A relatively new business based in Ross-on-Wye is the first arts therapy provider to win a prestigious Advancing Healthcare Award. Judged alongside other services which are HCPT registered, such as occupational therapists and dentists, the company is the only one in the country which provides three arts therapies; art, music and drama, nationwide.

Set up in 2013 by Daniel Thomas, a music therapist, Wendy Thomas, a drama therapist and Andrew Bailey, an accountant, Chroma provides work for 40 to 50 associate therapists. Andrew, who is the financial director for Chroma, told the Ross Gazette that they work with a variety of organisations, including schools, local authorities and hospices but increasingly work with solicitors and case managers in cases of head injuries.

He said it can be very difficult work for the therapists but it is also very rewarding. He said, “We aim to elevate their professional status and see the role of Chroma as looking after our clients and our colleagues.”

This is the first award Chroma has received but when they set up the business they knew there was a great need. And although they are a relatively new company they are expanding. Andrew said, “There is a growing awareness that these therapies are a really efficacious way of treating people, they can be a powerful alternative to drugs and make a real difference to people’s lives. There is an increasing awareness of mental health and the need for intervention.

Chroma’s mission is to provide greater access to more therapy for more people.

As the business founders all live in Ross they based their business in the town and, although the award was presented to Jo Godsal and Daniel Thomas, the whole team were at the ceremony to celebrate this achievement.

Jo, the Clinical Services Manager, and Daniel, Managing Director and music therapist, won the Chamberlain Dunn Learning Award for Entrepreneurship for their pioneering work to focus the attention of health service commissioners on the work of arts therapists.

The judges said, “They completely bowled us over by the way they have ensured that the services of arts therapists continue to be provided in a commissioning dominated world. Their organisational and business model gives a powerful voice to clients and therapists and makes it so much easier for commissioners to buy services from arts therapists.”

Jo Shepherd, manager of Chamberlain Dunn Learning added, “Congratulations to Chroma for their achievement in helping to put arts therapies on the map.”