October 2025 online 

Places will be allocated on a first come first serve basis.

This is the Intermediate Course which runs October to March. The Advance Course follows on from this, running January - December . It is advisable to study the Intermediate Course prior to the Advance Course. 

These courses are suitable for Health Professionals, Social Workers, Teachers and anyone else interested in finding out about Art Therapies. The following course is offered on a part-time basis for 10 weeks. The course compromises of two half Saturday workshops and 8 evening classes all held online. 

Please click here for the Terms & Conditions

Course Description

Experiential Workshops

These workshops will be facilitated by a qualified and experienced BAPT-registered Play Therapist. Experiential activities form the core of the course, providing students with an opportunity to explore and reflect on the process of Play Therapy on a personal level. Connections and links will be made to the theories that underpin Play Therapy as this emerges from the practical component, enabling participants to learn from theory that directly relates to their experience. Please note that whilst the emphasis of the workshops is on an educational not a therapeutic experience, participants should be aware of potential tensions between their personal and professional responses and should be prepared for a degree of self-exposure.

Seminars and Lectures

The seminars and lectures are integrated into the workshop experiences. Each workshop will be part experiential play therapy and part seminar/lecture. The seminars will often comprise presentations of clinical / therapeutic work and opportunity for group discussions. 

Assessment

Participants will be expected to keep a Reflective Log of their experiences while on the course which constitutes a record of their personal psychological journey including photographs of images created in the experiential workshops. As such the Log itself will be a highly personal manuscript and will not be assessed. In the last workshop of the course participants will present a dramatised, artistic or narrative Story of this journey to share with the class. The Journey Story will be approximately 3 minutes long and may be presented in the play media of the participant's choice.

Successful completion of the course requires a minimum attendance of 70% and a satisfactory final Journey Story. A certificate of attendance will be awarded. This will not automatically ensure a participant's entry to the Roehampton University MA in Play Therapy; however, individuals considering applying for Professional training are encouraged to complete a Foundation Course.

A programme of experiential workshops led by the course facilitators and seminars given by visiting Play Therapists from a wide range of fields.

2 half day Inductions (Sunday) and introductory workshop to begin the course to be held in October 2024  with 9  weekly evening classes to follow; finishing with a half Plenary Sunday to close in December 18 2025

Course timetable and dates

This timetable is provisional - dates and times may be subject to change. The sequence of some of these workshops may be subject to change, due to availability of visiting specialist lecturers.

 

Timetable

Online timetable

 

Date	Time	Title
20 October	10am-2pm	INDUCTION DAY   Introduction to the course and to one another.   Course overview, boundaries and expectations   Discussion of the Play Therapy profession and entry into training and the professional organisation:   the British Association of Play Therapists (BAPT)
23 October	7pm - 9pm	Workshop 1   Why Play? The central importance of play in child development
30 October	7pm - 9pm	Workshop 2   Historical overview of the development of Play Therapy in the UK. Comparison of different models of Play Therapy, including    Non-Directive Play Therapy, Social Constructionist and Narrative Therapy appraoches
6 November	7pm - 9pm	Workshop 3   Sensory or embodiment play in Play Therapy - using clay, play-dough, slime, sand and other sensory materials
13 November	7pm - 9pm	Workshop 4   Projective or symbolic play in Play Therapy - using toy figures etc to create symbolic stories
20 November	7pm - 9pm	Workshop 5   Dramatic role-play in Play Therapy
27 November	7pm - 9pm	Workshop 6   Using art in Play Therapy
4 December    11 December	7pm - 9pm    10am-2pm	Workshop 7   Closing Plenary Day