Becoming a recreational therapist is a great career option for those who are interested in helping people with mental disorders or instability. The following article highlights the factors which determine the salary of a recreational therapist.
Therapy is a treatment or a remedy used for improving the health ailments. One such therapy, known as recreational therapy, is a technique or a skill to work with people suffering from mental illness like stress, anxiety, or even tension. Never ending working hours, deadlines, and pressures have resulted into extreme anxiety and stress, which eventually leads to serious mental disorders. Recreational therapists help such troubled people to overcome their issues and ease out the stress level in them. They also bring about a great change in their behavior by boosting their self-confidence and motivate them to have a more positive approach towards life.
A recreational therapist plays a pivotal role in the lives of mentally disturbed patients. The therapist has to maintain their temperament while dealing with the problems of their clients. It is essential to attentively hear about the factors disturbing their mental health and develop a strategic plan to improve their client’s state of mind. The nature of recreational therapists work is very difficult and sometimes gets the therapists emotionally involved in the client they are dealing with. Therefore, this role has to be performed proficiently to assure a peaceful state of mind of the client.
Pay Packet
The salary is influenced by many factors such as education qualification, work experience and their working style. Depending on the workplace, the average annual income of a recreational therapist could range from $39,000 to $49,000. However, mega cities have a great income packages to offer a recreational therapist. A therapist working in California has the potential to earn approximately an income of $68,000 annually. New York makes a better offer by paying $70,000 to its recreational therapists, while Texas goes down to offer $59,000 annually.
A therapist working in mega cities such as California, New York, Texas is likely to earn more income than the ones working in small cities. A well qualified and experienced recreational therapist can always set up their own separate clinic and make good income yearly. Opening recreational clinics can also create employment for other recreational therapists and also help them earn sufficient income.
Influencing Factors
Among the important factors that influence the income amount is the level of education qualification. In order to earn a sufficient amount of salary, interested candidates must secure good scores in their college examinations and at least cover 500 hours of internship. The path to becoming a recreational therapist is not easy, but if you are keen on taking up this career, then you can even choose the option of earn and learn. This can help you gain experience as well as make you a certified recreational therapist.
Even a shift in location can affect the salary. Bigger cities have a greater career opportunities and even come with great pay packages. Thorough research can help your short list the cities of your choice and head towards making a great career and earn better income too.
Good education and sufficient experience can get you a good job in well reputed clinics and hospitals or educational institutions. In case you’ve been working for a long time at one institute, you are likely to get paid well. Even the long work experience can be used to apply for better post offering more income than your previous company.
Attaining professionalism in recreational therapist field takes time. Moderate amount work experience can help you mold your techniques and develop strategies to work with different mental disorders.
Rehabilitation centers, clinics, hospitals, educational institutes and NGOs are the common work places of recreational therapists. Some of them might even specialize in certain health ailments and have a selected clientele. The recreational therapist job description varies as per the institute they are working for and might even undergo training as every organization has different ways of functioning.
Salary should not be the only criteria for taking up this career option. The person must be completely dedicated to their duties too. Thorough dedication and efforts this field will bring a raise in the income too.