Annual conference 2025: Art therapy and collaboration (in-person ticket)
Join us in person at the Wellcome Collection for our 2025 annual conference, where we’ll be exploring collaboration and art therapy.
Annual conference 2025: Art therapy and collaboration (in-person ticket)
Join us in person at the Wellcome Collection for our 2025 annual conference, where we’ll be exploring collaboration and art therapy.
This page is for in-person tickets. If you’d like to join us online, please see our online tickets.
Conference theme
Together we will consider how art therapists can collaborate with different professions and practitioners and explore recent developments in collaborative practices that continue to shape the field.
At the heart of this conference will be a recognition of the importance of co-production and understanding and championing service user voices. This exciting and evolving approach has deepened the art therapy experience for everyone involved and sits at the core of art therapy values.
Through a rich programme of presentations, the day will offer space to reflect on how art therapists can work collaboratively – considering environment, setting, and shared or overlapping spaces – and offer inspiration for new ways of working together.
Programme
Keynote presentation:
Reconnecting through wool – collaboration, craft, and the senses
Internationally renowned artist Claudy Jongstra will share her vision and practice, exploring the power of collaboration and the profound value of natural materials—particularly wool.
Collaboration: Drivers, directions and dimensions
What does collaboration mean for art therapists? Drawing on examples of innovative practice from around the world alongside their own professional experience, Helen Jury and Ali Coles will explore the drivers, directions and dimensions of collaboration in contemporary art therapy.
‘Love’ is the magic ingredient: Co-researching art therapy with people with learning disabilities using inclusive and creative methods
Nicki Power, Claire Hills-Wilson, and The Lawnmowers Independent Theatre Company’s, five-year partnership is built on trust, shared creativity and honest challenge. Through accessible arts-based inquiry they’ve deepened their co-production relationship, used creativity to disrupt academic barriers, and shaped accessible art therapy research. They will reveal the messy magic of genuine co-production and how it’s changed them all.
Sensory Synergy: Art and occupational therapy in collaboration
Art therapist Catherine Gallagher and occupational therapist Rachel Young demonstrate a unique – if unconventional – synergistic and child-led approach, highlighting the collaborative work between occupational therapy and art therapy. It will show how the theoretical frameworks and practices integrate and complement one another to create an effective intervention.
Parallel sessions
- Welcome! Come in! Giving a voice to unaccompanied asylum seekers through collaborative art therapy, presented by art therapist Clare Miles
- Art-based reflective practice groups for teams – exploring benefits and challenges, presented by art therapist Sue Bulmer
- Joint mirror drawing in art therapy and museums, presented by Dr. Unnur Óttarsdóttir
Why join in person?
The 2025 in-person event will be held at the Wellcome Collection, a free museum and library that aims to challenge how we all think and feel about health. It is a short walk from Euston Station, London. In-person tickets include a light lunch and refreshments throughout the day.
We have listened to your feedback! This year there will be more seating, space and time for networking. The venue has accessible toilets on all floors of the building. There are self-contained cubicles (creating a safe and private space for all genders), accessible toilets with baby-changing facilities and a Changing Places toilet on Level 0.
Doors will open at 9.30am for a 10am start.
Tickets
A limited number of in-person tickets are available. Early booking is advised to avoid disappointment. In-person ticket bookings will close on Friday 17 October 2025, or earlier if tickets sell out. In early October, in-person ticket holders will be invited to complete a Conference Delegate Form to provide dietary and access requirements and a preference for the afternoon parallel session. Please refer to our event terms and conditions or email us at events@baat.org for more information.
Tickets for our annual conference can only be purchased directly from our website.
Employer-funded bookings can be made for in-person or online participation by completing an invoice request form and returning it to events@baat.org. The deadline for employer-funded bookings is Monday, 8th September.
Can’t join us in person? Find out more about our online tickets:
Sponsors
Art therapist awards sponsor Daler-Rowney.
Inspiring Creativity Since 1783. First founded as a pigment company for wigs in the UK, Daler-Rowney has grown into an internationally-renowned fine arts manufacturing company with colours & pigments still at its core. From paint, brushes and surfaces to accessories, luggage and easels, Daler-Rowney produces & sells products for artist of all experience levels.
Frequently asked questions
Bookings for our online Introduction, Foundation, ARTiculate, CPD and Masterclass courses close one week before the start date, at 10.00am.
Joining instructions and materials will be available in your Memberzone, under bookings, once bookings have closed. A reminder email will be sent out to delegates one week before the course.
It is the attendees’ responsibility to check they have access to the joining instructions before the course. Contacting the office on the day or evening before the start date will not always be responded to prior to the course starting.
Employer funded bookings are available for our online Introduction, Foundation, ARTiculate, CPD and Masterclass courses.
These bookings can be made on our website by paying by card at no extra cost. The booking should be made on the delegate’s account as we will need their contact details for the course. If they don’t have an account they can create one for free here. The employer will be required to provide their credit/debit card details to complete the payment. Please also tick the employer funded option at checkout.
If your employer wants to pay by invoice, you will need to complete our Invoice Details Request – Course Booking Form, and return it to us along with a PO number. Please note, we cannot accept the form without a PO number. Please note, there is an additional £20 admin fee for bookings via invoice.
If you need further assistance, please contact us at events@baat.org.
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