About | Wales Arts Therapies professional advisory group

About Wales Arts Therapies Advisory Forum

Wales Arts Therapies Advisory Forum (WATAF) is a professional group representing and promoting the arts therapies professions in Wales. We are a network for Arts Therapists living and/or working in Wales, providing support, resources, and advocacy. Our close links with the Welsh Allied Health Professions Advisory Committee (WAHPAC) enable us to advise the Welsh Government on professional therapeutic issues.

In 1989,

HISTORY OF WATAF

Arts Therapists in Wales realised that a forum was needed to promote contact between professionally registered Arts Therapists living and/or working in Wales, and to enable opportunities and better understanding of the Arts Therapies professions in Wales.

The All Wales Network Committee for Arts Therapies Professions (AWNCATP) was formed initially. 25 years later, in October 2013, the aims and agreed procedures of the group were updated, and the name changed to Wales Arts Therapies Advisory Forum (WATAF) to reflect its now integral role in advising Wales Government, along with its sister forum, WATAF NHS.

WATAF meetings are held three times a year, with a business meeting in the morning, followed by CPD events in the afternoons. Trainee Arts Therapists are welcome at all meetings. The CPD element is open to other professions.

Relationship with the Arts Therapies Professional Associations

BADTh, BAAT, BAMT & ADMP UK have all worked closely with both AWNCATP and WATAF in forming and reviewing aims and agreed procedures. Their continued support enables the forum to fulfil its role, of central importance to the Arts therapies in Wales. Whilst each professional association in Wales have their own meetings and activities, WATAF enables us to act on shared issues and concerns.