Available Volunteer Opportunities

Recreational Therapy Programs

Mountainside Long Term Care Facility

  • Evening Recreation - Assist children with assorted play activities during open recreation time.
  • Patient Pal - Assist resident with homework and socialization opportunities.
  • Open Playroom - Assist children with assorted play activities during open recreation time.
  • Room Buddy - Assist at bedside to engage residents in play and socialization activities.

Toms River Long Term Care Facility

  • Afternoon/Evening Recreation - Assist children with assorted play activities during open recreation time.

New Brunswick Inpatient Facility

  • Evening/Weekend Recreation - Assist children with assorted play activities during open recreation time.
  • Open Playroom - Assist infants/toddlers with assorted play activities during open recreation time.
  • Patient Cuddler - Provide rocking or holding of infants in need of interaction and play one on one with toddler or preschool children on unit (must be 21 years of age and older).
  • Recreation Room - Assists staff with patient activities, games, crafts, sports, music, and special events.
  • Room Buddy - Assist at bedside to engage patients in play and socialization activities.

Activity Connection Programs

Social Programs in the Mountainside Area

  • Adaptive Aquatics -Provide one to one with participants to engage them in swim activities and to ensure safety.
  • Friday Night Fever (out in the community) -Provide assistance and supervision for individuals with disabilities (ages 13-21) during social and recreational activities in the community.
  • Social Club - Provide direct guidance in appropriate peer to peer social interactions.
  • STEM - Assist with exposure to Science, Technology, Engineering and Math activities.
  • Teen Night -Provide assistance and supervision for individuals with disabilities (ages 13-21) during social and recreation activities.
  • Yoga -Provide one to one supervision of assigned child during class to ensure safety.
  • Zumba -Provide direct assistance of assigned child during physical activity

Social Programs in the New Brunswick Area

  • Adaptive Aquatics - Provide one to one with participants to engage them in swim activities and to ensure safety.
  • Friday Night Fever (out in the community) -Provide assistance and supervision for individuals with disabilities (ages 13-21) during social and recreational activities in the community.
  • Social Club -Provide direct guidance in appropriate peer to peer social interactions.

Social Programs in the Toms River Area

  • Teen Night - Provide assistance and supervision for individuals with disabilities (ages 13-21) during social and recreation activities.

Therapy Observation

Bayonne, Clifton, Egg Harbor, Hamilton, Mountainside, Newark, New Brunswick, Toms River, Union and West Orange.

The following positions are an excellent opportunity for students/volunteers who are looking to pursue the therapy fields by assisting therapists with a variety of non-therapeutic duties.

  • Occupational Therapy

  • Physical Therapy

  • Speech Language Pathology

Programs in Somerset

  • Pediatric Feeding Disorders Intensive Program -Assist with clinical and support tasks as appropriate for intern. Excellent area for volunteers going into Psychology, Child Psychology, Applied Behavior Analysis, or work with children with autism or related developmental delays (ages 15+).
  • RUCARES Program -Volunteers perform an assortment of tasks and duties to facilitate therapists in the Severe Behavior Program. Volunteers will NOT work directly with our patients. Volunteer tasks may include: preparing treatment materials and rooms, data collection, and clerical tasks. Master’s lever or doctoral-level board-certified behavior analysts supervise all these activities and use empirically supported training techniques to train volunteers to competency. Volunteers with developed research skills or software-programming mastery may have the opportunity to conduct research under the direction of the doctoral-level behavior analysts.

Other Opportunities

  • Clerical Office Assistant

  • Lobby Escort (Union and Toms River West)

  • Summer Camps & Special Events

Apply Today

For questions about volunteering, please contact the Volunteer Services Department at MTVolunteer@childrens-specialized.org.

Patient Stories

  • When reflecting back on his time in the Spinal Cord Rehabilitation Program, Adrian said, “I had fun the entire time."

    Adrian
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  • This team was amazing, and we are so thankful that we were given a chance to do this therapy with Lara so we could remove her tube.

    Lara
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  • Everyone was so good. They treated Heaven like a princess, and I felt free. I felt like I didn’t have to stay by her side all the time.

    Heaven
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Patient Stories

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