Frequently Asked Questions

Below you’ll find answers to the questions we get asked most.

Art Therapy

  • Art Therapists work with a variety of populations. Art therapy is effective for people of any age and an art therapist works with individuals, couples, families and groups in settings such as counselling agencies, schools, treatment centres, rehabilitation facilities, hospitals, correctional institutes and elder care locations.

Education

  • In Canada, an undergraduate degree in fine arts, psychology, social work or counselling is required before entering one of the art therapy programs. If the undergraduate degree is in another area, a prior learning assessment can be recognized to determine appropriate equivalency. It is recommended to have art and psychology courses.  These programs include post-graduate diplomas, graduate diplomas and Master’s degree programs. For more information, visit Becoming an Art Therapist.

  • Art therapy is currently a self-regulated field in Canada. However, to be able to be a Professional or Registered member of CATA, you must have graduated from an art therapy program that meets CATA’s education standards. These are listed on our Art Therapy Training page. If the professional art therapy association of a particular country recognizes the program, CATA honours that program as meeting CATA education standards. As an example, if you took your training in the US, the professional association in the US is the American Art Therapy Association (AATA). They have a listing on their website of all the schools with programs that they have approved. Same in the UK and other countries. If you are concerned whether the program you wish to take will allow you eligibility to be a Professional or Registered member of CATA in the future, and that country does not have a governing association, then you can direct your question to our Education Director at education@canadianarttherapy.org.

Professional Practice

  • As we are not a regulatory body, CATA does not have a Code of Ethics. Codes of Ethics are broad principles that members agree to adhere to in making decisions and conducting themselves in a profession. A violation of the Code of Ethics can also be seen as negligence but is more of a moral concern for the professional.

  • Salaries are comparable to those of a counsellor, social worker or therapist with graduate degrees and vary depending on whether you work in private practice or for an agency.

CATA/ACAT Registration Process

  • All references can be submitted at any time throughout the process. An email confirming the sending of the form will be sent to your email address. Please note that all references must be submitted prior to the deadline date.

  • Once the application has been completed, you will be prompted to pay the 60$ application fee when submitting the final application.

  • Reference forms from employers are to confirm that you worked at that agency. If your manager no longer works there, then you have a couple of options:

    1. If you can reach them, you can ask them to complete the form based on the time you worked there.

    2. You can ask human resources to complete the form to verify that you worked at that agency.

  • You may email the registrar at registration@canadianarttherapy.org.

  • You must be a professional member of CATA for six (6) months and have secured (post graduation) 50 hours of art therapy supervision by a registered art therapist based on 1,000 client contact hours.

  • $60

  • RCAT membership dues are $145 CAD plus provincial taxes.

  • You must be a member for 6 months to prove you are a member in good standing. A member in good standing is a member who has paid their fees on time and had no complaints against them.

  • Client contact hours are face-to-face art therapy. A client contact hour does not include note-taking or set-up/take-down of a session. It also does not include meetings. Only face-to-face art therapy contact counts towards your client contact.

  • You may choose to work with a local registered art therapist or you may choose to work with one at a distance using technology. Art therapists who are recognized by CATA have either received their registration from the Canadian Art Therapy Association (RCAT); the Art Therapy Credential Board (ATR); the Ontario Art Therapy Association (OATR); or British Columbia Art Therapy Association (BCATR).

    Other qualifications that are deemed equivalent include art therapists who are Registered Art Therapists Board Certified in the USA with license to practice and supervise art therapy as required by their practicing state (ATR-BC), who are Art Therapy Cedrentialed Supervisors in the USA with license to practice and supervise art therapy as required by their practicing state (ATCS), who are registered with the British Association of Art Therapists (BAAT) or registered with the Australia, New Zealand and Asian Creative Arts Therapies Association (ANZACATA).

  • No. Peer-Supervision, also known as peer-consultation, is not considered a form of supervision as it is informal and unstructured.

  • Group supervision is formal and structured, and is led by a supervisor who meets the requirements.

  • You may have up to 10 hours of non-RCAT supervision. This can be completed with another regulated professional. For example Registered Psychologist, Registered Social Worker, Psychiatric Nurse, Registered Counselling Therapist, Registered Psychotherapists, this list is not exhaustive. 

  • No. Supervised art therapy hours for registration begins once you have completed all the academic, practical, supervision, thesis approval, and any other requirement in your program to be considered graduated from the training program you have attended.

  • No. Graduation from an art therapy training program that is in compliance with CATA’s education standards is a requirement for registration with CATA. Supervised art therapy and client contact hours are not eligible to be counted towards registration until the student art therapist has completed all the academic, practica, supervision, thesis approval and any other requirement your training program requires for graduation and must be able to provide proof of graduation. 

  • No. Art therapy supervision must be received from a Registered Art Therapist to be eligible to submit an application for registration from CATA. You may be supervised by an art therapist, but may not use the supervision to count towards your registration clinical hours.

  • No. If you are registered with British Columbia Art Therapy Association, the Ontario Art Therapy Association, the Art Therapy Credentials Board, British Association of Art Therapists or Australian, New Zealand and Asian Creative Arts Therapies Association you may complete the Short Application.

  • You may qualify for CATA professional membership if you have graduated from an international accepted art therapy training program. To determine if your international art therapy training program is meets the equivalency, please check with the national art therapy association where your program resides such as the United Kingdom - BAAT; New Zealand or Australia - ANZATA; or United States of America – AATA with the Art Therapy Credential Board (ATCB). You can find the CATA Membership criteria and application on the CATA website, www.canadianarttherapy.org.

  • The most important factor is whether the program you have graduated from is accepted by the national art therapy association in the country that your program is located, such as ANZCATA (NZ/AU), BAAT (UK), or ATCB (US and international). CATA does not recognize art therapy programs that are not in compliance with a national art therapy association’s education standards, domestically or internationally. If the program you graduated from is not an approved program in Canada or abroad you can fill out the Education Standards Matrix, with supporting documents and submit it to CATA education director for review. Education programs must meet CATA's education standards for approval of professional membership.