Recreation Therapist

Use games, sport, art and outings as treatment for people recovering from illness, injury or living with disability. A diploma or degree, mostly in hospitals and care homes.

Typical pay: $62,000a year
Time to qualify: 2 to 5 yearsafter high school
Demand: Moderate
Licence needed: Noanyone can do it

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Money

What you earn and what it costs to get there.

What recreation therapists make

Typical

$62,000

Diploma grad, care home

$45,000

Senior hospital therapist

$85,000

These are estimates. Job Bank has no page for this job; it pools recreation therapists with other therapy technicians, where the national median is $26.85 an hour, about $56,000 a year. Alberta's own survey puts recreation therapists higher, at an average of about $37 an hour, roughly $77,000 at full-time hours, with a start near $29. Ontario hospital and care-home grids fall between the two.

Starting pay

$22 to $29 an hour

About $45,000 to $60,000 a year full time

Long-term care homes hire diploma grads at the low end. Hospitals and Alberta health authorities start degree holders near the top of this band.

Top of the range

$38 to $42 an hour

Senior hospital and rehab therapists, around $79,000 to $87,000

Alberta's survey puts its top earners at about $42 an hour. Program managers in large care-home chains can earn a bit more.

What it costs to get there

College diploma (2 years): $3,500 to $7,000 a year
University degree (4 years): $6,000 to $10,000 a year
Certification exam: About $350 US for the CTRS (Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist) exam
Police check, CPR, first aid, association membership: $200 to $400
Roughly, all in: $7,200 to $41,000

Placements are unpaid. The degree route includes a 14-week internship of at least 560 hours if you want the international certification.

Benefits

Public-sector pension
Hospitals and municipal or provincial care homes are unionized with a defined-benefit pension.
Health and dental
Standard in full-time jobs; part-time care-home contracts often have none.
Weekday hours
Most programs run days, with some evenings and weekends for events.
Paid training
Employers often fund dementia care and safety courses.

Education

The exact path from high school to qualified.

The path

Two routes: a college diploma for care-home jobs, or a degree for hospitals and certification.

1
High school
Grade 12
Grade 12 English, plus anything active or creative: physical education, art, music, drama. Volunteer at a care home or with an adaptive sports program.
2
Diploma or degree
2 to 4 years
A 2-year therapeutic recreation diploma at colleges such as Mohawk, Georgian, Douglas or Red River, or a 4-year degree in therapeutic recreation or recreation and leisure studies at a university such as Waterloo, Brock, Dalhousie or Alberta.
3
Placements
Built into the program
Unpaid placements in care homes, hospitals or community programs. Degree students do a long final internship.
4
Professional membership
After graduation
Join your provincial body, such as Therapeutic Recreation Ontario, and apply for its designation. Most Alberta employers require membership in the Alberta association.
5
Optional certification
After a degree
The CTRS (Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist) credential from NCTRC (National Council for Therapeutic Recreation Certification), a US body, needs a degree, set coursework, a 560-hour internship and an exam.

High school courses that help

Physical education
Adapted sport and movement are core tools.
Biology
Aging, disability and how the body heals.
Psychology or family studies
Motivation, mental health and dementia.
Art, music or drama
You will run these programs for people who cannot do them alone.

Time and money, at a glance

Years after high school: 2 to 5
Admission: Grade 12 diploma for college; roughly 70% or higher for university
Total tuition: $8,000 to $40,000
Paid while training?: No, placements are unpaid

Not regulated, but the associations matter

No province licenses recreation therapists, and anyone can use the title. In practice, employers ask for a therapeutic recreation diploma or degree and membership in the provincial association. Ontario's association runs the R/TRO (Registered Therapeutic Recreation Ontario) designation, and Alberta employers usually require membership in the Alberta Therapeutic Recreation Association. The CTRS (Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist) credential is American and voluntary, but hospitals like it.

Optional

Things you don't need, but that help.

Credentials and specialties that raise your pay

CTRS (Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist)
The international credential. Opens hospital and rehab jobs and moves you up the pay grid in some health authorities.
Degree completion
Diploma grads can bridge into a degree; it is the line between care-home and hospital pay.
Dementia and mental health specialties
Where most of the jobs are. Extra courses make you the person they call.
Management
Recreation and activity directors run whole departments in large care homes.

Nice-to-haves

A driver's licence
Outings and community programs mean driving a van.
Lifeguard or coaching certifications
Aquatic and sport programs need them.
A musical instrument
Sing-alongs are a staple in care homes.
Comfort with older adults
Most jobs are in long-term care; if that is not for you, the field is much smaller.

Extras

Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.

A typical day

Morning exercise group for residents in wheelchairs. Assess a new admission: what did they love doing, what can they still do, what might get them out of their room. Run a baking group after lunch, then a one-on-one visit with someone who is withdrawn. Plan next week's outing and its transport. Chart everything, because recreation therapy in a hospital is treatment with goals and notes, not entertainment.

The honest trade-offs

The good

You spend your day doing activities people enjoy
Two-year diploma gets you working
Mostly daytime hours
Aging population means steady demand in care homes

The hard parts

Pay is modest for a health job
Often the first program cut when budgets shrink
Many part-time and contract positions in long-term care
You will have to explain, often, that this is therapy

Work life

Typical hours: 35 to 40 a week, mostly days
Remote work: None
Physical demand: Moderate; on your feet, some lifting and pushing wheelchairs
Unionized: Yes in hospitals and public care homes; mixed in private ones

Similar paths

Factoids

Things people don't tell you.

Ontario has 1,800 of them

Therapeutic Recreation Ontario, the provincial association, counts more than 1,800 members: practitioners, educators and students. It has been the only body speaking for the profession in Ontario since 1999.

Alberta pays best

Alberta's wage survey puts recreation therapists at an average of about $37 an hour, with employers usually requiring a 4-year degree and membership in the provincial association. That is well above what most Ontario care homes pay a diploma grad.

The certification is American, and voluntary

The CTRS (Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist) credential many Canadian hospitals ask for comes from a US council. It requires a degree, a 560-hour internship supervised by another CTRS, and an exam that costs about $350 US.

Where these numbers come from

Last checked September 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students.