New York State Licensure

New York State Licensure and Clinical Training Requirements

New York State (NYS) was the first state to implement a licensure requirement for Creative Arts Therapy (CAT), establishing formal educational and clinical standards for obtaining the Licensed Creative Arts Therapist (LCAT) credential. According to NYS regulations, CAT graduate programs are required to include a minimum of 500 hours of clinical training, with additional supervised experience required post-graduation.

However, New York State has chosen to use the Art Therapy Credentials Board (ATCB) Board Certification exam as the qualifying exam for art therapy graduates pursuing the LCAT. The ATCB only permits exam eligibility for students who have met the American Art Therapy Association (AATA) requirement of 700 hours of clinical training. As a result, in order for graduates of an art therapy program to sit for the ATCB exam—and thus be eligible for NYS licensure—their graduate program must meet the higher AATA standard.

The 60-credit Art Therapy program at Nazareth University is specifically designed to meet both NYS licensure requirements and national board certification standards. This includes a minimum of 700 internship hours, of which at least 350 must be direct client contact hours. These clinical training hours are distributed across the program’s internship courses to ensure students are fully prepared for both licensure and board certification.

Graduates of the Nazareth program are eligible to take the ATCB Board Certification exam immediately after graduation, as required by NYS for licensure as an LCAT. However, it is important to note that passing the ATCB exam for licensure does not automatically confer ATR-BC status. The ATR and ATR-BC credentials are administered separately by the Art Therapy Credentials Board, and students should consult www.atcb.org to review the full requirements for obtaining those credentials.