"You don't have to have anything. You can just freely walk in and feel loved." - Jess Jones, Founder, Jess Jones Recreation Therapy (JJRT)
"Mom, do you want to hear what I wrote for the open mic?"
Jess Jones hears that question at home now, as her daughters sit at the piano or pick up a guitar to try out songs they've written. On Tuesday nights, they take the stage at the Leisure Learning Lab, the centre Jess built in Hyde Park, where young performers have had whole rooms rise to their feet for them.
Some days, Jess still has to pinch herself. "It really can bring me to tears to realize that... just five, six years ago this was a dream, and it's really happening."
Getting here took a winding road.
The Long Way Around
Jess never meant to become a recreation therapist. At 18, she was accepted into the Ontario College of Art and Design and pictured a life as an art teacher. Then she met her husband, and the two spent almost three years touring Canada in a band.
Off the road, she turned to another love: cooking, inspired by her grandmother, "an avid baker" who made nourishing meals. Jess became a Red Seal chef and later a pastry chef. But kitchen hours weren't sustainable for a young family, so she took a Monday-to-Friday job as head chef in a home for people living with dementia.
There, she found what her career had been missing. "My connection to people," she says. "I really wanted to have this relational experience with people on a deeper level."
She teamed up with the home's recreation therapist to build programs where residents baked and grew fresh vegetables and herbs. One day the therapist told her, "You should become a rec therapist."
Learning in Real Time
The seed was planted. Jess secretly applied to Canadore College's online recreation therapy program, then went on to earn her degree at Brock University, deciding along the way to start her own practice.
Then, in 2018, her oldest daughter was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia at age five. Jess cared for her through treatment and administered her medication for three years. Her daughter is now healthy and doing really well.
That experience reshaped how Jess practises. "Now I have a caregiving experience too," she says. Her work comes not only from creativity and service, but from "my real life experiences... and how I want people to feel valid and heard."
Opening the Doors Wider
Jess opened Jess Jones Recreation Therapy (JJRT) in 2021. Therapeutic recreation uses leisure to support people facing barriers such as mental health challenges, disability, or illness. But in Canada, people generally need to have a disability, be in a hospital, or be retired to access it. JJRT set out to change that, and it has become a leader in private practice recreation therapy in the country, serving people from age 4 to 108 with a team of upwards of 22 full-time staff.
In its fifth year, JJRT opened its dream centre: the Leisure Learning Lab, a 7,000-square-foot space in north London with a coffee house open to anyone, an art studio, counselling rooms, green space, and live music. Programming is designed for ages 13 and up, "a soft place for teens to land." Because the clinical and community sides work together, a social worker can even "prescribe" a walking club. "It becomes this beautiful collaboration and village," Jess says.
A Stage for Everyone
Jess's proudest surprise has been the music. As a musician, she never pictured running a venue. Now the Lab hosts live music three days a week, and it pays and feeds its musicians, treating them the way she wished she'd been treated as a young performer.
Its Tuesday open mic is one of the only ones open to youth, and it has become known for turning no one away. Musicians have told her, "I never thought I'd make it back on a stage, but here I am playing because of you."
Business That Puts People First
JJRT is a for-profit social enterprise, which gives Jess the freedom to meet each person's needs without a mandate: "What do you need? How can I make it happen?" It also means no access to grants, and recreation therapy still isn't covered by insurance, so she relies on creativity and partnerships to keep access low-barrier. People often assume she must have large corporate backers. "No, I'm a one woman show who's got a really good team."
Pillar Nonprofit Network has been part of that journey. After meeting Melanie Riley (VP, Fund Development & Member Services ) from Pillar at a networking event, Jess joined Pillar's Libro Social Enterprise Incubator, where facilitator Mariam introduced her to the Meaningful Market. JJRT has taken part two years in a row. Last year, the team had just bought the Lab's building, and visitors who didn't even know them were thrilled for them. Conversations at the market also led to new partnerships, including with the Siren Section. "It's not transactional," Jess says. "It's very relational."
Running a business can be isolating, though. "Nobody tells you how isolating it is," she says. She hopes to work with Pillar on programming for social enterprise owners like herself.
Keep Showing Up
The Lab's vision is ahead of its time, and Jess admits she worries every day about how long its runway will be. She holds on to something a visitor told her after a Music Monday: "You don't know, and you will never know, and you need to be okay with not knowing that the ripple that you're sending out is very big."
Her message to the sector follows from it. "Keep showing up," she says. "You may never know, and that's okay. But you don't give up. Just keep trying."
And the Lab's doors stay open to anyone who needs them. "You don't have to have anything," Jess says. "You can just freely walk in and feel loved."
Learn more about Jess Jones Recreation Therapy and the Leisure Learning Lab: https://www.jessjonesrecreationtherapy.ca