Certified Recreational Therapist- Mental Health Recovery Center

Certified Recreational Therapist - Mental Health Recovery Center

Date: Aug 13, 2026

Location: Indianapolis, IN, US, 46202

Organization: HHC

Division: Eskenazi Health Sub-Division: SEMHC

Schedule: Full Time Shift: Days

Sandra Eskenazi Mental Health Center, Indiana's first community mental health center, provides comprehensive care for emotional and behavioral problems, including severe mental illness and substance abuse. The Sandra Eskenazi Mental Health Center offers both inpatient and outpatient services, including several outreach centers as well as clinic- and community-based services.

Job Role Summary: The Certified Recreational Therapist ("CRT") provides rehabilitation services for clients of Sandra Eskenazi Mental Health Center ("SEMHC"). The CRT assesses and assists clients with improving functional levels to facilitate clients' community integration. The CRT provides individualized assessments, care planning, and therapeutic interventions to restore, remediate, or rehabilitate physical, cognitive, emotional or social functioning to clients who have psychiatric and other co-occurring conditions. In collaboration with clinical leadership, the CRT identifies and implements recreational therapy needs.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities:

• Proactively contributes to Eskenazi Health's mission: Advocate, Care, Teach and Serve with special emphasis on the vulnerable population of Marion County; models Eskenazi Health's values of Professionalism, Respect, Innovation, Development and Excellence
• Embraces, understands, and operates under the Recovery Model, including AIDET (Acknowledge, Introduce, Duration, Explanation, Thank You) and the spirit of motivational interviewing
• Endorses and models a strengths-based, community centered model of care
• Selects appropriate instruments/batteries, uses systematic assessment procedures (including structured interview, direct observation, performance testing, information from others, and/or record review), and interprets assessment findings to generate age-, diagnostic-, and culturally-appropriate baseline data that identifies the client's strengths and limitations in physical, cognitive, social, emotional functioning as well as behavioral functioning and interests in recreational skills and leisure time management
• Collaborates with the client and their personal supports as well as the multi-disciplinary treatment team to develop the individualized recreational therapy care plan
• Provides direct individual and group therapeutic recreational interventions
• In collaboration with clinical leadership, the CRT identifies and implements recreational therapy needs
• Develops and implements evidence-based therapeutic recreation programs tailored to the specific needs and preferences of clients, ensuring person-centered care, integrating recreation therapy into comprehensive care plans that maintain consistency with the overall multi-disciplinary client treatment program
• Completes all required documentation accurately and timely
• Formulates clinical impressions and recommendations for treatment, referral for other services, or no service at all
• Evaluates client progress and satisfaction resulting from the treatment interventions provided and modifies or discontinues the treatment interventions as needed based upon client progress, achievement of functional outcome goals, lack of progress, or change in condition
• Develops a recreational therapy discharge plan and summary, in collaboration with the client, and their personal supports as well as the multi-disciplinary treatment team
• Stays current with trends and advancements in therapeutic recreation, incorporating best practices into program development
• Meets agency requirements for continuing education
• Outpatient Programs: Actively prepares for and participates in facilitation of the annual consumer art show

Job Requirements:

• Graduation from an accredited university with a bachelor's degree in Therapeutic Recreation required; Master's degree in Therapeutic Recreation preferred
• Certification as a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist
• Minimum of one (1) year of full-time professional experience in the delivery of rehabilitative services in a similar psychiatric setting preferred
• Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI) certification

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• Intermediate knowledge of behavioral health, substance use disorders and/or co-occurring disorders
• Intermediate knowledge of medical terminology
• Advanced knowledge of client rights and responsibilities
• Knowledge of human development, physiology, psychological functioning, as well as cognitive and motor learning
• Advanced knowledge of recreational therapy practices, methods, techniques, and opportunities for recreational therapists to collaborate with other health care disciplines
• Knowledge of the medical, psychiatric, developmental disabilities, substance abuse, sensory impairments, co-occurring disorders or other disabling conditions and the implications for recreational therapy treatment interventions
• Knowledge of evidence-based assessment instruments and techniques and skill in conducting individualized client assessments
• Knowledge of assistive devices, assistive technology and activity adaptations used to assist clients to function as independently as possible in life activities
• Knowledge of evaluation techniques and basic statistics and the ability to evaluate safety and risk management and quality improvement activities
• Basic computer skills
• Crisis intervention skills
• Strong interpersonal and customer service skills
• Skill and ability in designing, planning and implementing evidence-based recreational therapy treatment interventions
• Ability to develop and maintain professional relationships with clients, visitors, and coworkers
• Ability to be both clear and concise in written and verbal communications
• Ability to work cooperatively in a multidisciplinary team
• Ability to think critically and problem-solve efficiently
• Ability to respond to individual needs of clients and perform safety interventions including physical safety interventions
• Ability to lift a minimum of 50 lbs
• Ability to meet all population-specific competencies for role and service areas
• Ability to interpret assessment results and skill in writing functional outcome goals
• Ability to evaluate and document clients' responses to treatment and progress towards goals, to develop and document recommendations for discharge and aftercare

Sandra Eskenazi Mental Health Center's primary mission is to serve individuals with serious mental illness and chronic addiction as well as seriously emotionally disturbed children and their families. Patients of all ages are welcomed, from children to seniors, with a philosophy of care that stresses strength-based and family- and community-centered treatment utilizing the Recovery Model of treatment.