Founded in 1996, the New England Therapeutic Recreation Association (NETRA) serves Recreation Therapists around New England.

Greetings NETRA Members! If you are a TR professional who would like to make a contribution to the next phase of development in our regional professional association, please consider nominating yourself or someone you know for a position on the NETRA Board of Directors. We are excited about the renewed interest in NETRA and welcome your energy, creativity, and passion to help move us forward.  

In the upcoming year, NETRA will take great strides in the development of our organization. We have created a solid strategic plan that includes many important initiatives to grow our organization. We are excited about our new membership database and look forward to continuing our journey into the use of social networking and technology to better connect our members. We are very excited about our opportunity to serve as host chapter for the ATRA Mid-Year Conference in Providence, Rhode Island on March 5-7, 2011. We hope you will consider joining the Board in order to make this an educational event to remember!

We are seeking nominations for three positions for the 2010-2011 NETRA Board of Directors:

• President-Elect
• Treasurer
• Member-At-Large South (MA, CT, RI)

We are also seeking applications for the Student Committee Chairperson position, which is a board appointed position.   For an application for the Student Committee Chairperson, click here. 

To find out more about each of the board positions, click here.  For more information, job descriptions, and the nomination form, click here. 

It is time to nominate our fellow colleagues who have shown enthusiasm, leadership, inspiration, dedication, and commitment to the advancement of the profession this past year. Nominations are due by September 15^th, 2010. The awards will be presented at the upcoming conference on November 5^th, 2010 in Bedford, NH!!

Let’s recognize and commend those in our field who deserve to be recognized and show them we admire them for their outstanding work.

Below are the award categories:

• Outstanding Student

• Excellence in Therapeutic Recreation Service Delivery

• Up and Coming New Professional

• Educator of the year

• NETRA Member of the year

• Outstanding Professional of the Year

Check out the CONFERENCES section of our website for more information on these awards and information on how to apply.  Remember, the deadline is September 15, 2010.

NETRA is now on Facebook and LinkedIn as a way to continue to create a collaborative network of recreation therapy professionals.   Check out the links below to join us!

www.facebook.com/NewEnglandTRA

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=2700443

Thanks to everyone who participated in the recent online vote for changes to the NETRA bylaws.   There were 41 respondees and the vote was 100% in favor of the proposed changes.   

This vote by members approved the following changes to the NETRA By-Laws which govern:  

1. Membership termination and reinstatement of memberships. It is sought to include electronic notification as an option.   (passed)

2. Individual membership qualifications. It is sought to replace “Associate” member category with “Non-Practicing” category.    (passed)

3. The form of voting allowed by members. It is sought to include electronic voting as an option.    (passed)

4. The form of notification of meetings. It is sought to include electronic notification as an option.  (passed)

For more specific information related to the recent changes, click here.