UNITED KINGDOM
BA Fine Arts (Sculpture), Diploma Group Psychotherapy, MA Art Therapy, MA Organisational Consultancy, PhD in Psychology
Val qualified as an Art Therapist in 1986. She later trained as a Group Psychotherapist and Organisational Consultant and completed a PhD on art therapy groups for work-related stress. Currently, she is involved in several research projects, including a Randomized Control Trial on Arts Therapies Groups for people with mixed diagnoses and a pilot of online art therapy groups for people with chronic pain.
Val was the Chief Executive Officer of the British Association of Art Therapists from 2003 to 2021. She is co-director of the Oxford College of Arts & Therapies, an online training organisation. She is Visiting Professor on the MA in Art Therapy at the University of Hertfordshire and on the MSc in Art Psychotherapy at Ulster University. She is the Honorary President of the International Association for Creative Arts in Education and Therapies (IACAET) and Trustee of the Adamson Collection Trust.
Val works closely with arts in health organisation as a freelance researcher and lectures internationally. She has been a lifelong passionate advocate of art therapy and continues to share her enthusiasm and passion for her profession.