Skills
Recreational Therapist Skills & Tools
The technical skills, people skills and tools employers look for in recreational therapists, and how to build and show them.
What skills do recreational therapists need?
Recreational Therapists need technical skills such as therapeutic assessment, activity adaptation, and group facilitation, plus people skills like creativity and empathy. They also use tools such as Adaptive sports equipment and Art and music supplies.
Technical (hard) skills
- Therapeutic assessment
- Activity adaptation
- Group facilitation
- Treatment planning
- Documentation
- Adaptive equipment
People (soft) skills
- Creativity
- Empathy
- Enthusiasm
- Patience
Tools, equipment and technology
- Adaptive sports equipment
- Art and music supplies
- Games
- Electronic health records
- Assessment tools
- Community resources
Skills in action: common tasks
These step-by-step guides show how recreational therapists put their skills to work:
How to show these skills on a resume
- Lead your skills section with the technical skills from the job posting, for example, “Therapeutic assessment” and “Activity adaptation.”
- Prove soft skills with results: instead of listing “creativity,” describe a situation where you used it.
- List credentials such as Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist (CTRS) near the top, with the issuing organization and date.
- Use the employer’s vocabulary. Our recreational therapist glossary covers the terms hiring managers expect.
How to build these skills
Formal training, supervised practice and certification are the most direct routes. Our Recreational Therapist training introduces each of these skills with plain-language lessons, procedures and a final knowledge check: a strong foundation before hands-on training or your first day.