Advanced Diploma/ Postgraduate Certificate in the Therapeutic Arts (University validated)

Overview

An extraordinary, often life changing, training on the use of the arts in therapy. It brings together the integration of seven art forms with the spoken word, which powerfully brings access to the world of the unconscious. Students experience this for themselves in order to feel confident in being able to facilitate others. The experiential part of the course is supported by fascinating psychoanalytic and psychotherapeutic theory on the human condition, the impact of painful life experience on brain, mind and body and research on transformational change. The training is also the entry requirement for the clinical trainings. There is weekly personal therapy from the start of the training programme (minimum 40 hours).

What qualification will I obtain on completion?

Postgraduate Certificate in the Therapeutic Application of the Arts (UEL validated) or;
Advanced Diploma in the Application of the Arts (Institute for Arts in Therapy and Education validated).

Employment opportunities and pathways

This course facilitates progress to our clinical trainings which in turn lead to employment opportunities in counselling and psychotherapy in the NHS, private practice and the third sector.

“To be a student at IATE is to experience a whole new world of emotional expression; unlocking the dormant potential that exists within. Learning the language of movement and the Arts, to spontaneously express the emotional wealth held inside and to begin the process of finding the real me, is a life changing experience to be cherished. It’s not to be missed.”

Clive Bowring
Postgraduate Certificate/Advanced Diploma in the Therapeutic Arts

Course content

Practical sessions and clinicals skills practice (75% of course content)

• The therapeutic application of: Art, Clay, Drama, Poetry, Sandplay, Music, Dance/Movement and Bodywork.
• Working with the arts as collaborative sense-making to address mental health issues.
• Core competencies in psychotherapy using the arts.
• Key facilitation techniques for trauma recovery using the arts.
• Empathy, active listening and imagining in.
• Working with image, symbol, metaphor to access the creative unconscious and alleviate core pain.
• Self-supervision techniques using the arts.
• Key relational skills in arts psychotherapy.
• Working with difference and diversity in psychotherapy.
• Group process and group dynamics.

Integrative Theoretical Perspectives (25% of course content)

• The role of the arts in communication and transformational change: Integrative theoretical perspectives.
• Art as medicine: different theoretical perspectives.
• Psychoanalytic, Integrative, and contextual perspectives on the human condition.
• The neuroscience and psychology of mental health and ill-health/ trauma and trauma recovery.
• Panksepp’s genetically ingrained emotional systems in the brain.
• Attachment theory in relation to relational wellness and unwellness.
• Theories of mind and theories of transformational change/ alleviation of mental health problems.
• Child development and preventing intergenerational transfer.
• The centrality of working with emotion to change emotion (emotion focused therapy).
• Transactional Analysis.
• Gestalt Psychotherapy Theory.
• Mentalization-based interventions.
• Dyadic Development Psychotherapy.

Entry requirements

• Anyone can apply for the IATE Advanced Diploma.
• The University validated Postgraduate certificate requires a first degree but APL (Assessment of Prior Learning) can be submitted to the Academic Registrar.
• Applicants must demonstrate an active interest in becoming a psychotherapist or counsellor and the commitment this entails in terms of time and education.

Personal qualities needed

• Warmth, openness and ability to take feedback non-defensively.
• Empathic therapeutic presence.
• Self-awareness and capacity for introspection.
• The ability to stay stable under stress.
• The ability to create with ease both mental and artistic images. 

Fees

Thursday/Friday (one year): £8,200.00
Weekend (two years): £8,200.00

Additional costs:

• University registration fee (if choosing the University route).
• Personal therapy

Please see our Fees page for full details.

 Attendance

Either one day a week attendance (Thursday or Friday) for one year or two years over weekend days. Weekly personal therapy from the start of the training programme (minimum 40 hours).

Course start/end dates

September – July.

Diversity Bursary

This course is currently eligible to receive bursary funding from IATE. NB. this will only cover the student’s first year, the clinical trainings will need to be self-funded.

Please see our Bursary page for full details.