About us
We understand the importance of art, music, drama, play and movement in offering children a safe way to express their feelings.
Chance Arts is a West London based trust. We engage therapeutically with children and young people experiencing difficult and often traumatic situations.
Our Chance Arts team comprises an exceptional group of experienced practitioners, qualified in the following areas: Dramatherapy, Art Therapy, Music Therapy, Social Work, Therapeutic Music & Play, and Anthropology of Childhood.
Our team practises across West London and have built long-standing connections with numerous schools. We also provide support for significant adults around the children we work with.
Our Psychotherapists run Creative Arts Therapy sessions with individual children and groups of children aged between 4 – 12. We are highly adaptable and continue to work closely with Educational and Social Work teams to provide appropriate, tailormade therapy.
How we’re funded
Chance Arts was financially supported in the early days by a significant Sussex foundation, BBC Children in Need, the National Lottery, as well as private donations.
More recently we have received donations from individuals, grant making trusts and foundations, with major grants from Youth Music and The John Lyon’s Charity for therapeutic group programmes.
Individual therapy programmes are funded through statutory services and other appropriate sources.
Your donations ensure that we can continue to provide high quality therapeutic support to children and young people.
About our founder
In 1991, Dilys Griffiths founded Chance for Children Trust, known as Chance Arts, and now supervises our team of Arts Psychotherapists.
She is a qualified secondary school teacher (London University); Social Worker (registered with Social Work England); has a Masters’ Degree in the Anthropology of Childhood (Brunel University) and has studied Jungian Sandplay Therapy (through the British and Irish Sandplay Society). Dilys is a member of the Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.
During her time in France and the North of England, Dilys has supported children living in residential homes, foster, adoptive and Guardianship homes, and in youth custody. She has experience of all levels of the Courts and legal system with regard to children.
For ten years she led a Graduate Certificate Therapeutic Art and Play course, which was a year’s part-time foundation for post-graduate training in the Arts Therapies at Roehampton University. Subsequently she has worked with Social Work students for five London Universities and currently works at University of East London as a Practice Educator.
About our team
Our registered Psychotherapists have Master’s level qualifications in Art, Music, Drama, Therapeutic Music and Play, and Social Work (Registered with HCPC, UKCP and Social Work England).
We also offer support for families where appropriate and professional staff, including training and CPD courses.
Our trustees are:
Anne Hamerton, Chairman of the Trust
Gillian Hill, Trustee
Justyn Waterman, Trustee
Dilys Griffiths, Secretary to the Trust
We are always looking for more Psychotherapists and Trustees to join our team.