Course Overview

This course is designed for experienced artists and professionals who have worked within a clinical setting and would like to build a rewarding career as an art psychotherapist. You will be taught by leading experts who will equip you with the skills, experience, and confidence to work as an art psychotherapist in challenging, yet rewarding environments. Our graduating students are eligible to apply for registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). Registered practitioners work in a variety of different settings including psychiatric hospitals, social services departments, special education, prisons, and the voluntary sector. Our comprehensive program is divided into three areas covering theory, experiential learning, and work placement experience. The theoretical aspect covers child developmental and psychodynamic principles alongside art therapy theory and Jungian analytical psychology. This perspective is located within the larger field of analytical psychotherapy and provides you with an in-depth theoretical underpinning that informs clinical practice.

General Eligibility

• Applicants will normally be required to hold a good degree (second class and above), usually in arts and design. Other disciplines such as psychology, teaching, nursing, the humanities, and graduate level professional qualifications in appropriate disciplines such as Occupational Therapy and Social Work are also considered.

•  Applicants need to evidence that they can meet the academic demands of a Masters degree and will be required to prepare and submit a written personal statement to support their application.

• All candidates must present a portfolio of their art work at interview. For the purposes of online interviewing, we request that the portfolio is uploaded alongside the rest of the application. The art portfolio should demonstrate the applicant's psychological and emotional exploration of self through the art making process. All the plastic arts and electronic media are welcome at the interview. The brief for the portfolio is deliberately vague for applicants to bring their own understanding of what it means to be a practising artist. The portfolio should demonstrate a strong comment to their artistic practice along with a fluidity of self expression within a variety of mediums. International applicants are asked to provide an e-portfolio link within their application form to any appropriate online repository.

• Applicants should demonstrate a maturity of personality and self-awareness compatible with training as a therapist. Applicants need an appropriate degree of psychological mindedness including the capacity to form and maintain appropriate empathic relationships with clients. They should also demonstrate emotional literacy, robustness and an ability to be self-reflective. This is addressed through a combination of assessments, including a health screening form, searchingquestions at interview related to different parts of the training and experiential work. 

Part Time Work Details

20 hours of work permit weekly for international students.

Language Requirement

• English Language Testing System (IELTS) score of at least 7 with no element below 6.5 for applicants for whom English is not their first language.