MA Art Therapy
Why choose this course?
- Successfully completing this course will mean that you are eligible to apply for professional registration as an art therapist with the Health and Care Professions Council.
- This course reinforces the centrality of the image and the role of the imagination in the practice of art therapy.
- You will develop the professional skills you'll need to work in clinical environments.
- A major part of the course is the Independent Scholarship, which will help you to integrate your learning from all areas of the course and develop your clinical reasoning and professional identity.
Fact file
Start date: September
Course length: full time: two years
Campus: Britannia Mill, Derby
This course is available to international students
About this course
This course will give you experience of clinical art therapy practice and supervision, as well as closed groupwork and current theory. You'll also have the opportunity to improve your technical art skills through studio work and explore your potential for self expression and communication through image making.
You'll have a personal tutor, who will monitor your overall progress. As well as the taught components of the course, you'll take part in clinical placements and personal therapy as this is a requirement for professional registration. This is a private arrangement and the cost is not included in the fees, although individual or group therapy is acceptable.
You'll take part in a closed art therapy group led by a state registered art therapist and deepen your understanding and relationship with your art form through your studio work. You'll study the nature of human development and health and disability in art therapy as part of your development to relate theory and research to practice. While you're doing your clinical placements you'll be supervised by an appropriate therapist and also attend a reflective practice group, which will be led by a state registered art therapist.
You'll take part in personal therapy, for a minimum of one hour each week throughout the course, to meet the professional registration requirements. This can be either individual or group therapy.
Your assessments will be through written assignments, verbal presentations, production of artwork and reports based on your performance in the clinical settings.
PG Certificate level
This course gives you the experience of a closed art therapy group led by a State Registered Art Therapist. Studio work will deepen your understanding and relationship with your art form. You'll study the nature of human development and health and disability in art therapy as part of the Arts Therapies Theory and Research in Relation to Practice One module. In the clinical setting you'll be supervised by an appropriate therapist and you'll need to attend a reflective practice group at the University which is facilitated by a State Registered Art Therapist.
PG Diploma level
You'll study evidence based practice and research methodologies as part of the Arts Therapies Theory and Research in Relation to Practice Two module. You'll also undertake a larger block of clinical placement in an appropriate setting.
MA level
You'll undertake a period of independent scholarship where you'll produce a body of artwork exploring an appropriate area of enquiry.
What you will cover
What you’ll study
You’ll study these modules:
- Art Therapy Clinical Placement 1 (20 credits)
- Art Therapy Experiential Group (20 credits)
- Art Therapy Studio (20 credits)
- Arts Therapies Theory and Research in Relation to Practice 1 (20 credits)
Art Therapy Clinical Placement 2 (20 credits) - Arts Therapies Independent Scholarship (60 credits)
- Arts Therapies Theory and Research in Relation to Practice 2 (20 credits)
Entry requirements
You need to have completed an undergraduate degree, either:
- BA (Hons) Creative Expressive Therapies
- a degree in the visual arts, or
- an undergraduate degree in other related areas, such as psychology, occupational therapy, social work, nursing and have a sound current folio of artwork.
You'll also need:
- around one year's full time (or equivalent) relevant work experience which may be voluntary work.
- to be able to show you've got sufficient life experience and emotional maturity, as well as having the intellectual capacity, to cope with the demands of the course.
- if you're first language is not English, you'll need to have IELTS 7.0 or equivalent.
You'll normally go through a selection and interview process. This will usually include an individual interview and discussion of a portfolio of your artwork, which you will be required to bring to demonstrate the development of your work over a period of time. Your portfolio should have no more than 10 completed images and one sketch book. The work needs to be your own personal work, i.e. not client work or work produced though facilitation of others. Where possible actual images need to be brought, although if this is not possible then photographs will be accepted. If you are an international student and you are required to send a portfolio with your application, please be aware that your portfolio will not be able to be returned. Therefore please ensure that no original artwork is sent. You will also participate in a brief art therapy workshop facilitated by a member of staff who is also a State Registered Art Therapist. If you are offered a place on the course you will be required to pay a deposit of £250 in order to secure your place.
A large component of the course involves work with clients and therefore a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is required at the point of accepting a place at the University. The Disclosure and Barring Service was established when the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) merged in 2012 and will now provide the criminal records checking service for this programme.
Experience of having undergone personal therapy is desirable (though not essential).
Your application should include a CV and one A4 sheet (maximum) outlining why you wish to complete the professional training and elaborating on what qualities and skills you feel you have to offer and the kind of ideas which presently inform your thinking about art therapy.
How to apply
UK/EU students
- Students should apply directly to the University.
International students
- Students should apply directly to the University.
Information for international applicants
Fees and finance
This is a resource intensive course.
UK/EU students
- £755 per module (you usually take 9 of these modules in total)
International students
- Full time: £10,760 (in total)
*These fees apply if you're starting this course between September 2013 and August 2014. We recommend you check fee details with us though, as they can change. Costs can increase each year.
How you will learn
How you're assessed
Assessment is both practical and written - there are no exams. Usually, assessment is through written assignments, reflective journals, facilitation exercises, artwork and reports based on performance in the clinical setting. However, you'll receive clear guidelines at the start of each module, about how you'll be assessed in that module.
Careers and employability
The programme can lead you to a career in areas like mental health, education, the prison service, social services and the voluntary sector, as well as in private practice, and increasingly, in business.
If you successfully complete the Masters degree in Art Therapy, you will be eligible to apply for professional registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).
