About MTARA

The Multidisciplinary Therapies Australia Regulation Association (MTARA) is a national professional association and self-regulatory body establishing professional standards, registration requirements, competency expectations and scopes of practice for practitioners working across Functional Capacity Practice and Clinical Functional Rehabilitation. MTARA's professional practice framework is specifically established for Disability, Ageing and Mental Health across the lifespan.

The Association recognises two distinct professional practice streams:

Registered MDT Specialists
Functional Capacity Practice

Registered Rehabilitation Consultants (RRC(MTARA))
Clinical Functional Rehabilitation

Together, these professional streams provide a continuum from the assessment and determination of functional capacity through to direct clinical rehabilitation and the measurement of functional outcomes.

Our Professional Practice Framework

MTARA's practice framework is centred on human functioning in everyday life.

Function is influenced by more than diagnosis. A person's ability to participate in everyday life may be affected by the interaction between physical, neurological, developmental, cognitive, psychological and psychosocial factors, environmental demands, available supports, personal circumstances and the requirements of everyday activities.

MTARA therefore takes a whole-of-function approach to professional practice.

The framework considers functioning across areas including personal and domestic activities, mobility and physical function, functional cognition, communication and interaction, routines, self-management, independence, participation, environmental interaction, safety and support requirements.

MTARA practitioners apply this framework within their respective professional scopes across Disability, Ageing and Mental Health.

Practice Across the Lifespan

MTARA's professional framework supports practice with children, adolescents, adults and older people.

Functional capacity and rehabilitation needs change throughout life. A child developing functional abilities, an adult living with permanent disability, a person experiencing psychosocial functional impairment and an older person experiencing functional decline may require very different approaches, while sharing the underlying need to understand and address functioning in everyday life.

MTARA practice may therefore encompass developmental and lifelong disability, acquired disability, neurological and physical conditions, cognitive and complex disability, psychosocial disability and mental health, acquired functional decline, deconditioning and changes in function associated with ageing.

Across the lifespan, MTARA's professional focus remains consistent: understanding functional capacity, identifying functional incapacity and support requirements, and providing appropriate functional assessment or clinical rehabilitation according to the practitioner's registered scope.

MTARA maintains separate professional registration streams for Functional Capacity Practice and Clinical Functional Rehabilitation. The distinction between these registrations reflects two different professional functions within the broader functional and rehabilitation continuum.

Registered MDT Specialist | Functional Capacity Practice

Registered MDT Specialists are professional assessment practitioners specialising in the comprehensive assessment, analysis and formulation of human functioning.

Their role is to determine and explain how disability, health conditions, developmental differences, mental health conditions, environmental circumstances and support arrangements affect a person's capacity to function in everyday life.

MDT Specialist practice may include:

Functional Capacity Assessment

Multidisciplinary Functional Capacity Assessment (MDTFCA)

Functional analysis and functional formulation

Evidence integration and triangulation

Functional observation

Cumulative functional impact analysis

Support needs assessment

Home and Living functional assessment

Functional risk and safeguarding assessment

Functional recommendations

Professional functional capacity reporting

Registered MDT Specialists integrate reported, observed, measured, clinical and collateral evidence to establish functional capacity and incapacity, activity limitations, participation restrictions, functional risk and support requirements. MDT Specialist registration is centered on assessment, functional formulation and professional reporting. It does not independently confer an ongoing clinical rehabilitation or treatment scope.

Registered Rehabilitation Consultant | Clinical Functional Rehabilitation

Registered Rehabilitation Consultants (RRC(MTARA)) are clinical rehabilitation practitioners specialising in direct intervention addressing human functioning across Disability, Ageing and Mental Health.

The purpose of RRC practice is to work directly with people to develop, restore, maintain, optimise or compensate for functional capacity, increase independence and participation, and reduce avoidable functional deterioration.

RRC practice is therefore intervention-focused.

Clinical Functional Rehabilitation may include:

Functional Capacity Intervention

Functional Skill Rehabilitation

Functional Cognition Rehabilitation

Routine and Activity Rehabilitation

Independence and Capacity Development

Compensatory Rehabilitation

Adaptive Functional Strategies

Participation Rehabilitation

Psychosocial Functional Rehabilitation

Maintenance Rehabilitation

Functional Deterioration Prevention

Environmental Functional Intervention

Transition and Community Reintegration

Rehabilitation Coaching and Education

Functional Outcome Measurement

RRC intervention may address everyday activities, routines, initiation and sequencing, organisation, functional cognition, self-management, independence, participation and the interaction between the person, activity and environment. Where restoration of function is not fully achievable, Clinical Functional Rehabilitation may instead focus on maintaining existing capacity, developing compensatory strategies, adapting functional approaches and reducing avoidable deterioration.

RRCs may practise within community, residential, disability, ageing, psychosocial, rehabilitation and health environments according to their qualifications, demonstrated competence, registered scope and the governance requirements of the relevant practice setting.

MTARA's two professional registrations are distinct but connected. The relationship between the professions can be understood through the functional continuum:

ASSESS → FORMULATE → REHABILITATE → MEASURE

Registered MDT Specialists assess and formulate. They establish what a person can and cannot do, identify the interaction between impairment and everyday function, determine functional support requirements and identify functional and rehabilitation needs through comprehensive assessment and evidence integration.

Registered Rehabilitation Consultants rehabilitate and measure. They translate identified functional and rehabilitation needs into direct clinical intervention designed to develop, restore, maintain, optimise or compensate for function and measure the person's response to rehabilitation over time.

The professions may practise independently or collaboratively as part of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary systems of care. Practitioners who independently satisfy the registration and competency requirements of both professional streams may hold dual MTARA registration, enabling practice across both Functional Capacity Assessment and Clinical Functional Rehabilitation.

Multidisciplinary Practice

MTARA recognises that effective disability, ageing, mental health and rehabilitation practice frequently requires collaboration across professional disciplines. Registered MDT Specialists and Registered Rehabilitation Consultants may work alongside medical practitioners, nurses, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, psychologists, speech pathologists, social workers, dietitians, exercise physiologists, developmental educators, behaviour practitioners, support providers and other health and human-service professionals.

Professional scopes may overlap within multidisciplinary rehabilitation. MTARA practitioners remain responsible for practising within their education, demonstrated competencies and registered professional scope.

Where a person's needs require profession-specific assessment, treatment or clinical authority outside the practitioner's scope, appropriate multidisciplinary collaboration or referral is expected.

MTARA professional registration represents recognition that a practitioner has satisfied the registration requirements established for the relevant MTARA professional stream. Registration requirements are aligned with the qualifications, knowledge, competencies and professional responsibilities required for the relevant scope of practice. MTARA registrants are required to maintain continuing professional development, appropriate professional insurance, ethical and professional conduct, recency of practice and compliance with the standards applicable to their registration.

Professional Standards

MTARA establishes professional standards intended to support safe, competent, ethical, evidence-informed and accountable practice.

MTARA registered practitioners are expected to:

Practise within their approved scope of registration and demonstrated competence.
Apply appropriate functional or rehabilitation reasoning accurately and responsibly.
Provide assessment or clinical rehabilitation that is evidence-informed, person-centred and contextually grounded.
Maintain professional independence and appropriately manage conflicts of interest.
Obtain informed consent and respect the rights, dignity, autonomy and preferences of individuals.
Maintain appropriate professional records and confidentiality and comply with applicable privacy requirements.
Maintain required professional insurance and suitability requirements.
Maintain continuing professional development and professional competence relevant to their registered scope.
Accurately represent their qualifications, registration, professional designation and scope of practice.
Work collaboratively and refer appropriately where a person's needs extend beyond the practitioner's individual competence or professional scope.
Practise in accordance with applicable legislation, professional standards and the governance requirements of the setting in which services are provided.
Conduct professional activities in a manner that supports public confidence in MTARA registered practice.

Professional Accountability

MTARA maintains professional registration, standards and conduct mechanisms intended to promote accountability within MTARA registered practice. Registrants are responsible for maintaining the professional requirements associated with their registration and for ensuring that their practice remains within their registered scope and demonstrated competence.

MTARA may review matters concerning professional conduct, competence, scope of practice, registration requirements or compliance with MTARA professional standards.

Complaints and Professional Conduct

MTARA maintains a formal complaints and professional conduct framework to support accountability and maintain confidence in registered practice. Complaints may be lodged in writing by any person regarding an MTARA registrant's professional conduct, scope of practice or compliance with MTARA standards.

On receipt of a complaint, MTARA will determine whether the matter falls within the Association's remit. Where appropriate, MTARA may request a response from the registrant, review relevant information and consider the matter against the applicable registration standards, scope of practice, Code of Practice and professional conduct requirements.

Depending upon the nature and findings of a matter, outcomes may include no further action, professional guidance, required education or remediation, conditions on registration, suspension of registration or removal of MTARA registration.

Any action taken by MTARA relates to the practitioner's MTARA registration and professional recognition.

Where a matter falls within the jurisdiction of another regulatory, statutory, safeguarding or law-enforcement body, it may require referral to or consideration by the appropriate authority.

Our Purpose

MTARA exists to establish a clear professional framework for practitioners whose work is centered on human functioning. Through Functional Capacity Practice and Clinical Functional Rehabilitation, MTARA seeks to strengthen professional standards across Disability, Ageing and Mental Health and provide a clear distinction between practitioners who assess and formulate functional capacity and practitioners who provide direct clinical rehabilitation to address function. The framework recognises that assessment and rehabilitation serve different purposes while forming part of the same broader functional continuum.