Course description

• ‌The course is approved and accredited by the Health and Care Professions Council, and recognised by the British Association of Art Therapists.
• 100% of students agreed that this course is intellectually stimulating in the Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey, 2023.
• Graduate with the eligibility to apply for professional registration as an art therapist or art psychotherapist with the Health and Care Professions Council, as long as you meet the HCPC’s requirements.
• Become eligible to apply for full membership of the British Association of Art Therapists.
• Gain first-hand, practical experience of clinical art therapy practice.
• Develop your clinical reasoning and professional identity, and integrate your learning from all areas of the course through Independent Scholarship
• See some examples of the imagery our students created as part of their independent scholarship that formed the MA Art Therapy Exhibition 2020; and imagery from our MA in Art Therapy annual environment sculpture project - Big Wood.

The course reinforces the centrality of the image and the role of the imagination in the practice of art therapy. It will give you experience of clinical art therapy practice under supervision, as well as experience of group work, studio practice and a critical understanding of current theoretical ideas.

During the course you’ll have a personal tutor who will monitor your overall progress. As well as the taught components of the course, you’ll also need to engage in personal therapy for a minimum of one hour a week throughout the training; this is a requirement for professional registration (please note that this is at your own cost). This will be individual therapy, where you will be required to work with an Art Psychotherapist.

Professional registration

The course aims to enable you to become eligible to apply for professional registration as an art therapist or art psychotherapist with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), as long as you meet the HCPC’s requirements.

Attendance requirements

Clinical placement

In addition to attendance at the University, you will also be required to undertake two periods of clinical placement. The first of these commences in January, during the first year of the course. This comprises attendance on placement for two days a week for 25 weeks. The days you attend placement are negotiated between you and the placement provider. The second period of placement runs throughout the second year of the course starting in September and requires two days a week attendance, for 35 weeks.

Develop your clinical and research skills

You will have the opportunity to further develop your research and clinical understanding through Theory and Research Modules in first and second year.

A fundamental part of the course is the Independent Scholarship, which will provide you with an opportunity to integrate your learning through conducting an arts based piece of research. This aims to assist you in developing your clinical reasoning and professional identity.

"What is offered within this course is carefully considered and thought about in order to guide trainees to develop and playfully interrogate what they know and assume. It has allowed me the space and time to develop my understanding of my own art practise and be able to use this knowledge to approach working clinically with care and confidence in sitting with the unknown and helping clients to do the same. It has been transformative and I will look back on the last two years as a crucial point in my education."

James Ventre, MA Art Therapy graduate