Recreational therapists work across a broad scope of practice. At Coova, our recreational therapy services are delivered by Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialists (CTRS) who assess leisure function, design purposeful activity-based interventions, and build the connection between meaningful engagement and health outcomes, working alongside and integrated into the care team leading your plan. Your case manager remains your primary point of contact, holding the bigger picture and ensuring all recreational therapy support, whether leisure assessment, community reintegration, or activity-based intervention, is integrated into one coordinated plan built around you.
Individualized Support, Where You Live
Our recreational therapy services provide clinically informed, activity-based support delivered wherever you are, in your home, community, recreational spaces, or out in nature. Recreational therapists are trained to assess how illness, disability, or life disruption has affected a person’s ability to engage in meaningful activity, and to design purposeful interventions that restore that engagement as part of the healing process.
This flexibility is intentional. Meaningful activity doesn’t happen in a clinic, and neither does our care. Every recreational therapy service is delivered with a commitment to ethical practice, cultural humility, and client dignity, and integrated into the broader care plan your case manager is leading.
The goal is not only to fill time with activity, but to restore purpose, build resilience, and create a clearer path forward through coordinated, community-based recreational therapy.
Your recreational therapist conducts a thorough assessment of your leisure history, interests, current functional capacity, and the barriers, physical, cognitive, emotional, or social, that are getting in the way of meaningful engagement. This clinical foundation shapes everything that follows and is shared clearly with your care team.
We design and deliver structured, goal-directed activity programs built around what matters to you, whether that’s physical activity, creative expression, social connection, nature-based engagement, or cultural participation. These are not recreational activities for their own sake. Each one is chosen and structured to address a specific clinical goal within your care plan.
For individuals rebuilding their lives after illness, injury, mental health crisis, or prolonged isolation, recreational therapy provides a structured, supported pathway back into community participation. We accompany clients into real community settings, parks, recreation centres, cultural events, volunteer programs, building confidence and connection incrementally and with clinical intention.
The relationship between meaningful activity and mental health is direct and well-evidenced. Our recreational therapists work within Coova’s mental health model to support individuals managing depression, anxiety, trauma, psychosis, and other conditions, using activity as a therapeutic medium to regulate mood, build routine, restore identity, and reduce symptoms.
We help individuals develop the practical knowledge, skills, and confidence needed to pursue meaningful leisure independently, identifying interests, navigating community resources, managing barriers, and building sustainable habits that support long-term wellbeing beyond the period of active intervention.
Your recreational therapist doesn’t work in a silo. At Coova, real-time communication and transparency across your clinical team, including social work, psychiatry and psychology, occupational therapy, nursing, behavioural consulting, dietitian services, speech and language, and spiritual and cultural support, means insights are shared, plans stay aligned, and clinical goals are met through a team that’s consistently working from the same page.
Our recreational therapy services in BC support individuals and families including:
We also provide community-based recreational therapy support for:
A Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist (CTRS) is a health professional trained to use leisure and activity as a clinical intervention, not as entertainment or general wellness programming. Recreational therapists conduct clinical assessments, set measurable health goals, and design structured programs that address those goals through purposeful activity. The difference between recreational therapy and a drop-in fitness class is the same as the difference between physiotherapy and going to the gym.
No referral is required. You can contact us directly to begin. We welcome self-referrals, as well as referrals from physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists, occupational therapists, and community organizations.
Recreational therapy services are not typically covered by MSP, but there may be more funding options available than you’d expect, including extended health benefits, CLBC funding, and private insurance plans. Navigating coverage can be confusing, and we’re here to help you get clarity on what applies to your situation.
Support is offered community-based and can take place in your home, parks, recreation centres, cultural spaces, or virtually depending on your needs and the goals of the intervention. Getting into real community settings is often a core part of the work.
Our recreational therapy services are designed to complement, not replace, existing care. Your recreational therapist communicates directly with your case manager and the rest of your Coova clinical team to ensure activity-based goals are cohesive and aligned with your broader care plan.
Support is structured around the individual, but family involvement can be incorporated, particularly where shared activity, caregiver wellbeing, or family reconnection are part of the clinical picture. During your initial consultation, we will help determine the configuration of support that best fits your situation.
A consultation is the best place to start. We take the time to understand your situation and whether this service is well-suited to your needs. If another form of support would serve you better, we will be transparent and help you find the right direction.
Recreational therapists at Coova Health hold certification through the National Council for Therapeutic Recreation Certification (NCTRC) as Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialists (CTRS) and adhere to professional and ethical standards. BC does not currently have a provincial regulatory college for recreational therapists, but national certification sets the professional standard. Learn more at nctrc.org.
Coova Health is based in Vancouver, BC while offering private case management services across British Columbia.
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