Dear Innovative Rec Therapist —

As we step into September, a season of change and reflection, I’m reminded of the incredible resilience and creativity that recreational therapists bring to their work every day. It’s an honor to connect with you once again through this issue of Rec Therapy Today. My hope is that these pages provide encouragement, fresh ideas, and practical tools you can carry into your practice.

Inside this month’s issue, you’ll find the features you’ve come to look forward to:

• Inspirational posts to renew your spirit.

• Educational articles to deepen your knowledge and sharpen your skills.

• Self-study CEU opportunities to help you grow professionally on your own time.

• Fun pages to remind us all of the healing power of play.

• Rec Therapist of the Month—highlighting the dedication of one of our peers.

• Book of the Month and Game of the Month—resources you can use to enrich both your own life and the lives of those you serve.

Thank you for the important work you do each day. You make a difference in ways that often go unseen but are always deeply felt. I’m grateful to be on this journey with you.

With appreciation and encouragement,

With gratitude,

Your friend and partner in Rec Therapy,

Danny W. Pettry II, M.Ed., M.S., LPC, NCC, CTRS-BHS

P.S. — Monthly giveaway is at bottom of this page, so you’ll have to scroll to the bottom. 

P.S.S. — Need CEUs? Go here: Click here for online self-study CEUs

Rec Therapy Today — TRUSTED by Rec Therapists Everywhere

Why Rec Therapy Today? 

Looking for self-study CEUs that actually work for you?
At Rec Therapy Today, we make continuing education:

✅ Flexible – Learn anytime, anywhere
✅ Affordable – No subscriptions or hidden fees
✅ Relevant – Real-world courses written by a certified rec therapist
✅ Recognized – You’ll earn instant certificates that you can use for recertification.

We’re not just another CEU provider — we’re a community built by recreational therapists for recreational therapists.

Start earning your CEUs the easy way — with Rec Therapy Today.

August 2025 Webinar Replay Series is Avaliable 

August 2025 Self-Study CEU Bundle

In August, we released a brand-new Self-Study CEU Bundle packed with timely, engaging, and practical courses designed specifically for recreational therapists. If you missed it, you can still access all of the courses online and complete them at your own pace.

This bundle includes five self-study courses (90 minutes each, 0.15 CEUs per course), giving you a total of 7.5 clock hours / 0.75 CEUs toward your continuing education requirements.

Each course is designed to:

• Strengthen your knowledge and skills as a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist (CTRS).

• Provide real-world strategies you can apply directly in your practice.

• Offer flexible, accessible learning you can complete anytime, anywhere.

👉 You can view full details about the August 2025 CEU Bundle here:
https://rectherapytoday.thinkific.com/bundles/august-2025

Whether you’re working toward your recertification or simply looking to grow as a professional, this bundle is an excellent way to invest in yourself and your career.

Keep learning, keep growing, and keep making a difference!

— Danny W. Pettry II, M.Ed., LPC, NCC, CTRS

Exciting News: We’re Sponsoring the 2025 ATRA Annual Conference

We’re thrilled to share that Rec Therapy Today is an official sponsor of the 2025 ATRA Annual Conference. This year, our support will help make the event even more memorable for attendees in several ways:

• 🎒 Conference Bags & Lanyards – Every attendee will receive a stylish and practical bag and lanyard, provided through our sponsorship.

• 🏆 Awards Ceremony – We’re proud to sponsor the celebration that recognizes outstanding professionals in recreational therapy.

This sponsorship is especially meaningful to our founder, Danny W. Pettry II, who has been a lifetime member of ATRA since 1999. Over the years, Danny has been honored with:

• The Peg Connolly Scholarship (2004)

• Advocate of the Year Award (2005)

• Certificate of Recognition (2015)

Supporting ATRA is not just professional—it’s personal. We are proud to give back to the association that continues to champion recreational therapy and the amazing therapists who make a difference every day.

Inspiration for the Month

Download and share these graphics on your social media to promote Rec Therapy! 

Humor for the Month

Infographics for the Month

Holidays and Observations

🍂 September 2025 Holidays & Observances

National & Federal Holidays

• Labor Day – Monday, September 1, 2025
  (Perfect for cookouts, relaxation activities, and “end of summer” celebrations.)

Awareness Months

• Self-Care Awareness Month

• Suicide Prevention Awareness Month

• Healthy Aging Month

• Recovery Month (Substance Use & Mental Health Recovery)

• Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

• Hispanic Heritage Month begins September 15

Awareness Weeks

• National Suicide Prevention Week – September 7–13, 2025

• National Assisted Living Week – September 7–13, 2025

• National Rehabilitation Awareness Week – September 15–21, 2025

Fun & Themed Days

• World Beard Day – September 6

• National Grandparents Day – September 7

• Patriot Day / National Day of Service & Remembrance – September 11

• Positive Thinking Day – September 13

• National Play-Doh Day – September 16

• International Day of Peace – September 21

• World Gratitude Day – September 21

• First Day of Fall / Autumn Equinox – September 22

• National Hunting and Fishing Day – September 27

• World Heart Day – September 29

Rec Therapy Today — CEU Reminders:

Email: Danny(at)DannyPettry.com to learn more about our group/ coporate CEU disocunts. 

Activity Ideas for the Month

🍂 September Activity Ideas for Recreational Therapy

🍁 Gratitude Tree (World Gratitude Day – Sept. 21)

• Supplies Needed: Large poster board or bulletin board, paper leaf cut-outs, markers, tape or push pins.

• Instructions: Draw or post a large tree trunk with branches. Give each participant paper leaves to write things they are grateful for. Attach the leaves to create a “community gratitude tree.”

• Benefits:

  • Social: Builds group connection as participants share gratitude.

  • Emotional: Encourages positive thinking and mood regulation.

  • Cognitive: Supports reflection and memory.

  • Leisure Skills: Promotes self-expression through art and writing.

  • Spiritual: Fosters appreciation and meaning.

🍎 Apple Toss Challenge (Healthy Aging Month)

• Supplies Needed: Small beanbags or foam apples, buckets or baskets, tape to mark throwing lines.

• Instructions: Set up baskets at different distances with assigned point values. Participants take turns tossing the “apples” into the baskets. Keep score individually or in teams.

• Benefits:

  • Social: Encourages teamwork and friendly competition.

  • Physical: Improves gross motor coordination and balance.

  • Emotional: Boosts mood with lighthearted play.

  • Cognitive: Reinforces counting and strategy.

  • Leisure Skills: Encourages playful participation.

  • Independent Functioning: Promotes decision-making and turn-taking.

🎨 Leaf Rubbing Art (First Day of Fall – Sept. 22)

• Supplies Needed: Real leaves, white paper, crayons or colored pencils.

• Instructions: Place leaves under sheets of paper and rub crayons or pencils over top to reveal shapes. Invite participants to share their artwork or create a mural together.

• Benefits:

  • Social: Sharing artwork builds connection.

  • Physical (fine motor): Strengthens hand coordination and control.

  • Emotional: Provides calming, creative expression.

  • Cognitive: Encourages focus and observation of patterns.

  • Leisure Skills: Teaches a craft that can be done independently.

  • Spiritual: Connects participants with nature.

🧩 Positive Thinking Collage (Positive Thinking Day – Sept. 13)

• Supplies Needed: Old magazines, scissors, glue sticks, poster board.

• Instructions: Participants cut out positive words, quotes, and images. Glue them to poster board to create a group “positive collage.” Display in the program space.

• Benefits:

  • Social: Promotes teamwork and conversation.

  • Physical (fine motor): Cutting and gluing strengthen coordination.

  • Emotional: Encourages optimism and hope.

  • Cognitive: Supports creative thinking and problem-solving.

  • Leisure Skills: Introduces an engaging art project.

  • Spiritual: Fosters reflection on values and inner strengths.

🕊 Peace Mandalas (International Day of Peace – Sept. 21)

• Supplies Needed: Mandala coloring pages or circle templates, markers, crayons, or colored pencils.

• Instructions: Provide mandalas for coloring. Encourage participants to use colors that represent peace to them. Invite group reflection about what peace means in their lives.

• Benefits:

  • Social: Provides group discussion opportunities.

  • Physical (fine motor): Coloring develops steady hand control.

  • Emotional: Promotes relaxation and mindfulness.

  • Cognitive: Supports attention and pattern recognition.

  • Leisure Skills: Builds skills for a self-soothing hobby.

  • Spiritual: Encourages reflection on peace and harmony.

Featured Article of the Month

Building Hope: Suicide Prevention & Positive Mental Health in Recreational Therapy

By Danny W. Pettry II, M.Ed., LPC, NCC, CTRS

September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, a time to reflect on the critical role recreational therapists play in supporting mental health, resilience, and hope. While suicide is a difficult subject, it is one we cannot ignore. As recreational therapists, we are in a unique position to provide safe, healing experiences that remind people they are not alone and that life is worth living.

Safety Comes First

Recreational therapists must always keep safety as the top priority in their practice. This means:

• Observation: Paying close attention to changes in mood, behavior, or social interaction. Clients who seem withdrawn, hopeless, or overly agitated may need additional support.

• Reporting: Sharing concerns promptly with the treatment team. Recreational therapists are essential members of interdisciplinary care and must communicate when a client shows warning signs of suicidal thinking.

• Protecting Clients from Harm: Ensuring that no items are available that could be misused for self-harm. This includes counting supplies before and after groups (scissors, markers, ropes, strings, etc.) and staying alert to possible safety risks.

By prioritizing safety, recreational therapists create a secure environment where healing and growth can happen.

Teaching Skills for a Life Worth Living

Beyond keeping clients safe, recreation therapy is about helping them learn to build a meaningful life. This can include:

• Coping Skills: Teaching relaxation strategies, mindfulness, and healthy outlets for stress.

• Connection: Encouraging positive relationships through group activities, games, and peer support.

• Purpose: Helping clients discover hobbies, leisure pursuits, and personal goals that give life meaning.

• Hope: Inspiring clients to believe that change is possible and that their future can be brighter.

Activity Ideas for Suicide Prevention Month

• Hope Collage: Clients create a vision board of things that bring them hope or remind them of their strengths.

• Gratitude Circle: Each group member shares one thing they are thankful for today.

• Movement for Mood: Engage clients in walking, yoga, or dance, emphasizing how movement improves mental health.

• Peer Support Games: Cooperative activities that highlight teamwork and connection.

A Message of Hope

Suicide prevention is not only about responding to crisis moments—it’s about building protective factors every day. Recreational therapists help clients learn that even in the midst of struggle, joy, connection, and meaning can be found.

By focusing on safety and teaching the skills to create a life worth living, recreational therapists play a powerful role in suicide prevention. Every activity, every encouraging word, and every moment of connection has the potential to save a life.

Book of the Month

September 2025 Book of the Month

Are You Mad at Me? by Meg Josephson

Info

About the Book:
In Are You Mad at Me?, psychotherapist Meg Josephson shines a light on a lesser-known trauma response—fawning, or chronic people-pleasing. While fight, flight, and freeze are widely recognized, fawning is often overlooked, yet it deeply impacts how people navigate relationships and daily life. Josephson blends clinical insight, real client stories, and practical exercises to help readers recognize patterns of self-silencing, over-apologizing, and conflict avoidance. With warmth and compassion, she offers tools to break free from these habits and to begin living with authenticity, boundaries, and joy.

Why Recreational Therapists Might Enjoy This Book:
Recreational therapists understand how trauma affects behavior, relationships, and engagement in meaningful leisure. Many clients struggle with people-pleasing, perfectionism, and difficulty asserting themselves—patterns that can limit growth and independence in therapy. This book provides clear language and relatable case studies that can help recreational therapists better understand the “why” behind these behaviors. It also offers creative strategies for encouraging clients to reclaim their voices, set healthy boundaries, and rediscover activities that reflect their true selves.

How This Connects to PTSD and Complex PTSD:
Clients living with PTSD or Complex PTSD often experience fawning as a learned survival response to trauma. By learning about fawning, recreational therapists can:

• Observe and respond with greater empathy when clients default to “people-pleasing.”

• Structure activities that encourage safe self-expression rather than compliance.

• Facilitate group discussions around boundaries, self-worth, and authentic leisure choices.

• Provide interventions that empower clients to build a “life worth living” based on their own values, not just the expectations of others.

Inspiration for Practice:
This book is both validating and practical. It reminds us as therapists to help clients move beyond survival strategies and toward thriving—through play, creativity, and meaningful connection.

Get the book here:

Game of the Month

🎲 September 2025 Game of the Month

Moments of Gratitude Card Deck (ThinkPsych)

This month, we’re featuring a meaningful and versatile tool: the Moments of Gratitude Card Deck, designed by ThinkPsych. With 52 prompts, this deck encourages reflection, thankfulness, and connection—perfect for use in recreational therapy groups during World Gratitude Day (Sept. 21) and beyond.

Why We Chose It:
Gratitude is more than a feel-good practice—it’s linked to better mood, reduced anxiety, stronger relationships, and improved overall well-being. This deck makes gratitude easy to introduce in any setting, whether in small groups, individual sessions, or community activities.

How to Play:

• Give each participant a turn to draw a card from the deck.

• Read the gratitude prompt aloud and allow time for reflection.

• Participants may share their responses with the group or write them down for personal use.

• Continue until everyone has had a turn—or play multiple rounds for deeper sharing.

Therapeutic Benefits:

• Social & Emotional: Strengthens group connection and fosters positive emotions.

• Cognitive: Encourages reflection, focus, and mindful awareness.

• Leisure Skills: Provides a fun and relaxing activity for all ability levels.

• Spiritual: Cultivates appreciation and recognition of life’s blessings.

Rec Therapist of the Month

Featuring Laura Rayer, CTRS

Danny Pettry’s Corner

I’m excited to share that I’ve been working on a new book all about kindness. This project is very close to my heart, and I believe kindness is one of the most powerful forces we can nurture—in our work, in our communities, and in the world.

The book will include practical ideas, uplifting stories, and encouragement to help all of us cultivate more kindness in our daily lives. My hope is that it will be a resource not just for recreational therapists, but for anyone who wants to spread warmth, connection, and positivity.

I’m even more thrilled to let you know that the official release date will be in November—on World Kindness Day! 🌍💛 Mark your calendars and stay tuned for more updates as we get closer.

Thank you, as always, for being part of the Rec Therapy Today community. Your dedication and compassion inspire me every day.

With gratitude,
Danny W. Pettry II, M.Ed., LPC, NCC, CTRS
Founder, Rec Therapy Today

Recent Blogposts 

Recent Posts

• Branding Lessons for Recreational Therapy: What We Can Learn from Cracker Barrel and Coca-Cola
• They Laughed When I Said a Walk in the Woods Could Heal… Until They Tried It”
• This One Thing Could Save Your Career in Recreational Therapy
• Strength Beyond Limits: How Rec Therapy Supports People with Disabilities
• When Every Moment Matters: The Role of Rec Therapy in Hospice Care
• They’re Not Bad Kids — They Just Need Better Tools.
• Rec Therapists Share Their Favorite Parks and Outdoor Activities
• Burnt Out or Just Underappreciated? Here’s How to Reignite Your Passion for Rec Therapy
• You Know You’re a Rec Therapist When… (Top 20 Hilariously Relatable Moments)
• 25 Things Clients Have Said That Remind Us Why We Love This Work
• 10 Creative Rec Therapy Activities That Don’t Feel Like Therapy—But Totally Are
• An Open Letter to Every Recreational Therapist: Thank You for What You Do
• Rec Therapists’ Manifesto
• Why Rec Therapy Today Is the #1 Choice for Recreational Therapists Earning CEUs
• How Rec Therapists Can Earn All Their CEUs Online Without the Stress
• 10 Reasons Why AI Won’t Replace Recreational Therapists

Recent Rec Therapy YouTube Videos 

Fun Pages for All Ages

(Print for your Clients) 

Prizes are coming soon…

🎁 Special Giveaway Mail-Outs

We are excited to announce the mailing of prizes for our recent giveaway winners! Danny Pettry has planned to have all shipments completed before September 12, 2025. Here’s what each month’s winners will be receiving:

• June Winners
  Group Activity Ideas: Activities That Build Confidence, Coping, and Connection

• July Winners
  National Parks Coloring Books

• August 2025 Winners
  Danny Pettry’s Lighthouse for Souls

We are thrilled to share these resources with our winners and hope they bring inspiration, creativity, and encouragement. Thank you for being part of our community and participating in our monthly giveaways!

Enter the September Giveaway

🎁 September 2025 Giveaway

This month, we’re giving away nine (9)  $10 Amazon Gift Cards!

• No purchase required

• Anyone can enter

• Deadline: Entries must be received before midnight on Monday, September 15, 2025

Winners will be selected at random after the deadline.

👉 Don’t miss your chance—enter today!

P.S. Rec Therapy Today — CEU Opportunities