Individual Occupational Requirements for

GS-638:    Recreation/Creative Arts Therapist Series

Use these individual occupational requirements in conjunction with the "Group Coverage Qualification Standard for Professional and Scientific Positions."

Basic Requirements: 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.

Note: 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.

Evaluation of Experience: 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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Page created 22 March 1999