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CCTN

 
The Children’s Complementary Therapy Network (CCTN) is based in the UK and was established in 2003. The main aim is to support the use of CAM therapies in children by providing a platform for training, education and clinical practice. The CCTN is supported by Freshwinds Charity and sits within the charity’s Integrated Medicine Project (www.freshwinds.org.uk/cms/?page=integrated-medicine). The project offers integrated medicine care for adults and children experiencing life-threatening and life-limiting health conditions.  CCTN Membership is FREE and currently has more than 350 members spread across the UK, Europe, Asia, Canada and the USA. These include complementary therapists, doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, teachers, researchers and service developers.
 
Aims of the network are:
  1. Enable therapists, clinicians and other professionals working with children to share and learn from each others experiences and knowledge.
  2. Provide opportunities for education and learning, geared towards working with children.
  3. Develop guidelines for working with children.
  4. Develop appropriate information resources on therapies for children and families to read.
  5. Encourage coordinated evaluation and research about complementary therapies and children.
The development of the CCTN was through the recognition that children are not little adults and therefore the use of CAM must be honoured in the same manner. This is especially vital in light of its increasing use by parents for their children. The network focuses on promoting education and clinical practice and members are able to take advantage of a range of opportunities such as, member’s discussion/chat rooms, e-mail updates on events and information, information on the CCTN website and CCTN conferences. 
 
Since 2003 the CCTN has organized Paediatric CAM conferences at Birmingham Children’s Hospital in areas of Palliative care, asthma, eczema, cerebral palsy, autism and the development and models of integrated services. In 2008 the Network also launched the ‘Tell your Doctor’ Poster campaign encouraging parents to discuss the use of CAM therapies with their child’s healthcare professional. This was achieved working in collaboration with its CAM paediatric network partner PedCAM (Canada) and the International Paediatric Integrated Medicine Network (USA).  These posters are continuing to be disseminated widely in places such as GP surgeries, Hospitals, Hospices etc. Additional working links include IPC (USA), NIKIM (Netherlands), IPROS (Israel), RCCM (UK) and others, as well as local and national links in the UK. Other activities have included a network wide evaluation of use of CAM therapies in Autism and the development of Post graduate education in Paediatric Integrated Medicine. CCTN is wholly supported through grant funding. For more information on the CCTN, its activities or if you would like to join, please visit our website, http://cctn.freshwinds.org.uk. Or e-mail: cctn@freshwinds.org.uk
CCTN, Freshwinds, Prospect Hall, 12 College Walk, Selly Oak, Birmingham. B29 6LE, UK. Tel: +44(121) 4156670.