Individual Occupational Requirements for
GS-638: Recreation/Creative Arts Therapist Series
The text below is extracted verbatim from
Section IV-B of the Operating Manual for Qualification Standards
for General Schedule Positions (p.IV-B-99), but contains minor edits
to conform to web-page requirements.
Use these individual occupational requirements in conjunction with
the "Group Coverage Qualification Standard for
Professional and Scientific Positions."
Degree: recreational therapy or in a creative arts
therapy field (art therapy, dance therapy, music therapy, or psychodrama); or a major in an
appropriate subject-matter field with therapeutic emphasis or concentration.
Applicants who have graduated from an approved curriculum in
recreational therapy or in a field directly applicable to the specialized creative arts therapy, and
who have completed (as part of the degree and/or subsequently) a program of 6 months' (1040 clock
hours) clinical practice/practicum planned to assure professional competence in the particular therapy
specialty may be rated eligible for grade GS-6. A degree-related program of clinical
practice/practicum involves, as a general rule, a period of 240 clock hours (6 weeks) pre-clinical
training in the sophomore year, followed by up to 400 clock hours (10 weeks) of clinical
practice/practicum in the junior and/or senior years. This 400 clock hours of degree-related practicum
may be applied against the 6 months' clinical practice required for GS-6 eligibility. For example,
when an applicant holds a degree that included 400 clock hours of practicum, a postgraduate program
of clinical practice of 640 clock hours provides the combined total of 1040 clock hours required
to qualify for positions at grade GS-6.
Experience in activities or programs that did not
require application of a knowledge of the concepts, principles, and practices of recreational therapy
or one of the creative arts therapy specializations covered by this standard, and that did not involve
the use of therapeutic approaches to maintain the physical and/or mental health or to achieve the
physical and/or mental rehabilitation of persons, (e.g., Outdoor Recreation Specialist, Commercial
Recreation Leader, Vocational Counselor, or other diversionary-type recreation specialist
positions) is not qualifying for this series.
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