How to become a recreation therapist

If you’re interested in a health care or human service profession — and you’d like to improve the functioning and quality of life for others through recreation, leisure, and play — recreation therapy could be for you.

What is a recreation therapist?

A recreation therapist is a health care or human service professional who uses recreation, play, and leisure activities to improve people’s quality of life. These activities and interventions can support cognitive, physical, emotional, spiritual, and/or social well-being.

Some examples include:

• Cognitive — word games, board games
• Physical — yoga, pilates, walking
• Emotional — journaling
• Spiritual — meditation, music
• Social — arts and crafts, social clubs

But the possibilities are almost limitless. Recreation therapists use many different methods and activities to help people achieve their highest level of independence and quality of life.

What does a recreation therapist do?

Recreation therapists contribute to the well-being and vitality of individuals and communities by creating accessible, equitable, and engaging recreation and leisure programming.

Recreation therapists work with people of all ages who have various disabilities, illnesses, and life situations. Through a collaborative and purposeful process, they asses, plan, implement, evaluate, and document to create meaningful activities, interventions, and experiences. Recreation therapists support the development of strengths through designing and facilitating activities to promote well-being, growth, and healing. They may be part of a collaborative and person-centred interdisciplinary team. Working from a strengths-based approach, recreation therapists develop strong and nurturing relationships to help others reach their goals and dreams. They also create caring communities that help all kinds of people get more out of life.

Some examples of the people a recreation therapist might work with are:

• People with physical disabilities
• People with developmental disabilities
• People with mental health conditions
• Older adults living in community and long-term care homes
• People in residential care
• People with substance use disorders
• People who are unhoused
• People in end-of-life care
• Pediatric clients/children with chronic illnesses/disabilities
• People who have interactions with the justice system

• Exercise groups
• Group outings
• Discussion groups
• Social skills training
• Building a community garden
• Spending time with animals
• Music based interventions

They also play an important role in connecting people to existing resources and programs within their community and working to create more inclusive communities for all citizens.

It’s a dynamic career that involves research, relationship building, program development, excellent communication skills, continual assessment and evaluation, and advocacy in order to provide the highest level of care and life possible.

Where does a recreation therapist work?

You’ll typically find recreation therapists working in settings like:

• Hospitals
• Acute-care facilities
• Schools
• Long-term care and retirement homes
• Group homes
• Community programs
• Adult day programs
• Rehabilitation facilities
• Correctional facilities
• Private practice

What degree do you need to become a recreation therapist?

You need a bachelor’s degree, usually in therapeutic recreation or a related field such as recreation and leisure studies, to become a recreation therapist.

Getting your degree generally involves the following:

• About half your total credits will be specific to therapeutic recreation — courses like Developmental and Emotional Disabilities and Facilitation Techniques
• Supportive coursework covering topics that might include abnormal psychology, anatomy and physiology, and general humanities and social science
• A practicum, internship, or paid work experience in recreation therapy

What are the steps to becoming a recreation therapist?

To become a recreation therapist, you need to follow these steps:

• Meet the requirements to be accepted to a university degree program. At the University of Waterloo, for example, you apply to Recreation and Leisure Studies and choose Therapeutic Recreation as your major
  • You’ll need:
    • Six Grade 12 U and/or M courses including any Grade 12 U English (minimum final grade of 70%)
    • Admission average: Low 80s
• Choose the regular or co-op program (with co-op, you gain valuable experience and explore new career areas and types of employers as your career interests evolve. With regular, you still have two placement requirements that result in 665 hours of practical experience.)
• Add areas of expertise to your degree by choosing a double major, joint honours or minor
  • Popular choices include gerontology, psychology or addictions, mental health and policy
• Graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Honours Therapeutic Recreation
• Become certified by writing the exam to earn your Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist (CTRS), which is granted by the National Council for Therapeutic Recreation Certification (NCTRC)
• And/or become registered through Therapeutic Recreation Ontario (TRO), which demonstrates excellence in the field of Recreation Therapy
• Get to work building your career!

Where’s a good place to study recreation therapy?

The University of Waterloo's Therapeutic Recreation program is one of only three in Ontario and the only one to offer multiple co-op terms. It offers:

• The flexibility to shape your degree according to your specific interests
• Plenty of choice in electives from disciplines that can include subject areas like psychology and health
• Hands-on experience through volunteer placements, a required full-time internship in fourth year, and courses that help you apply what you’re learning in class to real-world situations

How long does it take to become a recreation therapist?

• Your degree will take four years (or five if you’re in co-op)
• After you earn your degree, certification from the NCTRC or registration with TRO might be preferred by some employers

Why get certified or registered to become a recreation therapist?

Some employers might prefer to hire candidates who are certified with the NCTRC or registered with the TRO. It’s important to think about where you’re hoping to work once you complete your undergraduate degree. Then, start looking at the specific requirements for employment at these organizations before your graduate so you can get an idea of whether you might need to pursue certification or registration.

The type of education you receive (i.e., the undergraduate degree you get) is very important. Some employers (like various larger hospitals) only accept applicants with a relevant university degree — like Therapeutic Recreation. So, you’re already headed in the right direction if you choose this program.

As well, if you don’t have an undergraduate degree, you can’t apply for certification with the NCTRC. If you discover you need this certification to work at the organization you want, you’d need to backtrack and get a relevant undergraduate degree from a university.

The NCTRC grants the Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist (CTRS) credential once specific experiential qualifications have been met, eligibility to take the exam has been established, and testing has been successfully completed.

"Our main mission is to protect the safety of the public when they are receiving therapeutic recreation services," says Robin McNeal, Director of Credentialing for the NCTRC.

"As a consumer, you want to make sure that individual has a certain level of education and experience. You want that person to be qualified. This credential is the assurance to the public that you, as a practitioner, have met certification standards."

What’s required to be certified?

To be eligible to take the NCTRC certification exam, you first need to earn a bachelor’s degree and complete required coursework in therapeutic recreation. And here’s what you need to know about the exam itself:

• The exam is offered every other month throughout the year (six windows)
• You select the date, time and location
• It takes about three hours to write
• There are about 120 questions

Recent graduate Sydney Perlmutar, who earned her degree from the University of Waterloo in Spring 2022, enjoyed a wide variety of co-op opportunities to prepare for a career — and she wants high school students who are considering recreation therapy to know there’s a community out there for everyone.

"Whether you’re working in a hospital or community setting, it’s really easy to find a place for yourself and find out what you want to do and specialize in," Sydney says. "You can work in any setting with any type of person. Just come into the program and try all the specialties and populations. There’s something for everyone if you like working with people, if you’re outgoing and if you like being a leader."

The most important quality, she says, is adaptability.

"You’ve got to be able to 'modifly': modify on the fly," Sydney says. "Sometimes you can plan this elaborate program and sometimes the person might not want to do it and you just have to learn to modify and come up with another program."

Now working with older adults with a disability, Sydney says one of her favourite co-op positions was at a geriatric day hospital where she helped patients start their day with a coffee and a chat, and then launched into anything from crossword puzzles and Sudoku to gardening and reminiscing games. "They really put me right into the midst of everything quite early on," Sydney says. "I was coming up with my own exercise program, taking previous programs and making them my own. I had free rein of their resources and with the help of my supervisor I could make the changes I saw fit."