The Academy of Play and Child Psychotherapy
Therapeutic Play Skills & Play Therapy
- the UK's largest and most experienced dedicated training organisation
- the best support services for all levels of practitioners
| Accreditations | Experiential & Practical Emphasis | Integrated Learning |
| Therapeutic Environment | Flexible Programme | Our Record |
| Our Experience | Guiding Principles | Teaching and Learning Strategies |
The APAC accredited training provides a consistent and coherent programme across the UK and Ireland. The course content is the same wherever you choose to train. The APAC faculty is used to deliver the courses in all venues. The work is examined by the same professional staff and External Examiner. This is a unique and more equitable approach than that used by other play therapy training providers.
For more information - including the 'Complete Guide to Careers in Play Therapy' - a 24 page booklet phone 01825 712312 or email mokijep@aol.com
APAC is committed to innovation of learning methods. It is in the process of developing blended learning programmes.
APAC works in a collaborative partnership with the Canterbury Christ Church University. (CCCU)
Qualifications with international and national recognition. ( BACP, PTUK, IBECPT, PTI). Certificate, Diploma and MA programme validated by the Canterbury Christ Church University. We train you in the play therapy skills that will enable you to obtain worthwhile posts.
Skills for working in real life as a practitioner are gained more quickly on an experiential rather than a theoretical orientated course. You'll be able to start to work safely and effectively more quickly with children. We'll give you the confidence to start working with children from the first module of our Certificate course.
The learning process used by APAC is far more than providing course lectures and presentations. It is based upon:
Acquiring knowledge - from presentations and reading material
Understanding the impact yourself of the techniques that have been taught through practical exercises
Turning the knowledge into practical experience by working with children during the course period and undertaking a project
Being supported and advised upon your work with children will help you to become competent
Guided reflection upon your progress and personal development
The practical therapeutic exercises using play and creative arts enable you to experience the processes that children undergo when taking part in therapeutic play. Many find that the exercises enable them to work through their own issues thereby enhancing their own personal development.
Group supervision, in which your work with children is discussed with the Supervisor and other participants, accelerates your learning dealing with real issues and problems that you will encounter.
The use of a process diary enables the Course Director to mentor your learning and personal development processes.
Book reviews assist the process that turns reading into learning.
Our training centres are chosen for their peaceful, non-institutional environments. Many are delightful, restored, country houses with peaceful grounds.
Flexible programme to meet your needs
Most courses take place over a Friday and week-end so that you won't have to take too much time off work and are more likely to be able to make arrangements to suit your family.
The location of our centres is within 2 hours drive of 80% of the population of England. For those who do not wish to travel we can arrange local training.
The latest PTUK research shows that our students achieve excellent clinical results as measured by the respected Goodmans SDQ psychometric instrument. No other course measures clinical outcomes of their students' work to the extent that we do.
See what others say about us:
and other comments given below.
If you would like talk to any of our past or present course participants please get in touch with us.
A second research report, published by PTUK, is based upon the clinical outcomes of students placement work whilst taking the APAC Certificate and Diploma courses. The Goodman's SDQ was used as the measuring instrument.
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83 clients seen by APAC students with a mix of experience (3 months to 2 years)
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Girls 33% boys 67%
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Age Under 4 = 1.6%, 4-13 = 93.6%, over 13 = 4.8%
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1:1 sessions
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Average 10.8 sessions per client
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74.4% of the clients showed a positive change in Total Difficulties
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50.6% of the clients showed a positive change in the Pro-Social rating
Here are a few things that our course participants have kindly said about APAC and the play therapy training courses, mostly in response to our question 'Would you recommend the course to others and why?':
'At a recent residential
weekend play therapy diploma course we had two blissful days of sharing
knowledge, skills and experience with Nancy Mellon who helped us see how
therapeutic story-telling can help us all. Little did I know that it
would change a rather difficult work relationship.' ES -
(Certificate and Diploma Course)s
'Because the course places a huge emphasis on working with children
throughout our training'. - PB 'This has opened up a whole new
world & way of working with children which compliments my own attitudes &
beliefs.' - CP 'The experiential workshops as
they give someone a good indication of what the work is about and touch
their own inner child. And because they are fun.' - DM 'You learn so much about yourself
and your interaction within a group setting.' - SA 'It is so inspirational and the
fact that it is experiential is so very useful.' - HG 'Experience of the tutors is
excellent and the experiential learning methods superb - really gives you
the skills to practice.' - JB 'Enjoyable and learned a lot that
has direct application for practice.' - FW 'Excellent experiential course,
varied topics, highly experienced tutors. ' - AD 'Experiential, innovative,
refreshing practical & gives qualification in working with children.' - JW 'Excellent course delivered by
well informed, experienced facilitators & tutors, experiential with strong
focus on self-awareness.' - MC 'The weekend formats with 7 weeks
in between means that even in full-time work you can train & qualify. The
experiential bias suited my style & personality. ' - LG 'Lots of hands on practical work.
Lovely setting. Good space between modules giving time to absorb.' - JW 'I have found the course very
good - not only in training and in giving me more skills but in looking at
myself in a different way and in looking at situations in a different way.'
- CT 'I would recommend to qualified
psychotherapists who wish to develop their skills in working with children
therapeutically.' - DM 'Yes it opens up a new world in
play therapy and a fantastic way of working with children.' - JK 'Definitely. Experiential
learning has been the most effective means of gaining new skills as well as
developing self awareness. I cannot see how just an academic course could
match this. A fantastic course.' - JB 'Professional and an excellent
balance between experiential and academic. Has considerably enhanced my
practice.' - RD 'Definitely. Methods of teaching
so refreshing. Encourages own research and learning.' - VB 'Lots of experiential aspects so
that you learn how the process works. Also it gives lots of potential ideas
for working therapeutically.' - AW 'I wasn't sure what to expect
regarding the practical/experiential work. This was really enjoyable and to
have most of this course on a practical level was fantastic. - 'I would recommend the course as
it is so practical and is organised in a way that you can continue with your job
simultaneously.' - SG
APAC offers both public courses run at a number of centres and in-house programmes designed to meet the specific needs of organisations such as schools, care homes, counselling services, heath centres and social services.
In response to local demand the first, experimental, "Introduction to Play Therapy" 3 day course was held in the autumn 1998 at Fern Hill. This was followed by a number of similar 1, 2 and 3 day events which lead to the development of "Certificate in Play Therapy" and "Diploma in Play Therapy" courses and in 2003 the MA in Practice Based Play Therapy programme was originally validated by Chichester University for academic standards and is now run in a collaborative partnership with the Canterbury Christ Church University.
These courses have been clinically accredited since 1999 by IBECPT / PTI (Play Therapy International). fourteen "Certificate" and ten "Diploma" courses, each of 5 x 3 day modules have been run to date.
In 2005 the combined Certificate and Diploma courses were accredited by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), the largest counselling and psychotherapy organisation in the UK with over 25000 members. Our course was the first, and still the only, play therapy training accredited by the BACP.
APAC has received considerable advice upon content from PTI based upon the criteria laid down by the International Board of Examiners of Certified Play Therapists (IBECPT) who were the first body in the world to set training standards. Directors Monika Jephcott and Jeff Thomas have worked closely with an international panel of Play Therapists in establishing PTUK's competency framework and Professional Structure Model.
In addition modified versions of courses have been provided in-house for a number of organisations, tailored to meet their specific needs. The demand has meant that we have had to run additional "Certificate" courses for each of the last two years. In December 2001 we commenced a 5 x 2 day modules course in Play Therapy Supervision because of the national shortage of suitably qualified Supervisors.
In the year 2004 the APAC faculty trained over 400 students making it the largest play therapy training provider in the UK. In 2005 this number rose to over 600 students.
The main principles that we have adopted are:
| 1 |
The main emphasis is upon experiential work underpinned by theory. The balance is about 70:30. We consider this to be vital in enabling our delegates to work safely and effectively and to be able to obtain jobs or assignments working with children. |
| 2 |
The courses must be held in an environment that is therapeutically safe and conducive to delegates being able to deal with their personal psychological issues that arise in learning to deal with and experience their "inner child". |
| 3 |
The use of leading experts in their field to deliver course content. Play and creative arts therapies are relatively recent developments – it is important for the students to have access to the latest specialised thinking. |
| 4 |
Measurement of the application of the taught material and innovation under safe conditions by the students. ie the use of clinical governance as mandated by PTUK. |
| 5 |
Practical assistance in helping the students with placements and identification of suitable research projects. |
| 6 |
APAC's success is ultimately measured by the results that our students obtain in working with children. |
Ó Copyright APAC Ltd
October 2006