Jill has worked in the field of therapeutic recreation since 1987. She began her career with Project STRIDE a grant project designed to provide summer leisure education programs for teens with developmental disabilities. She spent her winters as a ski patrol. Her year round career began two years later, working as an inpatient therapist in physical rehabilitation where she became senior staff therapist and director of aquatics. In 1990 she founded Northeast Passage (NEP) as a private not for profit, and in 2000 merged NEP with the University of New Hampshire to become the service and research branch within the Department of Recreation Management and Policy. Over the last twenty years Jill has served as the director of Northeast Passage, a nationally and internationally recognized program that delivers community and school based recreational therapy and adapted sports. Jill has served as Project Coordinator on four federal grants focused on developing state-of-the-art RT programs in community settings. She has conducted research on the efficacy of the PATH program model, a community based RT intervention designed to reduce secondary conditions and promote healthy behaviors in individuals with disabilities. Of highest priority at this time is the development of new venues for fully reimbursed, goal-based, recreational therapy with in community settings. In 2006, Jill chaired the task force that successfully achieved licensure for therapeutic recreation in the State of New Hampshire.
Selected Publications
Thompson, C. V., Bennett, J. L., Sable, J. R., & Gravink, J. (2016). Northeast Passage PATH (TM) Program A Strengths-Based and Recovery-Oriented Approach for Veterans Who Experience Mental Health Disorders. THERAPEUTIC RECREATION JOURNAL, 50(2), 138-154. doi:10.18666/TRJ-2016-V50-I2-6788
Craig, P., Wilder, A., Sable, J., & Gravink, J. K. (2013). Promoting Access, Transition, and Health: A Community-Based Approach to Managing Chronic Health Conditions. ATRA Annual, 21, 45-62.
Wilder, A., Craig, P., Sable, J., Gravink, J., Carr, C., & Frye, J. (2011). The PATH-way home: Promoting access, transition, and health for veterans with disabilities.. Therapeutic Recreation Journal, 45(4), 268-285.
Sable, J., & Gravink, J. K. (2005). The PATH to Community Health Care for People with Disabilities: a Community-Based Therapeutic Recreation Service. Therapeutic Recreation Journal, 39(1), 78-87.
Sable, J., & Gravink, J. K. (2001). In Home Therapeutic Recreation Intervention for Recent Spinal Cord Injuries.. The NTRS Special Publication, In Home Therapeutic Recreation: Successful Strategies and Services..
Project PATH: A Health Promoting Interventin for People with Spinal Cord Injuries (2000).
Sable, J., Powell, L., & Gravink, J. K. (1997). Northeast Passage: Strengthening the Empowerment Process.. Journal of Leisurability, 24(1), 30-36.
Sable, J., & Gravink, J. K. (1995). PARTNERS: Promoting Accessible Recreation. Parks and Recreation Magazine, 5.
Bennett, J., Thompson, C., Craig, P. J., Aytur, S., & Gravink, J. (2018, September 13). Community-based recreational therapy for Veterans with disabilities: Impacts on functioning and quality of life.. In ATRA Annual Conference, Research Institute. Grand Rapids, MI.
