National Therapeutic Recreation Month – February 1, 2027

History of National Therapeutic Recreation Month

Recreation has always been part and parcel of human lives in one form or another. The earliest organized recreation in human history can be traced to ancient Egypt. Recreation then was determined by a class system, where the lower class participated in athletics and sports, and the upper class spectated for entertainment. By 641 A.D., recreational activities, such as swimming, running, ball games, and board games, were played in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome.

With the advent of industrialization in the 18th and 19th centuries, recreation became regimented and bound by time. During this period, the recreation movement began in the United States — an export from Berlin, Germany, by Dr. Marie Zakrzewska. That led to the development of a playground in 1885 at the Children’s Mission on Parameter Street in Boston. The community used this playground to carry out drills under the guidance of matrons. Due to its success and contribution to the community’s wellbeing, several playgrounds were developed across Boston through the efforts of the Massachusetts Emergency and Hygiene Association.

The years between the 1940s and 1950s marked the beginning of therapeutic recreation as a profession. That was years after Florence Nightingale introduced the idea of using recreation to improve a patient’s health. The Red Cross hired recreation workers to provide hospital recreation programs to wounded and traumatized soldiers during World War II. After the war, the programs were established in the Veterans’ Administration (V.A.) Hospital system. Over the years, recreation therapy programs spread to state psychiatric hospitals and state residential schools for persons with mental disabilities. In the 1960s, the National Therapeutic Recreation Society (N.T.R.S.) was established as a branch of the National Recreation and Park Association (N.R.P.A.). The society went on to form National Therapeutic Recreation Week in 1984. Due to various disagreements, recreation therapists broke from the organization and formed the American Therapeutic Recreation Association on June 12, 1984. After its creation, the A.T.R.A. assumed responsibility for the National Therapeutic Recreation Week and made February National Therapeutic Recreation Month.