ATRA SoCal : 2026 Session Description

Ashley Helmi has been a CTRS for 6 years, holding both a bachelor's degree in Recreation Therapy with a minor in music (Indiana State University, graduated in 2020) and a Master's in Recreational Therapy (University of Utah, graduated in 2025). During their time at the University of Utah as an RT master's student, their thesis research was focused on burnout in CTRSs and the associations with each of the CTRS job tasks. Within their first five years as a CTRS, Ashley served on the Arizona State Therapeutic Recreation Association (ASTRA) board (2021-2023), presented a CEU-certified workshop (2021), and presented at the Utah Recreational Therapy Association (URTA; 2024) conference and ATRA conferences (2024 & 2025). They also had a research poster at the 2025 URTA conference. They published their thesis in 2025 and is co-authored a published editorial (2024). They attended the 2025 ATRA Conference as a Peg Connolly scholar. They are currently working as a Recreational Therapist in a virtual Intensive Outpatient Program with young adults. They have future aspirations to be a professor of Recreational Therapy and continue research on burnout and Recreational Therapy.

PhD, MTRS, CTRS

Dr. Ashley Bowen is an Assistant Professor (Lecturer) with the University of Utah Recreational Therapy program. She is also co-owner of Rec Therapy Solutions, offering recreational therapy consulting services in Utah. She has practiced as a recreational therapist for almost 20 years in many settings, including mental and behavioral health treatment and with older adults, with a majority of her career being spent working in community-based settings focused on adaptive sports and recreation programming with a variety of disability groups and ages. Ashley shares her love for recreation with her family and friends in the form of traveling, hiking, camping, playing soccer, and snowboarding.

Ph.D., MTRS, CTRS

Jamie WriBen (Bennett) is a licensed and certified Recreational Therapist, faculty member in the Department of Occupational & Recreational Therapies at the University of Utah, and firm believer that Recreational Therapy deserves a seat at every clinical table. At the U, Jamie teaches core clinical practice and facilitation courses, oversees internship processes, and works closely with clinical sites nationwide to ensure emerging therapists graduate with more than just a diploma and optimism. Her academic work centers on clinical education, supervision practices, and the integration of evidence-based, ethically grounded approaches into the realities of everyday RT service delivery. Jamie brings extensive experience across mental and behavioral health and older adult populations. She has been recognized by the Utah Recreation Therapy Association with the Distinguished Service Award, served as URTA President, and completed a term on the NCTRC Board of Directors — contributing to local and national credentialing and professional standards, one committee meeting at a time. She presents locally and nationally on evidence-based practice, clinical supervision, and building a workforce that's genuinely ready for the job. Beyond the university, Jamie owns and directs Rec Therapy Solutions, providing clinical consulting, Medicaid waiver programming, and professional training across Utah — fluent in both the language of research and "here's what actually works on a Tuesday with a full caseload." Outside of work, she's co-managing the full-time adventure sport of raising a feral toddler alongside her wife. It's essentially fieldwork in behavior management and crisis intervention — and she wouldn't trade it for anything!