Eleven reasons why play therapy courses accredited by Play Therapy International (PTI)
in Ireland and run by APAC are so successful and are the best value.
Comprehensive
The programme is the most
comprehensive play therapy training course available anywhere. Its
theoretical framework is integrative holistic. It is based on
non-directive principles but integrates directive working where
appropriate. You will be working with both the conscious and unconscious
processes of the child.
The programme has not been designed on the basis of one or two
trainers' opinions. It is built around the competencies required to be a
safe and effective practitioner, as specified by an international
panel of experienced practitioners and subsequently validated by
research. They are updated regularly, recently for example, to include a
knowledge of neuroscience research and its application to play therapy.
The 'Tool-Kit
TM method that is taught will enable you to work with all dimensions of the
holistic child: physical, communication, understanding, social
relations, emotional, moral/spiritual, creativity and caring for self.
It also integrates psychological theory with neuroscience research.
Your impact on the children
is more likely to have a lasting benefit, rather than a purely short
term effect, which usually results from ad hoc training.
You will become highly
skilled able to cope with a wide range of children's emotional,
behaviour and mental health difficulties.
You will learn more play therapy modalities and use of different
creative arts media than on any other course.
The programme is also the
most comprehensive, in the world, in terms of the techniques that are
taught at Certificate and Diploma levels. The 'Tool-Kit
TM'
includes: art & drawing, clay, creative visualisation, dramatic role
play, masks, movement, music, puppets, sand tray, therapeutic
story-telling
One of the most important
principles of non-directive play therapy is that it is child led with
the therapist following and communicating using the child's chosen
medium. You will be able to offer the children a wide range of creative
and play activities. It is extremely unlikely that you will be
'stumped', with the wide range of media that you will learn and have
available.
Balanced content
The course contains the
optimum balance of theoretical, practical and experiential work that is
needed for safe and effective practice. There is as little theory as
possible but as much as necessary.
You should be able to feel
fully confident about tackling any issue, problem or action in the
play-room that you are likely to encounter. And you can reflect using
your theoretical knowledge, after the sessions.
Most potential course
members wish to become practitioners first and theorist secondly. The
course enables this right from the beginning by providing the skills and
techniques without over burdening participants with theory.
Employers are interested in
what applicants can do in terms of helping the children - the
competencies, skills and experience - rather than what theoretical
knowledge they possess...
Coherent courses
The PTI/APAC training programme are fully coherent courses - they are
not a series of disjointed ad hoc events. Each course is coherent
within itself and within the overall programme. The Certificate course
enables participants to work with individual children who have problems
of slight, mild and moderate severity. The Diploma enables participants
to work with children who have severe problems and also with groups of
children. There is a natural progression from the first module, which
provides sufficient skills to start working therapeutically with
children.
The programme provides all
the skills that you need to work successfully. You will not need any
other course. You can get off to a fast start. You will be able to
start working therapeutically with children as soon as you have
successfully completed the first module.
A consistent course
The PTI/APAC programme is consistent across the world. The same
course content, faculty, learning and assessment methods are used in
every location.
Employers will know that
wherever an applicant has completed PTI training there is a consistent
standard.
This provides every
participant with flexibility in the choice of location of the training.
Someone who has completed the Certificate in Ireland could complete
the Diploma in France or the UK, knowing that all other participants
will have received the same training at the Certificate level.
Addresses the key aspects of safe and effective
practice
One of the most distinctive
features of the programme is the high proportion of experiential work.
These exercises go deeper into process than scenario based role playing.
You will understand the processes of the children by undertaking the
same experiences yourself - this is essential for safe and effective
practice.
Unlike some other courses,
personal therapy is not required, unless a participant finds
difficulties in coping with their issues or being unable to practise
safely with the children.
Although it is a training
course, not a therapy group, all participants will undergo considerable
personal development due to the exercises and the support provided by
the tutors, most of whom are experienced psychotherapists or
counsellors.
You will be able to build
effective therapeutic relationships because you will be equipped with an
understanding of how and why the children feel during therapy sessions.
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The PTI/APAC programmes
employ a variety learning methods: presentations; seminars; tutorials;
practical exercises; experiential exercises and above all supervised
practice.
We believe that
participants should be able to put into practice, which is closely
monitored, what they have learnt. In this way they will soon realise
what else they need to know. Problems encountered in practice may be
discussed with both the teaching staff and peers.
- You'll learn more quickly
- You'll be putting what you learn into practice immediately
- You'll be able to learn safely from your initial mistakes
- By the end of the course - you'll already have good clinical experience, not just about to start
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The APAC play therapy training programme is the only one worldwide,
validated by continuous practice based research. The clinical
outcomes of course participants' work are carefully measured. At
present the results of the research, based on over 700 children, show
that 70% of the children who have received play therapy from APAC
trained students show a positive change.
- This should give you confidence that your training will enable you to obtain very good
outcomes from your practice. No other course can provide this.
- It will add substance to your CV/Resume.
- This gives the course the highest credibility with employers and clients.
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It is important, for credibility, that
professional courses are validated for academic quality by Canterbury Christ Church University,
England,. which have been approved by the
Irish NQAI as being aligned with Irish university awards.
Academic validation is provided by the Health Faculty of a
British university. The Post Graduate Certificate, Diploma and MA in
Practice Based Play Therapy courses are validated for academic quality
by Canterbury Christ Church University, England.
Many employers look
favourably upon the holders of university degrees and awards. Successful participants
receive University awards. Each course completed provides 60 'M' points.
Clinical accreditation - has been obtained by APAC
through the International Board of Examiners of Certified Play
Therapists (IBCEPT) based on the international standards of play therapy
competencies and training course quality evaluation. The Diploma
course held at Fern Hill in England has also been accredited by the
British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, the only play
therapy course to have achieved this recognition. This ensures
that the quality of the courses matches that of other counselling and
psychotherapy courses.
Whereas non-accredited
courses may give you some knowledge,
they will not usually be recognised
by employers or clients. Accreditation of a course ensures that
your time and money is not wasted. Endorsement by independent
organisations is one of the measures of the quality of the course.
It makes it easier to get
work. Any potential employer should recognise the quality of your
training as being endorsed by independent and respected professional
bodies.
It should give you
confidence in your training because you are assured that the clinical
content of the course meets the highest standards of play therapy,
counselling and psychotherapy practice.
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The programme will enable you to develop your career by building on
your existing skills and experience and open up new opportunities.
It is ideal for three groups of professionals who are already working
with children:
- Counsellors,
psychotherapists, clinical psychologists, psychiatrists and other
mental health professionals who wish to, or are already working
with children. Therapeutic play and the use of creative arts therapies
will extend your existing skills. You will be able to deal with
issues in complementary ways and achieve significant results, as
proven by practice based research.
- Teaching staff in
primary or nursery schools. You may add to your educational and
cognitive skills to alleviate the emotional and behaviour difficulties
of 'problem pupils'. If you work in a school - you will be able
to achieve better academic results and lower exclusion and
unauthorised absence rates.
- Social workers - add
therapeutic skills to your social work skills for dealing with
children and families. In social work you will be able to
provide additional help for children who are in transition, awaiting
adoption, have problems in foster care or have been abused.
The APAC Post Graduate
Certificate in Therapeutic Play Skills and the Diploma in Play Therapy
are designed to be the foundation for further career progression. They
fit into the PTI Four Stage Training Model. By successfully completing
these courses you may then progress if you wish to:
- Become a Certified Play and Creative Arts Therapies Supervisor
- Become a Certified Filial Play Coach/Mentor
- Become an Accredited PTI Play Therapy Trainer
- and/or take your MA in Practice Based Play Therapy - by dissertation
The training and support
provides you with the medium term opportunity to become self employed as
an independent practitioner. It widens your career options including
portfolio working.
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No other play therapy training programme has such complete management
of quality. Very few training providers, at large, take as much care in
managing the quality of their courses as APAC. This is achieved in
three main ways:
- Independent monitoring by IBECPT
- Academic quality management by Canterbury Christ Church University including moderation
by an independently appointed External Examiner
- APAC's own four level Kirkpatrick based model of training evaluation measuring:
* Reaction - particpants' responses to the training
* Learning - through the assessment of what has been learnt
* Behaviour - what impact has the training had on changing the therapeutic work with the children?
* Results - what results (in this case clinical) has the trainee achieved
It is the quality as well
as the content that makes the PTI/APAC play therapy training programme
the most effective and best value on offer.
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Support of the course participants is
provided in three ways: clinical supervision, the faculty and career
development.
Supervision - once you
start to work therapeutically with the children you will need clinical
supervision, ideally from a Certified Play Therapy Supervisor. This is
provided as a part of the course and will cover roughly one third
of your needs and is included in the course fee.
Faculty – APAC's is not only the largest single play therapy
faculty in the world. It is the most experienced. Its 14 members
have over 150 years of training experience between them. As well as
their practitioner and specialist expertise a number are highly
experienced Counsellors, Psychotherapists and Social workers. This
provides in-depth knowledge of most of children's emotional and
behaviour conditions and also of a range of educational, health and
social services settings.
You will benefit from an
unequalled range and depth of knowledge a faculty that not only know
their subjects - they know how to train.
The Programme Manager for
Ireland is Prof. (IBECPT) Monika Jephcott, Europe's most experienced
play therapy trainer, who originated and designed the courses. The
courses are run, by experienced play therapy Course
Directors and supported where appropriate, by specialist facilitators of art, career development, clay,
ethics, masks, movement, music, puppets, research, sand and therapeutic
storytelling.
With this size of faculty there is less
risk of the course suffering from the incapacity of key members of the
faculty. You will learn
a variety of techniques from a number of different perspectives.
Professionalism and career support - as well as learning to
become a safe and effective Play Therapist you will be provided with the
knowledge to become a complete professional and the support to further
your career.
APAC considers that it has a moral obligation to help
everyone who successfully completes the course to find the type of work
that they want and to achieve realistic levels of earnings. We do
not say 'goodbye - you're now on your own' once you have finished a
course.
Play therapy is an emerging profession in Ireland. We
will help you to demonstrate the professionalism that is needed to
secure the good quality services that the children deserve.
You will be able to
build a personally satisfying and financially rewarding career with
PTIrls help.
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PTIrl is affiliated to PTI who set the world's first play therapy
training standards in 1986 and have led the way ever since with its
Profession Structure Model based on a competency framework, recently
updated in 2007.
APAC have been running accredited play therapy training courses in
partnership with PTI since 2000. Over 40 Certificate and 25
Diploma courses have been delivered during this time providing a unique depth
of experience.
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Undertaking any form of advanced and specialised training involves
the investment of time and money. The risk will vary from person to
person but should be considered carefully by everyone before they commit
to any training programme. PTUK and APAC have minimised the risk for most
applicants:
Content - if you
want to work therapeutically with children the course will certainly
teach you what you need to know because it is based on the competencies
required to be a successful practitioner
Learning methods -
the essential method is experiential learning and this is the basis of
the programme. You will learn to understand how the children feel and
process their issues. You will be prepared for most events that are
likely to occur in the playroom and to deal with them in a safe and
effective way.
Research - we know
from research based on hundreds of our students' cases that what APAC
teaches works. We can accurately predict the results that a year's
cohorts of our successful participants will achieve. No other course can
do this.
Accreditation of any
course that you undertake is important, especially with employers. The
APAC courses are fully accredited by internationally respected
professional and academic institutions at post graduate level.
Career progression -
by successfully completing the Certificate and/or Diploma courses you
will be building a platform for subsequent career enhancement. These are
not courses that do not lead anywhere else.
Quality management -
many courses just rely on participants' questionnaires filled in at the
end of the course ('happy sheets'). APAC goes much further in measuring
what has been learnt, how it has been applied in practice and the
clinical results have been obtained. There is also the advantage of
independent monitoring of quality by the University, the External
Examiner and the IBECPT. Very few training programmes in any subject
undertake this degree of rigorous control of quality.
Support - unlike
many training providers, we do not leave you to get on with it after you
have completed the course. We provide a bridge between the course and
employment. Through PTUK you have access to
advice on marketing yourself in play therapy, producing effective
CVs and interview advice.
You will be able to
approach the training with more assurance that you will not be wasting
your emotional investment, time and money.
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The course fees include:
- Tuition and facilitated exercises using a wide range of equipment and materials
- Coverage of a very comprehensive 'Tool-Kit TM' of methods
- Hundreds of pages of training material
- A CD-ROM with all the specialist forms and PowerPoint presentation material you need to set up a play therapy service or independent practice
- 4 clinical supervision sessions
- Continuous assessment of all exercises, and if necessary personal coaching
- Review, appraisal and marking of all written work
- Administration and submission of all participants' documentation to PTI/IBECPT and to the University (if you are registered)
- A two course lunch ('sit down' and two refreshment breaks
Most of the major expense
items are included in the fees. You will need to allow for books, 12
hours of supervision, professional organisation membership (Play Therapy
Ireland and University (optional) registration fees and for your
travel, B&B and evening meals.
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Payments for most courses
in the programme may be made module by module, in advance by post dated
cheques for which there is a small extra administration charge This may make it easier on your
budget - you can spread payments over the duration of the course.
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