This work is published in JoCAT and licensed under a CC BY-NC-ND-4.0 license.
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The JoCAT Editors. (2023). Introducing our new co-editors. JoCAT, 18(1). https://www.jocat-online.org/e-23-editors
Introducing our new co-editors
The JoCAT editors
JoCAT would like to introduce two new co-editors to the team. Caryn Griffin from La Trobe University in Melbourne, and Wong June Teck Daniel from LASALLE in Singapore have recently been appointed as co-editors. They join the team of five editors, our coordinator and designer, and our copyeditors.
Introducing Caryn Griffin
Caryn is a lecturer in the Master of Art Therapy program at La Trobe University, Melbourne. She has worked as an art therapist for a range of community organisations that support the mental health of children, adolescents, adults, and families. When she is not teaching at LTU, Caryn works at a non-for-profit cancer support network that promotes coping and self-expression of children and teenagers living with cancer. In addition to her clinical work, she has conducted art therapy research during a Master of Applied Science degree that investigated the use of art therapy to support the ongoing recovery of adults with eating disorders at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. She has coordinated the art therapy short courses at La Trobe University since 2017.
Caryn comes to JoCAT with good publishing credentials having published articles in the Arts in Psychotherapy and Journal of Applied Arts & Health, and has spoken at conferences nationally and internationally about her art therapy research and practice.
Introducing Daniel Wong
Daniel is an art therapist and researches the intersection between the arts, health and well-being. He has worked in Australia, Thailand and Singapore with diverse populations for over 18 years. His interests span from object-making and material engagements to embodied creative practices, relational dynamics and their applications in grief, traumatic stress and post-traumatic growth. A trained artist, he works primarily with fabric, yarns and found discarded or other ephemera. The attraction lies in their aesthetic, sensory and ideational appeal and the unfinished unpredictability of things as they are circulated, reimagined and refashioned into assemblages, collages or bricolages. Daniel is a committee member of the Art Therapy Foundation Thailand and teaches in the MA Art Therapy programme at LASALLE College of The Arts in Singapore.
Daniel co-edited the book, Found objects in art therapy: Materials and process with Ronald Lay, which was published by Jessica Kingsley in 2021. He brings a wealth of knowledge and an Asian perspective to the JoCAT editorial team.
At this juncture, the editors thought it timely to tell a little of the story of the journal to JoCAT’s growing and increasingly international readership. Launched in August 2020, JoCAT grew out of ANZATA’s research publication – The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Arts Therapy (ANZJAT) that was established in 2006. Joy Schmidt was the inaugural editor, and discussed the beginning of the publication in an interview with then co-editor Toril Pursell in 2015, marking the journal’s ten-year anniversary and stating that she “feel a deep satisfaction that the idea of a journal became a reality” (p.15). Joy explained the journal’s inception:
I attended Sheridan Linnell’s engaging presentation on ‘The making of an art therapist’. I wrote a response to this in the ANATA newsletter, noting that with such dynamic academic material, a refereed journal would be the place to document such writing and ideas, and that a journal needed to become a reality. This would leave the newsletter to carry reports and news about members and matters related to organisational procedures. The focus of a peer-reviewed journal would be primarily on art therapy research projects and include book reviews, case studies and clinical art therapy reviews. Such a journal would help share our Australian and New Zealand art therapy research, to give evidence of the value of our work and to further communicate our professionalism. (p.16)
The first issue of ANZJAT, from 2006. Cover artwork: Michael Leunig, A Picture of Innocence, 2006.
The first issue of JoCAT, from 2020. Cover artwork: Aletheia Lynne Tan, Responding Anew, 2019.
The artwork, entitled Achieving the dream: Reflections on the decade, created by the first ANZJAT editor, Joy Schmidt, celebrating ten years of the journal in 2015.
In 2007 Tarquam Mckenna took over as editor and saw five issues to completion and the journal evolve, gaining respected recognition within the arts therapy and allied health industries and beyond. Under Tarquam’s stewardship, ANZJAT attained an ‘A’ journal ranking from Excellence in Research Australia (ERA). His last issue, volume 6, number 1, was a bumper one featuring nine articles.
In 2012 Sheridan Linnell took over as editor, inviting Toril Pursell to be a co-editor and together they published four issues. This included an article in the 2014 issue by Nadia Balatti and Patricia Fenner entitled ‘Taking a closer look: A review of ANZJAT publication 2006–2011’. Their findings offered “a new lens for reflecting on the development of arts therapy practice and research in the Australia/New Zealand region over these years”. Their study explored “the need for more systematic approaches to research, an expanded range of research skills, a regionally-specific research agenda, and an arts therapy-specific evaluation strategy” (p.15).
Additions to the team were made when Toril resigned, with Catherine Camden Pratt joining in 2016 followed by Stacey Bush and Deborah Green in 2017. Since then, the team has been a stable one, producing another three issues of ANZJAT and seeing through the transition of the journal into its present form as JoCAT.
With a change in the funding model encompassing robust ongoing financial support from the professional association and a partnership with the School of Social Sciences, Western Sydney University, ANZACATA’s journal went fully digital and open access and changed its name to the Journal of Creative Arts Therapies, increasing to two issues per year. The first issue of JoCAT was published in December 2020. It was decided to continue the indexing from ANZJAT so this issue was volume 15, number 1.
More developments have been made in the last two years, including indexing with EBSCO and DOAJ, and the launch of a new website where new content is prepublished throughout the year, culminating with the complete issues published in July and December. Our journal continues to grow both in the amount and range of content published. And its readership is also increasing steadily and its reach widening, last count to some 84 countries.
All issues of JoCAT and ANZJAT issues back to 2008 can be accessed on the JoCAT website.
You can read more about the editorial team
Timeline
2006
The Australia and New Zealand Journal of Art Therapy (ANZJAT), funded by ANZATA, is launched.
Inaugural editor – Joy Schmidt.
2007
Tarquam Mckenna takes over as editor.
2010
Name changed to The Australia and New Zealand Journal of Arts Therapy, in line with ANZATA’s name change, welcoming members from other modalities.
2012
Sheridan Linnell and Toril Pursell take over as co-editors.
2015
Volume 10, number 1, ten year anniversary special issue.
2016
Toril Pursell resigns and Catherine Camden-Pratt joins as co-editor.
2017
Stacey Bush and Deborah Green join as co-editors and Sheridan Linnell becomes chief editor.
2019
ANZJAT becomes an online publication.
2020
Name changed to JoCAT and becomes a bi-annual fully online open access publication.
Contract between JoCAT, ANZACATA and Western Sydney University signed.
2021
ANZACATA-JoCAT Author Support Bursary introduced to encourage new and diverse voices.
Indexing with EBSCO is introduced.
2022
Format changed to regular pre-published content drops on a new fully responsive website.
Indexing with DOAJ is introduced.
Amanda Levey joins as podcast editor.
2023
Daniel Wong and Caryn Griffin join as co-editors.
References
Balatti, N. & Fenner, P. (2014). Taking a closer look: A review of ANZJAT publication 2006–2011. ANZJAT, 14(1), 15–28.
Pursell, T. (2015). This little bag of dreams: An interview with Joy Schmidt about ANZJAT a decade on. ANZJAT, 15(1), 15–20.