IACAT Annual General Meeting
- Jack O'
- Jun 8, 2013
- 2 min read
Well done to the Irish Association of Creative Arts Therapists for organising such a great AGM on Saturday May 25th. Despite the brilliant weather, creative arts therapists from all over Ireland attended the meeting at the Mansion House.
At the meeting, we had the opportunity to listen to a number of speakers, including the inspirational John Lonergan, who spoke about promoting creativity for a fair and just society.
Having a 42 year experience in the prison service, John shared his view on the capacity of the creative arts to transform prisoners' behaviour and, for most of them, to discover a hidden talent and an effective way to express themselves.
What is IACAT?
IACAT (Irish Association of Creative Arts Therapists) is the national registration body for representing, promoting and supporting Art, Dance Movement, Drama and Music Therapists in Ireland. It currently has approximately 260 members, based in different countiesaround Ireland. IACAT has been actively working towards achieving statutory recognition and registration of Creative Arts Therapist in Ireland, requesting the inclusion of Creative Arts Therapies in the Health & Social Care Professional's Act 2005. In the UK, Creative Arts Therapists have been registered with the Health and Care Professionals Council since 1999.
Why is statutory recognition important?
Statutory recognition of Creative Arts Therapists will ensure that Creative Art Therapy services are delivered by qualified, regulated therapists, who follow the highest professional standards. Gaining statutory recognition is critical to the protection and safeguarding of the public, in particular vulnerable people.
Launch of IACAT Journal
The IACAT Journal was also launched, covering articles on evidence based practice, current research, book reviews and relevant emerging topics. Our own therapist, Eli Chourdaki, was one of the authors of the Journal, contributing an article that examines the evidence based research on Music Therapy and Dementia Care with her article: 'Music Therapy: Offering Avenues of Communication in Dementia Care'. For more information on IACAT click here
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