North Brighton, Vic., Australian, New Zealand and Asian Creative Arts Therapies Association
Abstract
‘Creative arts therapies’ (CATs) is a combined term referring to therapeutic training in one or more arts
modalities. Art therapy and dramatherapy are two of these CATs, each having stand-alone training. Our
research shows how, as we investigated the experiences of members in a trauma-informed workshop at the
ANZACATA conference in 2018 – where members were celebrated as CATs professionals for the first time –
our initial qualitative grounded theory study changed to a more performative and practice-based one.
An emergent theory indicates the importance of client and therapist safety, of embodiment, and of exploring
the intersectionality of these two modalities