Guest Lecture

Recreational Therapy: From Theory to Practice

Professor Emeritus Dr Jerome Singleton

Dalhousie University in Canada - School of Health and Human Performance

What: Guest lecture with Dr Jerome Singleton, expert in the use of Therapeutic Recreation

When: 25 March 2024. 11:45 AM - Light Refreshments will be available from 1:00 - 2:00PM

Where: University of Auckland, Grafton Campus. Room: 507 - LG004 (Lower Ground floor (LG) of Building 507

The University of Auckland in partnership with the New Zealand Association of Gerontology, CCREATE-AGE (Centre for Co-Created Ageing Research), The Joyce Cook Ageing Well Fund and the New Zealand Society of Diversional and Recreational Therapists, are delighted to welcome Professor Emeritus Dr Jerome Singleton from Dalhousie University in Canada - School of Health and Human Performance to deliver a guest lecture on Recreational Therapy.

A native of Kitchener, Ont., Dr. Singleton did his undergrad degree at the University of Waterloo, then went to the U.S. for a master’s at Penn State. His early work centered around children’s camps and playgrounds for kids with disabilities, before he moved on to focus on ageing. He completed his PhD in leisure and doctorate certificate in gerontology at the University of Maryland.

Dr. Singleton area of research includes: leisure and aging, specifically with people with Alzheimer’s. Connecting with them has allowed him to broaden the scope of his work. “I was lucky enough to find people to work with in social work, nursing, dentistry and economics—as well as my colleagues in Kinesiology and Health Promotion,” he says. “It’s allowed me to understand the role of multidisciplinary research, and that we have to understand and respect the perspectives of each profession. I don’t know everything, but as a group we become more cohesive.”

He encouraged his students to think differently about aging and told them each generation needs to understand the generation before. We create these stereotypes of aging individuals, and every younger generation thinks the older one doesn’t know as much as them. He tells his students that they’re going to be that generation, so what are they going to do now to help improve their own lives when they’re older?”. His research focus on therapeutic recreation. His favorite course to teach was Foundations of Recreation, in which he took his first-year students to a residential camp for a two-day orientation. He said it was essential for transitioning them into university and connecting with their peers.

Dr Jerome has more than 45 years of experience teaching in therapeutic recreation and after 37+ years of service to the School of Health and Human Performance, Dr. Singleton retired and was honored Professor Emeritus.

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