Meet Gavin Phillips

Bachelor of Health Science (Therapeutic Recreation)

My interest in health science stems from my experience as a personal trainer. 

Working in the fitness industry for many years, I wanted to be more than the 'average trainer'. During this part of my career, I had the opportunity to work with adolescents and sporting teams which really changed my perspective of fitness. Until this point I had been immersed in building physical fitness in my clients but I had never even considered how this could be combined with mental and emotional training for well-being.

I wanted to improve my knowledge of the interactions between physical, mental and emotional treatment for health and rehabilitation and this led me to enrol in a Bachelor of Health Science (Therapeutic Recreation) (opens in a new window) at Western Sydney University. Therapeutic Recreation uses activity-based interventions to maximize an individual's health. This can be in rehabilitating patients or in maintaining the health of well clients, which is the area I want to specialise in.

As I continue in my career, I'm excited about the possibility to develop more streamlined practices for incorporating the emerging field of therapeutic recreation into the healthcare system.