National Council for Therapeutic Recreation Certification

What National Council for Therapeutic Recreation Certification does

The National Council for Therapeutic Recreation Certification (NCTRC) is a United States-based non-profit organization founded in 1981 and headquartered in New City. Its stated function is to provide recreational therapy services, which in practice positions it as the credentialing body for the therapeutic recreation profession — specifically the issuer of the Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist (CTRS) credential that serves as the professional standard for practitioners in clinical, community, and educational settings.

The organization operates with a 1-10 employee footprint and maintains a web presence at nctrc.org. Its product surface centers on credential issuance, recertification, and the associated standards governing eligibility, examination, and continuing competency. The revenue model is consistent with a certification non-profit: fees generated from initial exam applications, credential renewal cycles, and supporting materials sold to individual practitioners and the academic programs that prepare them.

The available source material is sparse. Multiple secondary data sources returned no substantive information — one source block resolved only to a loading/verification page on nctrc.org, and no management team, funding history, partnerships, technology stack, or geographic footprint details were disclosed. As a result, this description is limited to what firmographic data and the organization's public-facing mission statement support; deeper claims about strategic positioning, financials, or operational structure cannot be substantiated from the provided evidence.

Name

National Council for Therapeutic Recreation Certification

Website

https://nctrc.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1981

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The National Council for Therapeutic Recreation Certification is a US-based non-profit founded in 1981 that issues the Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist (CTRS) credential. It serves therapeutic recreation practitioners, employers, and academic programs that rely on the credential as the field's professional standard.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

New City

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations

Core offering

National Council for Therapeutic Recreation Certification (NCTRC) is a non-profit organization that provides recreational therapy certification services. Founded in 1981, the organization delivers credentialing services for therapeutic recreation professionals in the United States, operating from New City.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Therapeutic Recreation Certification

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Recent moves1 record

Broad incumbents

• American Therapeutic Recreation Association: ATRA is the principal U.S. membership association for the therapeutic recreation profession; while it is an association rather than a certifier, it operates alongside NCTRC in the same professional ecosystem and influences demand for the CTRS credential.
• American Occupational Therapy Association: AOTA is the larger professional and accrediting body for occupational therapy, which frequently overlaps with therapeutic recreation in clinical settings; it represents a scaled analog and potential adjacent-credential competitor for credentialing services.
• National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants: NCCPA is a larger, more established allied-health certification body with sophisticated exam and recertification infrastructure; it represents the kind of scaled peer that illustrates both the upside of credentialing at scale and the competitive benchmark NCTRC could be measured against.

Direct peers

• National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy: NBCOT administers the national credentialing exam for occupational therapists. It is structurally analogous to NCTRC: a U.S. non-profit credentialing body serving a single allied-health profession, with a comparable exam-based, recertification-driven revenue model.
• Certification Board for Music Therapists: CBMT certifies music therapists (MT-BC) and operates a similar exam, recertification, and standards-setting model for a small allied-health profession, making it one of the closest functional analogs to NCTRC.
• Board of Certification for the Athletic Trainer: BOC certifies athletic trainers and, like NCTRC, runs a national entry-to-practice exam and continuing education/recertification cycle for a defined allied-health profession, sharing comparable governance and revenue mechanics.
• National Certification Council for Activity Professionals: NCCAP certifies activity professionals working primarily in long-term care and assisted living — adjacent to therapeutic recreation and overlapping in employer base and beneficiary population, with a similar credential-driven operating model.

Emerging players

• National Strength and Conditioning Association: NSCA issues nationally recognized certifications (CSCS, NSCA-CPT) in a related activity-and-recreation domain; it illustrates a more commercially scaled certification model that NCTRC could benchmark against for revenue diversification and exam monetization.
• Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs: CAAHEP accredits allied-health education programs and indirectly influences credentialing demand; it is comparable because it sits upstream of NCTRC in the standards-setting stack and competes for influence over entry-to-practice standards in therapeutic recreation.
• American Council on Exercise: ACE offers widely recognized fitness and health coach certifications, including for populations that overlap with therapeutic recreation clientele; it represents a more commercially oriented credentialing model operating in adjacent health-and-recreation territory.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights4 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/nctrcorg
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/national-council-for-therapeutic-recreation-certification

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about National Council for Therapeutic Recreation Certification