Knowing Where You Stand
About
Knowing Where You Stand: Policy, Identity, and the Path to Play Therapy ProfessionalisationAustralia's mental health and developmental supports policy landscape is shifting, and play therapy practitioners are navigating that shift from very different starting points. This session offers a clear-eyed look at where play therapy currently sits within Medicare, the NDIS, and the broader government push toward tertiary-trained, credentialled allied health, and what that means for practitioners working across different professional pathways.
Dr Kate Renshaw draws on her parliamentary submissions, ministerial advocacy, and research background to unpack the policy forces reshaping the profession. She'll explore the often-overlooked role that professional identity and language play in how government recognises, regulates, and funds play therapy, and why this matters for every practitioner regardless of how they came to the work. Participants will be introduced to the Multi-Tier Play Therapy (MTPT) Framework as a practical scope of practice tool for understanding where their own practice sits within the broader play therapy ecosystem and how to communicate that position clearly.
Participants will leave with a sharper understanding of the current policy landscape, the stakes for professionalisation, and concrete, practical ways they can contribute to the profession future.
This session is for practitioners who want an honest, independent advocacy perspective on where things stand for play therapy in Australia.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
1. Describe the current Australian policy landscape affecting play therapy, including key shifts in Medicare, the NDIS, and government positioning toward tertiary-trained, credentialled allied health.
2. Articulate their own professional identity and scope of practice clearly, including how their play therapy work sits within or alongside their primary discipline registration.
3. Apply the Multi-Tier Play Therapy (MTPT) Framework as a practical tool for understanding and communicating scope of practice across the different play therapy services they offer.
4. Explain the relationship between professional identity, credentialling, and the broader professionalisation of play therapy in Australia, and why the language practitioners use publicly matters.
5. Identify one concrete action they can take to contribute to the advocacy and professionalisation of play therapy within their own professional context.
Presenter:
Dr Kate Renshaw (RPT-S™) is the Founding Director of Play & Filial Therapy and a leading voice in Australian play therapy advocacy, research, and education. With over two decades of clinical, training, and policy experience, she developed the evidence-based TORA (Teacher Optimal Relationship Approach) and the Multi-Tier Play Therapy Framework. She holds RPT-S registration with APPTA, memberships with BAPT, APT, IC-PTA, and Play Australia, and lectures on the BAPT-accredited MSc Play Therapy at the University of South Wales. A 2025 SXSW Sydney speaker, Dr Kate is a published author, past reviewer for The Arts in Psychotherapy journal, and publishes through her own imprint, Play and Filial Therapy Press.
Dr Renshaw is an active independent advocate for play therapy professional recognition, having helped draft several significant Australian play therapy industry publications, made a Senate submission on the NDIS Amendment Bill, given oral evidence to the Thriving Kids Parliamentary Inquiry, and briefed ministers across multiple states. She hosts the Dr Play podcast and speaks regularly on radio and in print media.
Date and Time:
Monday 26th October, 2026
4pm - 5.30pm AWST
5.30pm - 7pm ACST
6pm - 7.30pm AEST
6.30pm - 8pm ACDT
7pm-8.30pm AEDT
This is a live, online event. Recording will be made available for 3 months to those unable to attend live.
Cost:
APTA Member Live, Online - $30.00
Non APTA Member Live, Online - $60.00
APTA Member - 3 month recording access - $35.00
Non APTA Member - 3 month recording access - $65.00
Date
Monday 26 October 2026 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM (UTC+10)Location
Online event access details will be provided by the event organiser
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Knowing Where You Stand
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