This April has seen the launch of the Health and Care Professions Council’s (HCPC’s) What? Why Hire an Arts Therapist? campaign.

The HCPC is the body who regulates art therapists and many other health professions, to ensure high standards of training, skills, conduct and fitness to practice… this helps keep the profession effective and, well, professional, and ultimately protects members of the public. All practicing art therapists or art psychotherapists should be registered with the HCPC, and the What? campaign aims to promote this statutory regulation amongst employers and the public. If you want to check if a therapist is registered, you can visit here: http://www.hcpc-uk.org

If you’re looking for an art therapist, make sure they are HCPC registered…

Coinciding with this, I was excited to be contacted by BBC Three Counties Radio, whose regular show Shrink Wrapped was featuring and championing the arts therapies.

The Art of Recovery hears from music, drama, and dance movement therapists, as well as people who have been helped by these interventions across Herts, Beds and Bucks. Whilst I sadly wasn’t free to be interviewed about art therapy, I’m happy to say that a client of one of my fellow Hertfordshire-based art therapists was! She does a top job at explaining how it has helped her…

It’s available on iplayer for a few more weeks, so if you’re interested in hearing more about art therapy and its benefits, do check it out: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02nrqwm