The call to action is now! As a health care profession, recreational therapy has an obligation to dismantle oppressive systems and fight for social justice. Our ethical ethos as recreational therapists requires a dedicated effort to advocate, collaborate, and support individuals with disabilities, but our actions should not end there. As advocates, educators, health care providers, and students, there is a necessity to critically assess our field and practice to best meet the health needs of culturally, ethnically, and racially diverse clients who are marginalized, dehumanized, and excluded. This session will outline steps to improve recreational therapy practice, service, and education. A critical examination of recreation therapy curricula and ways to integrate social determinants of health in courses will be discussed. Attendees will learn about microaggressions and macroaggressions and ways to become more culturally competent and culturally empathetic.

Learning Outcomes

1. Describe 2 ways to integrate social determinants of health in recreational therapy courses
2. Identify 2 microaggressions and macroaggressions and two strategies to combat them
3. Define cultural competency and cultural empathy
4. Identify 1 way to incorporate cultural competency and empathy into recreational therapy practice, service, and education