A Licensed Creative Arts Therapist is a New York State credential specifically for therapists who use art, music, dance, drama or poetry as the actual medium of treatment, rather than as an addition to a purely talking-based approach.
An unusual approach to licensing
The credential requires a master's degree in a creative arts therapy discipline, supervised clinical hours, and a licensing examination, and permits fully independent clinical practice once granted. New York is unusual in licensing creative arts therapy as a single combined profession in this way, where most other jurisdictions license each creative arts discipline separately.
The UK equivalents, held separately
In the UK, the equivalent titles are held separately rather than combined under one credential: art therapist, music therapist and dramatherapist are each protected by law in their own right and registered with the Health and Care Professions Council. Someone looking for this kind of therapy in the UK should search for the specific discipline they are interested in, rather than for a single combined title equivalent to LCAT.