Association of Child Psychotherapists

What Association of Child Psychotherapists does

The Association of Child Psychotherapists (ACP), founded in 1949 and incorporated as The Association of Child Psychotherapists Ltd (company number 9747239), is the UK Professional Standards Authority (PSA)-accredited register and primary professional body for child and adolescent psychotherapists. Headquartered at 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, the organisation has over 900 members practising in the UK and abroad, all of whom have completed a minimum four-year NHS-based clinical training in psychoanalytic child and adolescent psychotherapy.

ACP's core offerings consist of the accredited practitioner register (used by families and commissioners to verify credentials), professional standards services (registration, CPD enforcement, disciplinary procedures), regulation of five approved training schools across the UK (including Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, Northern School, Human Development Scotland, Birmingham Trust, and a UCL/BPF/Anna Freud Centre consortium), the Journal of Child Psychotherapy, and the annual ACP Conference. The organisation also maintains public-facing educational resources for families and practitioners and runs a 'Find a Child Psychotherapist' directory. Underlying technology is clinical and procedural — a credentialing and training-oversight infrastructure rather than a software platform.

Revenue is generated through annual membership subscription fees across multiple member categories, conference attendance fees (tiered from £45 trainee online to £260 standard in-person), training-related fees flowing through the accredited school network, and ancillary publication income. The go-to-market motion is membership-led: practitioners enter the register through completion of an ACP-regulated training programme, renew annually, and complete CPD requirements to remain on the register. ACP's customer base is structurally distributed across individual practitioner-members, with NHS CAMHS services and families acting as downstream beneficiaries rather than direct paying customers.

Name

Association of Child Psychotherapists

Legal name

The Association of Child Psychotherapists Ltd

Website

https://childpsychotherapy.org.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1949

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Association of Child Psychotherapists is the UK Professional Standards Authority-accredited register and professional body for child and adolescent psychotherapists, serving 900+ members who have completed a four-year NHS-based psychoanalytic training, and providing families, NHS services, and the public with verified practitioner credentials.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Professional Membership Services

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710), Child and Youth Services (624110)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYEDACAKAH

Training & Credential Compliance Tracking (PD registry alignment)

Education/Early Childhood Education/ECE Licensing, Compliance & Quality Rating Services

Keywords

• Child psychotherapy
• Professional membership
• Psychotherapy training
• Mental health services
• Professional accreditation

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Professional Membership Fees: Annual membership fees from Full Members, Trainee Members, Overseas Members, and other categories. Members must renew annually and complete CPD requirements.
2. Conference Fees: Annual conference revenue with tiered pricing for qualified members, trainees, and early bird rates. 2026 conference: Standard £260, Trainee £145, Early Bird £225, Online Only £95.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The Association of Child Psychotherapists (ACP) is the UK professional body and accredited register for Child and Adolescent Psychotherapists, established in 1949. It operates a PSA-accredited register of qualified practitioners, accredits five child psychotherapy training schools, enforces professional standards and CPD requirements, runs an annual conference, and publishes the Journal of Child Psychotherapy. It also maintains a public-facing directory that connects families seeking treatment with registered child psychotherapists.

Product overview

The Association of Child Psychotherapists (ACP) is the professional body and accredited register for Child and Adolescent Psychotherapists in the UK, established in 1949 with over 900 members. The organization operates as a single unified professional association rather than a platform-plus-modules architecture. Its core offerings include the PSA-accredited ACP Register for verifying qualified practitioners, a four-year regulated training program across five UK training schools, professional standards services (registration, CPD, disciplinary procedures), and the Journal of Child Psychotherapy publication. The ACP also provides resources for families and professionals, organizes the annual ACP Conference, and implements the ACP Strategy 2021-2030 for promoting good mental health and setting professional standards.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Professional Membership Annual registration and membership program for Full Members, Trainee Members, and Overseas Members, including CPD requirements and access to professional standards oversight.
• Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy Training Accreditation ACP-regulated four-year clinical training program in psychoanalytic child and adolescent psychotherapy, delivered through five accredited training schools across the UK (including Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, Northern School, Birmingham Trust for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, Human Development Scotland, and the Independent Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy Training at UCL/BPF/Anna Freud Centre).
• ACP Annual Conference Annual professional conference bringing together ACP members and child psychotherapists for education, reflection, and networking on vulnerable children and family support topics. Tiered pricing available for qualified members, trainees, and online-only attendees.
• Journal of Child Psychotherapy Peer-reviewed academic journal published by ACP covering research, theory, and clinical practice in child and adolescent psychotherapy.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 900 members working across UK and internationally

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• The Northern School for Child and Adolescent PsychotherapycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerACP regulates and accredits this training institution providing clinical training in child and adolescent psychotherapy. Training takes four years and involves rigorous theoretical teaching and clinical placement within NHS CAMHS.
• Human Development ScotlandcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerACP-accredited training school for child and adolescent psychoanalytic psychotherapy in Scotland. Part of the five regulated UK training institutions.
• Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation TrustcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerACP-accredited training institution offering child and adolescent psychoanalytic psychotherapy training. Also offers M7 infant observation course and Perinatal, Child, Adolescent and Family Work MA in Belfast.
• British Psychotherapy Foundation (BPF)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in Independent Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy Training along with UCL and Anna Freud Centre. Also offers Psychodynamic/Psychoanalytic Parent-Infant Psychotherapy training for ACP qualified members.
• Birmingham Trust for Psychoanalytic PsychotherapycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerACP-accredited training school for child and adolescent psychotherapy. One of five regulated training institutions across the UK.
• Professional Standards Authority (PSA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerACP register is accredited by the PSA, which protects the public by overseeing registers of practitioners not covered by statutory regulation. PSA accreditation confirms ACP meets its standards for registration.
• UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerACP joined UKCP and over 45 organizations in signing a letter to NICE calling for urgent review of the anxiety guideline. Coalition addresses concerns about guideline being outdated, inadequate for equity, and limiting patient choice.
• Anna Freud CentrecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in Independent Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy Training along with UCL and BPF. Part of the network of ACP-accredited training institutions.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Place2Be: Place2Be is a UK children's mental health charity providing counselling in schools, overlapping with ACP's mission of supporting child mental health. It is comparable as a UK child mental health organization that families and schools engage with.
• Anna Freud Centre: Anna Freud Centre is a partner in the Independent Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy Training consortium (with UCL and BPF) and a major UK child mental health research and training provider. It is comparable as a child-focused mental health training and policy organization.
• Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust: Tavistock and Portman is one of ACP's five accredited training schools and a leading provider of NHS child and adolescent psychotherapy training in the UK. It is both a partner and a related provider in the same therapeutic training market.

Direct peers

• UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP): UKCP is the UK's leading umbrella body for psychotherapists, holding a PSA-accredited register across multiple modalities. ACP and UKCP regularly sign joint coalition letters and both function as PSA-accredited professional membership organizations for psychotherapists in the UK.
• British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC): BPC is the UK professional body and PSA-accredited register for psychoanalytic and psychodynamic practitioners across adult and child work. It is the closest modality-adjacent peer to ACP and competes for the same psychoanalytic training pathway memberships.
• British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP): BACP is the largest UK membership body for counsellors and psychotherapists and holds PSA accreditation. It serves overlapping practitioner and family-seeking-therapist use cases and competes for the same public-facing register and training accreditation mindshare.

Others

• Charlie Waller Trust: Charlie Waller Trust is a UK charity focused on young people's mental health, training and resources for professionals. It is comparable to ACP's training, resources, and policy work for child and adolescent mental health professionals.
• National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO): NCVO provides governance, compliance, and operational support to UK membership bodies and charities. It is comparable as an infrastructure and best-practice reference for the governance side of ACP's professional body operations.

Broad incumbents

• British Psychological Society (BPS): BPS is the UK's chartered professional body for psychologists, with a much wider scope than ACP, including clinical, educational, and child psychology. It is comparable as a UK-based professional membership body with a register and accreditation functions.
• Royal College of Psychiatrists: The Royal College of Psychiatrists is the main professional body for psychiatrists in the UK, including child and adolescent psychiatry. It overlaps with ACP in the child mental health workforce but operates at a much broader medical specialty level.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/ACPtherapy
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/association-of-child-psychotherapists
• Instagraminstagram.com/childpsychotherapists
• Xx.com/acptherapy

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Association of Child Psychotherapists