Art therapy sessions continue (and I am back in springwood)

Hello!

There has been a lot of confusion in the sector whether Art Therapy continues to be funded by NDIS. The short answer is YES. But... we practitioners, clients and governing bodies are waiting for the Federal Australian Government to publish Dr Duckett's findings into reviewing the need (and validity, I suppose) for Art Therapy as well as Music Therapy. The review was conducted over a few months in the beginning of this year (2025) after the Minister for NDIS, Bill Shorten, decided to cut Art Therapy funding by giving only a very short period of days (if I remember correctly) to cease the service funding. After a massive amount of lobbying, it was established that a review is required. Now we all are waiting to learn the outcome of the review. I don't personally understand what the hold up of publishing might be, unless it is that Art Therapy is very much needed and should be funded. In the end it comes down to money, of course, and a little bit of which body is the strongest in lobbying. Evidence, evidence. That's what they always ask for, and now that we have evidence in terms of a review submissions, there is a hold up in publishing. Psychological services, occupational therapies etc are all probably fighting over the same funding bucket. And personally, I think that a country which can afford not to tax global companies, or give incentives to mining companies, and to build new nuclear submarines, they should be able to cover all the therapies the citizens need. But until this happens, we just continue doing what we can.