MA Art Psychotherapy

You will participate in infant or child observation, providing you with a strong grounding in human development and observational skills that will inform the rest of your studies. You will benefit from the use of the bespoke facilities on campus to support your learning and further develop your creative skills and art form.

Experiential group, supervision groups and other course components, talks and discussions will provide an insight into the principles, practices and application of Art Psychotherapy.

Each year students will complete 60 credits.

Year One: Art Psychotherapy 

Module: Theory and Practice of Art Psychotherapy, incorporating:

• Infant or child observation
• Seminars and workshops with highly experiential and participatory content relating to study of theories and concepts relevant to Art Psychotherapy practice and the arts therapies in general
• Study of a range of client groups
• Modality specific experiential groups
• Group supervision
• Placement in a University-approved setting

Module: Art Psychotherapy Skills 1, incorporating:

• Role play and video recording of peer practice
• Study of generic and specialist Art Psychotherapy skills

Year Two: Art Psychotherapy

You will begin to explore evidence based Art Psychotherapy practice and therapeutic approaches to meet the needs of diverse populations and client groups and settings.

You will further develop your specialist Art Psychotherapy skills and continue to learn through experiential group, supervision groups, workshops, lectures, show cases and participatory teaching.

Module: Therapeutic Approaches and Evidence Based Practice, incorporating:

• Lectures, seminars and workshops pertaining to specialist Art Psychotherapy practice
• Group supervision
• Modality specific experiential groups
• Introduction to research methods
• One-day placement in a University-approved clinical setting

Module: Art Psychotherapy Skills 2, incorporating:

• Role play, facilitation and video recording of peer practice
• Study of advanced specialist Art Psychotherapy skills

Year Three: Art Psychotherapy

You will continue to learn and increasingly facilitate peer learning, through group supervision, experiential groups and practice based research. You will undertake an independent study of a specialist subject relevant to the Art Psychotherapy practice and complete a research project of your choice.

Support is provided through dissertation and research supervision, tutorials, peer discussion and presentations.

Module: Art Psychotherapy Research and Practice

• Research methods and research project
• Seminars, lectures and workshops with focus on specialist Art Psychotherapy practice (including working in multidisciplinary, innovative and non-traditional settings) and research
• One or two-day placement in a University-approved clinical setting
• Group supervision
• Modality specific experiential groups

Please note: it is a course requirement that you are in weekly therapy for the duration of the course. Read our Guide to Studying Art Psychotherapy for more information.

You will study through classroom teaching, presentations, clinical placement, professional development, exhibitions, dissertation, self-directed and independent study and viva voce assessment.

• Year One: One day per week at university, a Monday; in the second semester (January), this will change to one day at university and one day at placement
• Year Two: One day at university, a Tuesday, and one day at placement
• Year Three: One or two days at placement (depending on the requirements of individual placements) and one day on campus, a Wednesday

Summative assessment will take the form of course assignments, presentations, examinations, projects, and dissertation. These assessments will make use of, for example, case studies, workplace investigations, experiential learning in university and placements, literature searches and the outputs to be assessed will include written reports, verbal presentations, essays and portfolios of evidence/work.

Formative assessment will be collated from placement providers via placement report and student self-assessment, course staff and group leaders in form of group supervision report, accumulative feedback from classroom and peer feedback.

• An undergraduate degree or an equivalent professional qualification and extensive experience in a related field.
• Two references uploaded with your application providing referee details alone is not sufficient.*
• An Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check on the Child & Adult Workforce and Child and Adult Barring Lists and subscription to the DBS Update Service. (Overseas equivalent required for non-uk applicants)**
• One year's full time (or equivalent) relevant experience which may include paid or voluntary work and experience gained through caring responsibilities in your personal life.
• Ability to provide evidence of sufficient life experience, intellectual and emotional capacity to cope with the demands of the course.
• A current and ongoing arts practice, including the use of art for personal expression of thoughts and feelings
• If your first language is not English, you'll need to have achieved either IELTS or TOEFL as stipulated by the HCPC at the point of application. For IELTS we require 7.0 with a minimum of 6.5 in each band. For TOEFL (IBT) we require 100/120 with a minimum of 24 in Reading and Writing, and a minimum of 25 in Speaking and Listening. Please upload this as part of your application.

*The references must be uploaded on letter headed paper, if this is not available the referee can send them direct from a professional/work email address to [email protected]

**Please note any disclosed police record will be assessed in line with the USW Fitness to Practice process and the requirements of HCPC, to check the potential of successful professional registration with the Regulator upon graduation from the course.

 Please read our Guide to studying Art Psychotherapy for more detailed information.

We do not accept deferred applications for the MA Art Psychotherapy

Application Deadline

Applications for 2022 will open in September 2021, complete applications need to be submitted by the 30th June 2022. Applications submitted after this date will be considered on an individual basis should places remain.

Interview
Artistic portfolio required. Tutors will explain the course content and you will be given the opportunity to ask us questions in addition to us assessing your suitability for the course. We will wish to explore the professional experience you can bring to the programme and expect all applicants to be able to discuss and evidence their experience.

If you are selected to attend an interview we will contact you by e-mail to make a booking. This is a very popular course and we receive more applications than we have places.  Therefore, if you are selected to attend an interview we would strongly advise that you book yourself onto the earliest interview date to avoid disappointment as interview dates/spaces are limited.

Interview Dates for 2022

25th of April

26th of April

27th of April

14th of June

You are eligible to apply for professional UK HCPC (Health and Care Professions Council) registration on successful completion of the Masters course. Graduates of this MA Art Psychotherapy course can go on to private practice after two years full-time/four years part-time supervised practice, or into employment in settings including NHS psychiatric and other hospitals, Social Services departments, education settings including special education, the criminal justice system, the voluntary sector and community projects.

Graduates can also progress to a PhD or research degree, or career routes in higher education teaching and clinical supervision. For more information on careers for art therapy / art psychotherapists visit The British Association of Art Therapists website.