In our 7th episode of the Parks and Recognize Podcast, Datis Mohsenipour, our VP of Marketing at Xplor Recreation, chatted with AJ McCage, Therapeutic Recreation Coordinator for Henrico County, Virginia.
With over a decade of experience as a recreational therapist, AJ McCage has been an essential figure in the communities she serves. In her current role with Henrico County, she leads therapeutic recreation programs, inclusion services, and community outreach efforts. AJ recently earned her Master’s in Youth Development and Leadership from Clemson University and is an active member of the Virginia Recreation and Park Society (VRPS).
In this episode, AJ shares how she got started in therapeutic recreation, her passion for creating inclusive programs for people with disabilities, and her work with VRPS.
Tune in to the podcast or check out the interview transcript below!
Datis: If you could choose any superpower, AJ McCage, what would it be?
AJ: My first thought would probably be like mind reading, but knowing myself I would get overwhelmed with that 100% even though I'm asking to do that, so maybe a flying superpower or like maybe the green thumb and being able to magically grow plants. That's an idea.
Datis: For the folks that don't know, you tell us a little bit about yourself, what do you do? Where do you do it? Who are you?
AJ: My name is AJ McCage and I am a Recreational Therapist by trade and have been for a little over 10 years now. I got my education from two different places, one being Bradford University in Therapeutic Recreation, and then more recently from Clemson University with my Masters in Youth Development and Leadership. I am fortunate enough to have had many different types of workplace experiences. I have found that I don't really stay in one spot, but I stay long enough to do programming and to fix some things. But for Henrico County, Virginia, I am their Therapeutic Recreation Coordinator and I oversee all therapeutic recreation TR programming, community engagement that falls within that realm. And then any inclusion services. We offer a variety of programming, fitness, history related, park, mobile experiences, classroom-based programs, summer camps and when anybody is looking to register for a program, they have an option for inclusion services and that's where I kind of come into play. I help facilitate a modification plan and I work with our programmers and the families on a one-to-one basis to figure out how we can modify programs for their needs.
Datis: You mentioned you've been in Parks and Rec for about a decade now, what brought you to your career in Parks and Rec?
AJ: To be fair, I am right at 8 years, a few of my first years as a recreational therapist, I dabbled in the world of long-term care and so I was managing recreation departments within nursing facilities, assisted living communities, dementia care units, and I got incredibly burnt out, really, really quickly and if anybody knows that life, it's a very different environment. The expectation is it just every day, every year, just because the residents who live there, they deserve those services. I found myself being really young in my career and not knowing what I wanted exactly. But, knowing I wanted to use therapeutic rec and then found Parks and Recreation, and it actually took me three tries to get into the department. I hold it over their heads now because I'm like, look at all the things I'm doing, but it took me so long to get in and I really think it was just us being able to trust the services that we could both give. I kind of got into therapeutic recreation because of an advisor at school who just reached out to me on a whim. I thought I wanted to do teaching and then became very overwhelmed with the requirements of all the schooling, and then I was like no bump that, let's do something else. And a story that I had told an advisor was an experience that I went through with my mom when she was going through chemotherapy. During her trials with that, I remember being in a room and sitting down next to her. Then all these other people and there was kids in that unit. And just thinking like, wow, if I were working here, what would I do differently for the people going through this experience? And I shared that story with the advisor and he was like, well, have you ever heard of rec therapy? And I was like, no, and that's kind of how the journey started. So kudos to Doctor Newman.
Datis: I'm sure there are plenty of things that you're proud of, as you should be through the work you've done, the volunteer work you've done there, but between the volunteer work you've done and your role in therapeutic rec, what are a couple really big highlights of your career?
AJ: I always appreciate it when people ask me this question, because when you're working in different communities, you don't always get to share the story of what you did before you got there. By nature, I am always going to be an advocate for people with disabilities. It's a strong passion of mine that I think I've put into many different aspects of my life just naturally because I care about it and some of the biggest things that I have done within my career as a recreational therapist have been developing therapeutic recreation programs in every community I've ever worked in. I say every community because it's been three, so it's more than one, but within Colonial Heights Recreation and Parks, Hopewell, and then within Henrico, it has just been a really big driving force for me. One because you get to create those programs that naturally wouldn't be designed for people with disabilities, and then two, you get to have this really incredible educational moment with it because inevitably you're involving other people in your process, and the more we can create awareness towards these taboo topics, then it makes people feel more comfortable. And then they realize, hey, I can do this and adapting programming isn't that hard, and so the TR development in my mind is just one of biggest lights in my life. Those programs are still operating in the connections that were made are still there, which is awesome. Then the other part is being able to work with young people. I say young, meaning high school and college. I feel like most people wouldn't say that, but I love that population because you get this chance to leave an impact on them, which will inevitably change the course of how they look at life after a really good experience. I have been fortunate enough that in my entire career I've been a part of summer camps and camp related programming and I've worked with all different ages of people and I have found that through some of my efforts I've had students or staff members change their life trajectories because of the experience. People who went into special education, people who have gone into adapting programs naturally, I just think that's just such an incredible compliment without being told, hey, you did this for me, but I'm changing a part of my life to showcase what I've learned. So yes, two of my biggest things.
Datis: I think that you deserve a lot of credit for and a lot of shine for is just everything you've done as part of the VRPS and other associations that you're part of. Any highlights that you care to share with folks about the volunteer work you do?
AJ: I absolutely love VRPS, so VRPS is the Virginia Recreation and Park society and through their efforts it has really made me such a better professional. I think that's why I believe in it, because of the value that I've seen come out of it and within VRPS, I have done everything from just volunteering for my service area for leading resource groups for most recently putting on a statewide conference, which was incredible. I just deeply believe in development of other professionals and I don't think there's a reason to recreate the wheel if we have a tool and a resource that can connect people with that information sharing and so VRPS to me has done a lot for my career and I think that no matter where I move forward from this, my involvement with the VRPS has to stay the same because it's just guided me through a lot of things. I've also participated in a few different efforts through NRPA, which I’m always grateful, and I didn't know about half of the things that they produced until the last three years, which has been really overwhelming but then really cool in the same breath because they do so much. And then of course, WIPAR Women In Parks and Recreation. I was a part of their leadership team that helped put on their first conference here in Norfolk and that was an incredible experience as well. But, it's just the connections that you build. It's invaluable, and if people don't utilize it, I truly think that they're missing out on an experience.
Datis: What does community ultimately mean to you, AJ?
AJ: Yeah, that's the super loaded question. I feel like at any given point I could probably answer it differently, but I think the overall thought of community is just the opportunity to change lives. It's from how I involve my kids in things. How I think about how I'm spending my own spare time. It's how I think about building meaningful connections and I just think that without it I don't know if I would have reached this platform that I'm on now or been able to engage in so much and learn about myself and learn what I value over time. Another part of it is if I take the effort to involve my kids in the community, then essentially, they may learn to love it as well over time, because then they find their niche within it. And so, it's an opportunity and I fully take advantage of those opportunities.
Datis: When you aren't impacting your community on a regular basis, what can we expect you to be doing in that little spare time that you have?
AJ: Oh, that's a loaded one too. I think it just depends on the mood my kids put me in! But no, all jokes aside, I think right now in life we are navigating a really interesting moment. My family and I, we have three kids right now and we're a lovely, blended family and so I'm stepmom to two kids but have been raising them for a while now. So, I think trying to figure out how we do all of this, it's like such a loaded thing. But navigating motherhood on my own with my own son, and then navigating it with children that I've deeply connected to and just know that life could be better for everyone in moments and I think right now we're just figuring it out. My partner, he is a dual paramedic firefighter, so he's just as motivated in his work-life and is going through his own school program right now. I feel like it's a very healthy competition of like when he does something, I wanna do something and then vice versa. And yeah, so the kid piece is a component and trying to figure out how I can gracefully involve them in things, but then also seek my own interest out of it. I joke by saying I don't have hobbies, I just learn new things because my kids really want to experience something and I have no earthly idea what the hell I'm doing half the time. But, I'm like, OK, I'm going to learn how to knit because my daughter wants to knit. So we're going to learn it. So now I'm making a scarf. So yeah, I'm trying to figure out what this this part of my life looks like. Balancing some like out of work, passions I have.
Datis: To be doing all that you're doing and having such an impact in the parks and rec community too, it's really impressive. You must be a master of managing and organizing your time.
AJ: I think we'll just say that for now. We're still trying to figure out that balance as well and definitely one of my biggest goals I'd say within the next five years I gave myself until I was 35 was to either have gotten accepted into a doctoral program or applied to one, and so my next thing is trying to figure out how I can blend academics and Parks and Recreation. I really want to teach at a college level, but I want to stay in programming to some capacity so that my potential students can see first-hand how you develop things and have real life experiences with it. But in my mind, I don't see that as a work adventure, that's very personal, I want to go to school because I just enjoy the aspect of it. And so, I don't know, maybe coming back to reality sometimes and finding a balance is always key because I have a hard time with that.
Datis: If you have any advice you can share to other parks and rec professionals, what would it be?
AJ: One piece of advice I would say that if you want an experience, then you have to fully rely on your advocacy to create that. I think that I live vicariously through the efforts that I put into my kids and my community because I know what it feels like to have people taken away from you, who really wanted that experience. My parents had passed, my mom passed when I was in high school and navigating the world in that retrospect, really put things into perspective of just working hard because she didn't get to have things. Then I had lost my dad a couple years ago due to COVID, and he was an incredibly accomplished person, but he was accomplished because he advocated for himself. I would just say that if you want any part of it, then make it a priority and that there is time if you make time for it.
Datis: That's really incredible advice, AJ. As I've mentioned before, I'm sure you parents would be very proud of all your accomplishments and the ones that come. This has been a pleasure as always getting time with you, and you're an absolute star and such an inspiration. Grateful to know you, grateful to call you a friend, and thank you for all that you do for your community and extended community. Thank you for joining us today, it's just an absolute pleasure and I hope that everybody who's listening in got extreme value from this as I did.
AJ: Thank you.
Stay tuned for more inspiring episodes as we continue to spotlight remarkable parks and rec professionals. Want to share your story on a future episode of Parks and Recognize? Contact xr_marketing@xplortechnologies.com.