What is ANZACATA?
If you've ever gone looking for an art therapist in Australia and noticed the letters AThR next to someone's name, or seen a mention of ANZACATA on their website, you might have wondered what it actually means. It's one of those acronyms that gets used quite a bit in the creative arts therapy world without much explanation.
So… wanna learn what it all means?
About ANZACATA
ANZACATA is the Australian, New Zealand and Asian Creative Arts Therapies Association. It is the peak professional body representing creative arts therapists across Australia, New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific region. ANZACATA is a member of Allied Health Professions Australia (AHPA), the national peak body for allied health.
That's worth pausing on, because it matters: Creative Arts Therapists are Allied Health Professionals. Creative arts therapy sits alongside other recognised allied health disciplines like occupational therapy, speech pathology and physiotherapy, all of which are represented under the AHPA umbrella.
ANZACATA is a peak not-for-profit, professional, and educational organisation dedicated to the growth, development and support of Creative Arts Therapies. It was formed in 2018 when two existing associations merged: ANZATA (the Australian and New Zealand Art Therapy Association) and ACATA (the Australian Creative Art Therapies Association). Before that, the profession had been developing and organising since the 1980s, so this is not a new or emerging field, it has a long history of research and practice in Australia.
What does ANZACATA actually do?
ANZACATA sets and upholds training and practice standards for professional members, which includes supervision and professional development. It advocates for the profession, which has been especially important recently given the uncertainty around arts therapy funding through the NDIS. And, it publishes JoCAT, the Journal of Creative Arts Therapies, which is a peer-reviewed research journal. It also runs a publicly searchable directory where you can find a registered creative arts therapist in your area.
Why does professional membership matter?
This is the bit that I think is actually worth pausing on, especially if you're looking for a Creative Arts Therapist.
ANZACATA professional membership is not automatic. To be eligible to use the post-nominal AThR (Registered Arts Therapist), a therapist has to have completed approved university qualifications and a minimum of 750 hours of supervised clinical training. Arts therapists are also required to complete annual continuing professional development activities to meet the professional standards as set out by ANZACATA.
So when you see AThR next to someone's name, it is telling you something meaningful: that person has met a defined standard of training and practice, and is accountable to a professional body.
ANZACATA is not the only route to professional recognition in this space. Many creative arts therapists also register with PACFA (the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia), which is a national peak body representing the self-regulating allied health professions of psychotherapy and counselling. PACFA has a dedicated division called the College of Creative and Experiential Therapies (C.CET) to provide a professional home for therapists who work using more than verbal methods, including visual art, dance, drama and music. Both pathways represent a commitment to professional standards and ethical practice; they sit within different organisational structures and suit different practitioners depending on their training background and scope of practice.
I am a professional member of ANZACATA. My training was through MIECAT, the Melbourne Institute for Experiential and Creative Arts Therapy. I completed a Masters of Therapeutic Arts Practice with a specialisation in Community Arts and Health. My approach is grounded in MIECAT's inquiry-based methodology, which sits within a broader creative arts therapies framework, and professional membership is one of the ways I remain connected to the field and accountable to an ethical standard of practice.
A note on NDIS
If you follow the creative arts therapy space at all, you may have heard about the turbulence around NDIS funding in late 2024 and into 2025. ANZACATA has been actively responding to this, including making submissions to the Duckett Review, which looked at the evidence base for art and music therapy supports. The Review has now been released and the NDIA has indicated support for the recommendations. ANZACATA has been doing a lot of the heavy lifting in advocating for the profession through this process, which is part of why having a functioning peak body actually matters. As a Professional Creative Arts Therapist, I can provide Art Therapy to NDIS participants who have Therapy listed within their plan. You can learn more about how to access Creative Arts Therapy through the NDIS on my NDIS and Creative Art Therapy information for participants page.
How to find a registered Creative Arts Therapist
If you're looking for a Creative Arts Therapist in Melbourne or elsewhere in Australia, the ANZACATA website has a therapist directory at anzacata.org/find-a-therapist and the PACFA website has a therapist directory at https://pacfa.org.au/find-a-therapist. Both allow you to search by location and modality.
So…. Wanna Art About It?
I provide Creative Arts Therapy for individuals and groups online and in-person in Melbourne, Australia. If you are an adult with ADHD and/or autism, you might like to join our neurodivergent peer group, Welcome to the Party Pal which I also host online and in-person. Or, you might like to try our casual therapeutic art group Sunday Social, which takes place Sunday mornings.
Jessie Upton (AThR) is a Creative Arts Therapist and professional member of ANZACATA, based in Melbourne.
They provide individual and group creative art therapy for adults, host a neurodivergent peer group for adults with ADHD & autism and offer creative capacity, organisational culture and reflective practice programs for organisations.