TRAINING COURSE AT SUNNYSIDE

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29228, 11 June 1960, Page 15

TRAINING COURSE AT SUNNYSIDE

Hospital Recreation

Officers

A course for the recreational officers of pyschiatric hospitals in New Zealand will be held from June 14 to June 17 at Sunnyside Mental Hospital. The course was initiated in Wellington, by the Division of Mental Hygiene, of the Department of Health, and organised locally by the superintendent of Sunyside Hospital (Dr. J. D. Hunter). Recreational officers from most of the psychiatric hospitals throughout the county will attend the course, which consists of a series of lectures on the duties and responsibilities of recreational officers, hospital organisation, occupational therapy, mental hygiene, and others, said the recreational officer at Sunnyside (Mr L. J. Coughlan). He said there would also be some practical work for the officers with the patients of the hospital. The course will be opened at Sunnyside at 11 a.m. on June 14 by the Director of the Division of Mental Hygiene (Dr. G. BlakePalmer). One of the lectures will be on mental illnesses, by Pr. P. Savage. There will be a dance on Tuesday evening, and on Friday morning there will be social and sporting activities for the patients. The course will end on Friday afternoon, when Dr. F. W. P. Mirams, the Deputy-Director of the Division of Mental Hygiene, will make the final address. The recreational officers who will attend the course all have a physical education background, and specialise in various sports, from football to dancing. They have a teaching job, said Mr Coughlan, and use teaching methods.

“The main job of a recreational officer is to occupy the leisure time of the people in a large hospital, such as Sunnyside, which has 1300 patients, and also to teach them skills, such as dancing, sports and other social activities, in such a way that they can take their place in the community again,” said Mr Coughlan.

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