# Recreational Therapists

> Plan, direct, or coordinate medically-approved recreation programs for patients in hospitals, nursing homes, or other institutions. Activities include sports, trips, dramatics, social activities, and crafts. May assess a patient condition and recommend appropriate recreational activity.

- **SOC code:** 29-1125.00
- **Canonical URL:** https://singulariki.com/roles/role-29-1125-00
- **Also known as:** Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist (CTRS), Recreation Therapist, Recreational Therapist, Rehabilitation Therapist, Activities Coordinator, General Activities Therapist, Recreational Therapy Program Coordinator, Therapeutic Recreation Specialist
- **Frame:** "AI exposure" means task overlap (how codifiable the work is), not jobs lost or a forecast. Every figure below is traced to a named public dataset.

## What this work is

**Core tasks** (O*NET):
- Instruct patient in activities and techniques, such as sports, dance, music, art, or relaxation techniques, designed to meet their specific physical or psychological needs.
- Conduct therapy sessions to improve patients' mental and physical well-being.
- Plan, organize, direct, and participate in treatment programs and activities to facilitate patients' rehabilitation, help them integrate into the community, and prevent further medical problems.
- Observe, analyze, and record patients' participation, reactions, and progress during treatment sessions, modifying treatment programs as needed.
- Develop treatment plan to meet needs of patient, based on needs assessment, patient interests, and objectives of therapy.
- Confer with members of treatment team to plan and evaluate therapy programs.
- Obtain information from medical records, medical staff, family members and the patients, themselves, to assess patients' capabilities, needs and interests.
- Counsel and encourage patients to develop leisure activities.
- Encourage clients with special needs and circumstances to acquire new skills and get involved in health-promoting leisure activities, such as sports, games, arts and crafts, and gardening.
- Prepare and submit reports and charts to treatment team to reflect patients' reactions and evidence of progress or regression.
- Develop discharge plans for patients.

## Skills, tools, capabilities

**Knowledge, skills & abilities** (O*NET, highest importance first):
- Psychology _(knowledge)_
- Therapy and Counseling _(knowledge)_
- Customer and Personal Service _(knowledge)_
- Education and Training _(knowledge)_
- Service Orientation _(transferable_skill)_
- English Language _(knowledge)_
- Active Listening _(essential_skill)_
- Speaking _(essential_skill)_
- Social Perceptiveness _(transferable_skill)_
- Coordination _(transferable_skill)_
- Oral Comprehension _(ability)_
- Oral Expression _(ability)_

**Skills in demand:**
- Psychology _(Specialized Skill)_
- English Language _(Common Skill)_
- Social Perceptiveness _(Common Skill)_
- Active Listening _(Common Skill)_
- Writing _(Common Skill)_
- Reading Comprehension _(Common Skill)_
- Instructing _(Specialized Skill)_
- Deductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Critical Thinking _(Common Skill)_
- Speech Recognition _(Specialized Skill)_
- Inductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Information Ordering _(Specialized Skill)_

**Tools & technology:**
- Microsoft Office software _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Microsoft Excel _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Outlook _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft PowerPoint _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Word _(hot technology)_
- Avid Technology Sibelius
- Email software
- Hyperscore
- MakeMusic Finale
- Musical instrument digital interface MIDI software
- Patient electronic medical record EMR software
- Speech recognition software

## AI exposure & outlook

- **AI task-overlap index:** 37th percentile (Moderate) across all occupations — composite of current-era exposure studies (ai-exposure-index-v1).
- **Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.):** 54th percentile (Moderate) — source: felten_aioe.
- **LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou):** 46th percentile (Moderate) — source: eloundou_gamma.
- **AI assistant applicability (Microsoft):** 16th percentile (Low) — source: microsoft_applicability.
- **Frey–Osborne (2013, historical computerization estimate):** 0th percentile — kept separate from current-era studies.
- **Remote-capable (Dingel–Neiman):** no — task structure, not who actually works remote.
- **Projected employment (BLS 2024–34):** 3.3% growth (About average); 1.3k annual openings; 16.1k → 16.6k jobs.
- **Pay & employment (BLS OEWS, May 2024):** median $60,280; 15,060 employed.

## How people actually use AI here

Anthropic Economic Index — measured AI conversations mapped to this occupation's tasks:

- **Automation vs augmentation:** 29% automation, 63% augmentation (usage-weighted).
- **Autonomy median:** 4.0 (higher = AI acts more independently).
- **Dominant collaboration mode:** task iteration.

**Tasks most handed to AI here:**
- Develop treatment plan to meet needs of patient, based on needs assessment, patient interests and objectives of therapy. _(0.8% of measured AI use; task iteration)_

**Example prompts (honest phrasings of the tasks above — starting points, not endorsed instructions):**
- Help me develop treatment plan to meet needs of patient, based on needs assessment, patient interests and objectives of therapy.

## Sources

- **O*NET** (30.3) — U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)** (May 2024) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS Employment Projections** (2024–2034) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **Anthropic Economic Index** (v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27)) — Anthropic. https://www.anthropic.com/economic-index
- **Microsoft “Working with AI”** (working-with-ai) — Microsoft Research. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/
- **“GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.)** (arXiv 2303.10130) — OpenAI / academic. https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130
- **AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE)** (Felten, Raj & Seamans) — academic. https://github.com/AIOE-Data/AIOE
- **Frey & Osborne (2013)** (frey-osborne-automation) — academic. https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/publications/the-future-of-employment/
- **Dingel & Neiman (2020)** (dingel-neiman-workathome) — academic. https://github.com/jdingel/DingelNeiman-workathome

---
_Generated from Singulariki's joined dataset; data snapshot 2026-06-02T21:00:32.945303+00:00. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-29-1125-00_