Art therapist courses at University of Derby

Art therapist training at University of Derby

There is one approved route into practice as an art therapist at University of Derby: Art Therapy MA. It is approved by the HCPC, and that approval is the point of the qualification: completing an approved programme is what entitles you to apply for registration, and only registrants may use the protected title — “art therapist” or “art psychotherapist”.

The offer here is at master's level, so it is aimed at people who already hold a relevant first degree rather than at school leavers. Pre-registration master's programmes cover the same regulated curriculum and the same supervised practice hours as an undergraduate degree, compressed into a shorter and more demanding timetable.

A typical offer is published for every course listed here, and it is set out in full below. Read it as the shape of the offer rather than a promise: entry to these courses is almost always interviewed, and an offer is normally conditional on an enhanced criminal record check and occupational health clearance as well as on grades. Recorded start month: September.

Where you train shapes where you are placed. Practice placements on these programmes are arranged with NHS trusts, health boards and independent providers around the university, so a course in Derby, East Midlands means learning that patch's services and its referral routes, and meeting the clinicians who run them. That is worth weighing against a more distant offer: placement travel is real and can be daily, and the region you train in is where your first job is most likely to be. For context, 11 UK universities in this dataset train art therapists at pre-registration level, so there is usually more than one geography open to you.