The Deborah Hutchins Recreational Therapy Scholarship
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Dr. Deborah Hutchins began her career in higher education after 20 years as a recreational therapist and Clinical Manager for Recreational Therapy & Therapeutic Aquatics in physical medicine & rehabilitation. During her time in a rehabilitation setting, she was active in adapted sports such as skiing, track & field, aquatics, and wheelchair basketball. As a therapist she gained experience working with individuals who have acquired a spinal cord injury, stroke, brain injury, chronic pain, and multiple sclerosis. In addition, to her years in rehabilitation, she served as a consultant to various long term care agencies, providing oversight regarding activities programs, resident documentation, and regulatory compliance.
She was hired at SRU as a full-time faculty member in 1994 and appointed the therapeutic recreation program coordinator. In 2015 she was elected as department chair and maintained that position until her retirement in 2022. During her tenure, Dr. Hutchins led the effort to reinvent the therapeutic recreation program to address the increased competency requirements of the field and the need for specialized practical experiences. Under her leadership, the curriculum has expanded the number of specialized course requirements, developed new space for lab courses, increased practical experience requirements and evolved to be an independent recreational therapy program. More recently, Dr Hutchins was instrumental in creating the Animal-Assisted Intervention minor, an interdisciplinary minor that teaches competencies required of providing AAI in various healthcare and human service settings, this minor has grown to be one of the largest minors on campus. Dr Hutchins has a both a professional and personal interest in animals (especially dogs). Her early experiences in the rehabilitation setting helped her to see firsthand the impact of animals on the healing process and as a result she went on to train and partner with several therapy dogs. She has been using therapy dogs in her work at SRU for several years and with the creation of the AAI minor in 2015 she more intensely began to integrate her therapy dog teams into both the classroom and university events. She is a Certified Human-Animal Bond Intervention Specialist (CHABIS) and currently has a certified therapy dog who is also certified as a HOPE crisis response dog. Over the years, she and her dogs have volunteered at a variety of local and regional hospitals, nursing homes, camps, transitional programs and schools. Her passion for the use of therapy dogs in health and human service settings led to the creation of the AAI minor at SRU. Through the required AAI minor coursework and practical experiences, the AAI minor provides future practitioners with the knowledge and skills to integrate animal-assisted interventions into the therapy process. This scholarship can assist RT students in the AAI minor to continue to expand the use of AAI in the health and human service settings. |
Applicants must:
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