Dr Simon Hackett is a Consultant Art Psychotherapist in the NHS and a Senior Clinical Lecturer in Mental Health at Newcastle University. Simon has worked as a art therapist for over 20 years in services for children and adults and leads a team of art, dance-movement, drama, and music therapists.
He has developed national guidelines for art therapists and has written and published widely in journals and books about evidence and research on arts therapies. Simon has an interest how the arts and creativity can help support and improve children's mental health and he is the Arts in Health adviser to the Great North Children's Hospital in Newcastle upon Tyne. In his spare time Simon loves being in the outdoors, whitewater canoeing, swimming in rivers, and trail running. He also runs his local community cinema and annual village winter arts festival in Northumberland.