Therapy Assistant

Summary

Position is assigned to the Recreation Therapy Service, Eastern Kansas Health Care System (EKHCS) and works in various areas throughout the facility including, Community Living Center, Mental Health, and Domiciliary serving as a Recreation Therapy Assistant (RTA) who provides a variety of diverse and multi-faced clinical duties to facilitate the attainment of the Recreation Therapy Service's mission at Eastern Kansas. Travel between campuses may be required.

Duties

Major duties include, but may not be limited to the following: Implements recreation therapy treatment interventions for patients with physical and mental health conditions under the supervision of a Recreation Therapist. Conducts individual and small-group recreation therapy activities, using both standard and nonstandard treatment procedures and approaches. Assists Recreation Therapists with planning and implementing treatment programs designed to address patients' individual treatment needs and treatment plans. Modifies and adapts therapeutic activities, procedures, and schedules based on patients' disabilities, abilities, treatment priorities, and changing needs. Provides therapeutic equipment, materials, instruction, encouragement, and counseling necessary to support patients' participation in recreation therapy activities. Conducts bedside and facility-based recreation therapy programs, including individualized programs based on patients' interests, attitudes, motivation, illnesses, and disabilities. Assists with patient assessments and development of treatment plans in collaboration with the Recreation Therapist. Coordinates and escorts patients to community recreation therapy activities, including transporting patients and assisting ambulatory and non-ambulatory patients with entering/exiting vehicles and navigating community environments. Observes and evaluates patient participation and response to treatment, including progress or regression, and adjusts activities as appropriate within assigned responsibilities. Documents recreation therapy treatment in the patient's medical record, including interventions provided, duration, frequency, outcomes, patient response, goals/objectives, and information needed by the treatment team. Performs duties as assigned. Travel between campuses may be required. Work Schedule: Full-Time, Tuesday through Saturday; 8:00 am to 4:30 pm - There may be times, (although rare) where coverage to opposite campus is expected. May be asked to work extended hours. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Therapy Assistant/PD105540 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized. Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved. Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 10/21/2026. Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-6 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-5. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. You may qualify based on your experience as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-5 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to:Work as an assistant to one of the specialized therapies such as occupational, physical, manual arts, corrective, or educational therapy; or experience gained as an assistant or aid in patient care, social work, or psychology where the duties involved actual participation in physical medicine and activities of a hospital or clinic. Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. Physical Requirements: The position involves moderately heavy lifting of physically impaired patients while assisting with ambulation duties. The work requires regular and recurring physical exertion such as long periods of standing or walking for prolonged periods of time and over rough, uneven, or rocky surfaces; frequent bending, crouching, reaching, stooping, and stretching or similar activities to set up and take apart equipment and apparatus; recurring lifting of moderately heavy items such as bowling and sports equipment and repositioning patients; and pushing or pulling heavy objects. The work may require specific physical characteristics and abilities such as above-average agility and dexterity to perform intricate therapeutic procedures. The incumbent must be able to push wheelchair patients on level and inclined ground. The incumbent must be physically able to drive the station vehicles and pass the Occupational Health Clinic Motor Vehicle Operator Evaluation. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

Education

There is no educational substitution at this grade level. Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.