About
Jasmine Townsend is an Associate Professor in Recreational Therapy within the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management at Clemson University, as well as the departments Graduate Coordinator. She is also a faculty fellow in the Robert H. Brooks Sports Science Institute. She has a BA in History Teaching from Utah State University, a MS in Youth and Family Recreation from Brigham Young University, and a Ph.D. in Leisure Behavior from Indiana University. Her primary research interest includes investigating the outcomes of participation in sports and recreation of all types, particularly for individuals with disabilities. Her current research area focuses on the transformative nature of adaptive sport participation for individuals with physical disabilities, as well as the general health outcomes of recreational therapy. Dr. Townsend is an Associate Editor for the Therapeutic Recreation Journal, the Journal of Leisure Research, the ATRA Annual. She also serves as a regular reviewer for more than a dozen other journals. Jasmine is a past co-leader of the American Therapeutic Recreation Association’s Military/Veterans Affairs Treatment Network and serves as a co-leader for the Veterans Affairs section of the American Journal of Recreation Therapy. Dr. Townsend’s practical experience as a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist and Certified Adaptive Recreation and Sport Specialist includes working in community adaptive sports and therapeutic recreation programs with youth and adults with physical, intellectual, and mealth health conditions, in wilderness and residential treatment programs for youth with behavioral and mental health conditions, and implementing international adaptive sport training programs in countries like Indonesia, Mexico, and Thailand. She also serves on the Board of Directors for Project Sanctuary, a veterans serving organization based in Colorado.
Visit Dr. Townsend's College Profile.
How their research is transforming health care
The U.S. is seeing an increase in the number of military service members returning from deployments with life changing psychological and physical injuries. Current healthcare services are struggling to meet the needs of military service members. Standard treatments for the signature injuries (PTSD and TBI) from our current wars primarily focus on pharmaceutical and psycho-therapies. Many service members are turning to alternative and complementary approaches to their treatments. One complementary treatment approach, recreational therapy, has been used for decades to help individuals with disabilities recover from injuries, as well as learn to be active participants in their lives, regardless of their functioning levels. In the last 5-10 years, there has been an explosion of recreation-based programs that serve military service members and their families. Very few of these programs are evidence-based or conduct any sort of program or outcome evaluation. Jasmine’s research is aimed at helping to determine the outcomes associated with participation in these programs, with the intention of determining best practices for providing recreation-based treatment services to injured military service members.
Health Research Expertise Keywords
Faculty Scholar, Family Well-being, Family Leisure Involvement, Military Families, Veterans, Community Reintegration, Family Reintegration, Adaptive Sports and Recreation, Recreational Therapy
