(Re)defining recreation: a call for reconciliatory action in therapeutic recreation practice

Abstract

ABSTRACT Therapeutic recreation (TR) professionals have the potential to support meaningful change and the development of well-being in clients’ lives; however, there is a gap in the role TR has played or could play in and with Indigenous communities. Despite the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 2015 report and its associated Calls to Action, TR approaches typically fail to acknowledge Indigenous conceptualizations, definitions, and practices of leisure. This gap furthers exclusionary policies of colonialism, reinforces historically imbalanced power relationships, and it pathologizes Indigenous peoples’ well-being. In this paper, I make myself vulnerable by sharing personal experiences in practice as a cautionary tale to colleagues to challenge ongoing calls for cultural competence in therapeutic recreation practice and argue the need for acts of reconciliation to go beyond hollow acts of symbolism and to instead become transformative action.