ATMS was founded in 1984 and is an incorporated not-for-profit company with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ABN 46 002 844 233). As at early July 2006, ATMS had 10,601 financial members.

ATMS is governed by the Executive Board of Directors, and has four main national committees. The Departments of Massage Therapy, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Homeopathy, Naturopathic Nutrition, Naturopathy and Western Herbal Medicine were established to address the specific needs of practitioners in these disciplines.

ATMS is the only complementary medicine association represented on two Commonwealth statutory committees.