2024 ATRA Annual Conference - Together We Thrive, Together We Rise

PhD, CTRS

Gretchen Snethen is an associate professor in the recreational therapy program within the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences and the associate director for the NIDILRR-funded Temple University Collaborative on Community Inclusion. Her professional experience consists of direct and managerial work with youth and adults with mental illness. Her research focuses on understanding the relationship between environmental factors and community participation; using the community to promote physical activity engagement; and developing interventions that use recreation and leisure as a means to promote independence in the community. She also leads the knowledge translation activities for the Collaborative. In these efforts, she focuses on pairing the stories of individuals with lived experience with data to present compelling evidence to the importance of community participation. In 2022 she created an opportunity for students and individuals with disabilities to create and share their stories in a virtual storyslam, giving students the opportunity both to facilitate a storytelling group and to share their story alongside individuals with disabilities.

MEd, CTRS

Ann is full-time faculty in the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences since 2012, as an instructor & fieldwork coordinator in the Recreational Therapy program. Prior to 2012, I taught as adjunct faculty in the RT/TR program, as well as at West Chester University and the University of New Hampshire. I have had my CTRS credentials since 1985 and have worked in a variety of settings, including TECHOwl, a program of the Institute on Disabilities at Temple University. I served 5 years as a 4-H Youth Development Specialist with UNH Cooperative Extension, 10 years as Executive Director of Variety Club Center and 3 years with Easter Seals of Connecticut. My passion is with community-based recreation, aquatics, sports and summer camp, serving children, youth and their families, promoting independence and inclusion through recreation. I continue to be an adapted ski instructor, and teach skiing every weekend during the winter. I love everything on, in or around the water; having been raised in the state of Maine, as well as hiking anywhere with my dogs. And nothing beats reading a great book! As a rec therapist, I value my personal leisure!