of Therapeutic Recreation in action contributed by various ASTRA members along with ATRA marketing materials, and for fun, a couple of door prizes and novelty bottles of bubbles with the ASTRA logo to give away. To avoid re-creating the wheel, with ATRA's written consent, we were able to utilize the ATRA marketing logo "Therapeutic Recreation: Releasing Life's Potential".

With the efforts of Jill Greenlee ASTRA President and ATRA Public Relations Team Chair, Sarah Homan ASTRA President-elect, Erin Brown ASTRA Marketing Chair, Becki Chilcote-McGrath Legislative Liaison and ATRA CAC Chair, and Laurie Jake ASTRA Past President and current ATRA President, we had the opportunity to speak with Case Managers about the role of the Recreation Therapist in a variety of clinical and community settings.

There were approximately 75 people in attendance, most of who expressed an interest in the services we provide. Questions ranged anywhere from "What is your educational background and qualifications", "How are you different from other Therapies" to "Is your service reimbursable and if not, why not"? Personal experiences were shared, and an overall understanding and appreciation for what we do was expressed. The general consensus was we were very well received. Several business cards were exchanged and new networking contacts were established. We've been asked to return to their December workshop and again to their statewide conference in the spring of 2002.

Through our involvement over the years with the ATRA State Initiatives team, and the ATRA Public Policy team, we have received valuable leadership and direction to guide us on our course to effectively market and educate about our profession. By doing so, this has helped us tremendously in developing our strategic plan and prioritizing issues of importance. The ATRA Marketing team also played a role in providing us with marketing strategies. ASTRA will continue to utilize the resources available through our parent organization ATRA to help keep us on course in these very turbulent times healthcare is experiencing. We encourage other Chapters to do the same.

If you would like to know more on how we secured this opportunity, please contact Sarah Homan, CTRS newly inducted President of ASTRA at shoman@jcl.com or call (602) 870-6060 ext 3593.