Working at Association of Child Psychotherapists

The Association of Child Psychotherapists is the main professional body for psychoanalytic child and adolescent psychotherapists in the UK. It is responsible for regulating the training and practice standards for its members and registering its members on a publicly accessible register, accredited by the Professional Standards Authority. Established in 1949, it has around 900 members working in the UK and abroad. Most of its members work in NHS settings but there are now increasing numbers in private practice.

Child and adolescent psychotherapists who have qualified at one of the ACP’s five recognised training schools are eligible for full membership of the ACP, which enables them to work with children in a range of settings.

The ACP is largely run by its members. It has recently gone through an organisational restructure in which it has become a private company limited by guarantee. It has a Board of Directors, consisting of six elected ACP members as Executive Directors, one of whom is the Chair, and two child psychotherapists and three lay members as Non-Executive Directors. There are now five directorates: Professional Standards, Training Council, Scientific Development, Operations and Liaison and Media and Communications.

The ACP has two main functions: one is to protect the public through its regulation of practice and standards and the other is to promote the profession and the work of child and adolescent psychotherapists. It has always run an annual conference and is beginning to develop a programme of events for members and the public. It publishes three termly Bulletins, sends out a monthly newsletter and publishes a termly International Journal.

The ACP opposes any discrimination of any kind. This includes, but is not limited to, any discrimination on the basis of age, race, gender, ethnic origin, religious belief or sexual orientation.