Specific Leisure Education Program Plan

Topic: Wellness Discharge Plan

Overall Justification Research for Creating a Wellness Discharge Plan:

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) (2024) highlights that in any
given year, 1 in 5 Canadians will experience a mental illness. At least 20% of people with a
mental illness have a co-occurring substance use disorder, and this number may be as high as
50% for individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia (CAMH, 2024). Furthermore, the
Canadian Mental Health Association (2021) explains that substance use is common as a
coping mechanism for an individual's mental health diagnoses, which can stem from
untreated trauma, pain, challenging thoughts or emotions, or other health diagnoses. Mental
illness and substance use problems can cause social isolation, low self-esteem, stigmatization,
lack of meaning in life, suicidal thoughts, depression, and overall a poor quality or outlook on
life. Working in the acute mental health and addictions unit at Humber River, it is evident that
we will cross paths with individuals with substance use disorders co-existing with mental
health diagnoses such as major depressive disorder, borderline personality disorder,
generalized anxiety disorder, and schizophrenia.
The environmental factors that are present in the hospital during someone’s recovery
play a significant impact on their recovery and care for their mental health. Patients must feel
safe, explore meaningful leisure and leisure education, feel supported, receive access to great
health care and mental health services, and be provided with affordable, safe, and accessible
recreation and leisure activities to promote and benefit their mental health. Leisure activities
play an essential role in maintaining good mental health, as leisure provides relaxing,
enjoyable, acquiring skills, societal contributions, etc, that mitigate the negative effects of
stressful experiences that threaten physical and psychological health (Verghese et al., 2006;
Kleiber & Nimrod, 2009; Iwasaki et al., 2005; Lawton et al., 2002). Leisure has been proven
to immediately improve subjective well-being by eliciting positive emotions that can allow
patients to develop effective stress-coping strategies long term (Iwasaki, 2006). By providing
clients with the correct tools, leisure education, and opportunities to explore and navigate
their leisure interests and planning, they can be set up for success when being discharged
from the hospital to implement their learnings and practices from the hospital back into the
community.
Purpose of Topic: To provide the opportunity for adults to develop meaningful social
connections with adults with similar experiences, learn about various leisure activities and
resources in and around their communities, and develop and maintain a leisure schedule to
increase independence and build a habitual routine.

Goals and Objectives:

1. To develop meaningful social connections with adults with similar experiences
1.1. By the end of the program, the therapist observes reciprocal conversations of
sharing a leisure-based memory or thought with a co-patient.
1.2. By the end of the program, the therapist observes the patient show signs of active
listening and interest during the session.
2. To demonstrate an understanding of various leisure activities and resources in and
around their communities
2.1. By the end of the program, the patient will identify an active and passive leisure
activity.
2.2. By the end of the program, the patient will identify one resource they would
willingly use in a crisis if needed.
3. To develop and maintain a leisure schedule for increased independence and routine
3.1. By the end of the program, the patient will set realistic wake-up or bed routine
times on their schedule.
3.2. By the end of the program, the patient will select at least one active and one
passive leisure activity in their leisure schedule.

Performance Measures:
Upon completion of the session, patients will be able to identify the benefits of creating a
wellness discharge plan as evidence by the following:
1. A minimum of 1/2 patients will be able to identify a significant leisure memory
2. A minimum of 3/4 patients will be able to identify one example of active leisure and
one example of passive leisure
3. A minimum of 1/2 patients will be able to create a leisure schedule that includes
time, a bedtime, and a designated leisure activity

Program Protocols for weekly sessions:

Equipment/Supplies Budget Staffing Needs Location

$0 1 CTRS, 1 Rec Group Room

Wellness discharge Student
plan booklet
including leisure
education and
worksheets

Pencils, markers,
 pencil crayons

Length of Session Population Participant Criteria

Considerations
Patients must
90-120 minutes Patients working display motivational
towards discharge or behaviour
involved in a CDP and/working
program may be towards
appropriate independence or a
sober lifestyle

References:

Canadian Mental Health Association (2021). Fast Facts about Mental Health and Mental
Illness. Retrieved from: https://cmha.ca/brochure/fast-facts-about-mental-illness/
Centre for Addictions and Mental Health (2024). Mental Illness and Addiction: Facts and
Statistics. Retrieved from:
https://www.camh.ca/en/driving-change/the-crisis-is-real/mental-health-statistics
Iwasaki, Y., MacKay, K., & Mactavish, J. (2005). Gender‐based analyses of coping with
stress among professional managers: Leisure coping and non‐leisure coping. Journal of
Leisure Research, 37(1), 1–28. 10.1080/00222216.2005.11950038
Iwasaki, Y. (2006). Counteracting stress through leisure coping: A prospective health study.
Psychology Health and Medicine, 11(2), 209–220. 10.1080/13548500500155941
Kleiber, D. A. , & Nimrod, G. (2009). “I can't be very sad”: Constraint and adaptation in the
leisure of a “learning in retirement” group. Leisure Studies, 68, 67–83.
10.1080/02614360802260820
Lawton, M. P., Moss, M. S., Winter, L., & Hoffman, C. (2002). Motivation in later life:
Personal projects and well‐being. Psychology and Aging, 17(4), 539–547.
10.1037/0882-7974.17.4.539
Verghese, J. , LeValley, A. , Derby, C. , Kuslansky, G. , Katz, M. , Hall, C. , Buschke, H. , &
Lipton, R. B. (2006). Leisure activities and the risk of amnestic mild cognitive impairment
in the elderly. Neurology, 66, 821–827. 10.1212/01.wnl.0000202520.68987.48
Session Plan Outline

Title: My Wellness Discharge Plan: Wellness Workshop

Sessions: 4
Day: Thursdays
Location: Group Rooms
Time: 10am-12pm, or 1:30pm-3:30pm
Staff: CTRS Student Intern, CTRS supervisor

Participants: 3-5 patients working towards recovery/discharge or part of the CDP program

Equipment and Supplies: Worksheets (Appendices A-D), Resources (Appendix E)

PowerPoint presentation, computer, pens

Safety Considerations:

● Take breaks to avoid overwhelming patients with lots of information and activities at
once
● Maintain a clean workspace for patients to feel comfortable and safe
● Encourage patients to report any unsafe or unwelcoming experiences in the group to
ensure a safe space for all patients
● Encourage patients to share when comfortable, but remind patients this is specific to
their discharge experience and all answers they have or share is kept confidential in
this space

Session Outline:

Time Content Process

1:30pm Welcome & Introductions -Welcome all patients and

thank them for attending the
group
-Introduce yourself and your
role
-Icebreaker: go around the
room and do the Leisure
Alphabet icebreaker. Say
your name and a leisure
activity that starts with the
same letter as your name.

Example: “Hi, my name is

Meaghan and my leisure
activity is meditation”
1:35pm Session Explanation and -Explain what the session
What is Leisure is…. “This program is called
the wellness workshop, or
creating your wellness
discharge plan that will
provide education on leisure
and the importance of
leisure, and how we can
implement this to reach our
goals and future discharge”

-what is leisure and flow

state slide, ask patients if
they remember a time they
have been in a flow state
before, allow them to reflect
on this for a minute and it
will be used for the first
activity

1:40pm-2:10pm: Booklet Intervals Memory Lane:

Memory Lane
Leisure Ed PowerPoint - hand out the worksheets
2:10pm-2:20pm: slide: for this and explain the
Active/Passive Leisure activity - using the 5 senses
Discussion - Rec therapist will and 5 W’s, describe a
explain the purpose moment you felt immersed
2:20pm-2:45pm: of the following in an activity AKA in a flow
Leisure Schedule activity, and how this state. Try to keep it recent
correlates with their ~10 years, if you cannot
2:45pm-3pm: wellness, recreation think of one it can be one
Recognizing Support needs, and thinking from your childhood.
about their discharge.
3pm-3:15pm: Active and Passive Leisure:
Tracking Progress Activity:
- read the “types of leisure”
- Rec therapist will slide and then ask patients if
assist participants in they can name one example
completing their of active OR passive leisure,
worksheets, and go around the room until
engaging in a everyone has stated one.
discussion After this, go to the next
simultaneously as slide and show the examples
appropriate of active and passive leisure.
At this time, it would also be
appropriate to hand out the
resources for GTA
recreation and leisure
available for patients in
community.

Create a Leisure Schedule:

- read the “importance of

leisure” slide and explain
each bubble, and move into
the leisure schedule
worksheet. Give lots of time
to do this (20-30 mins), hand
out the worksheets along
with the example schedules
and go through how to
create the worksheet with
patients, leaving lots of time
for questions and to assist
each patient for ~5 minutes
each

My Supports:
- explain the “recognizing
the support around me” slide
and hand out the first part of
the GTA resources, which
include a list of all of the
MH and addictions
resources/help lines
available for GTA areas.
Hand out the “my supports”
worksheet and ask patients
to think of at least 3 supports
they have, like parents,
doctors, family members,
etc, and if they do not have
any personal people that
would be of support, to pick
at least 3 GTA resources
they would feel comfortable
accessing if they needed to
reach out for support

Tracking Leisure Progress:

- hand out the tracking

leisure progress and ask
patients to fill out the “now”
section, and use this as a
guide and resource to hold
themselves accountable to
 implement their schedule for
the next month. After 1
month has passed, take this
worksheet out again and fill
it out, see whats changed,
the progress, your feelings,
and if your leisure interests
has changed.

3:15pm-3:20pm Reminders Rec therapist will go over

the reminder slides at the
end of the PowerPoint that
provide a summary of what
was discussed/taught in the
workshop

3:20pm-3:30 pm Debrief and End Rec therapist will ask

patients how the workshop
went, if they enjoyed it,
what they liked versus didn’t
like

Rec therapist will thank all

patients for attending and
encourage them to reflect on
their schedules daily to
incorporate this into their
daily schedule, reach out if
they have questions or need
assistance, and check in with
their progress tracker one
month from now
 Appendices

Appendix A: Memory Lane

Appendix B: Leisure Schedule
Appendix C: My Supports
Appendix D: Tracking Progress
Appendix E: Mental Health and Leisure Resources