Duration
2 years full time / 4 years part time
Mode (Location)
Mixed Attendance Mode (Southbank)
Intake
February
Key dates
Key dates
Fees
Commonwealth Supported Places (CSPs) available
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Entry schemes
Access Melbourne is available
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Course overview
Overview
Give back to the community through dance and drama with industry training.
The Master of Creative Arts Therapy is a unique blended learning program offering you a specialisation in either drama or dance movement therapy. You will undertake supervised industry placements in various contexts including community, health and education.
The creative arts therapies are a form of psychotherapy utilising creative modalities, including drama, dance, music and visual art-making within a therapeutic relationship to improve and inform physical, mental and emotional well-being.
The course provides you with studies in theory, methods, research and professional practice across health, educational and community contexts. There is an emphasis on how each artistic modality is employed in teams with groups and individuals. The teaching method incorporates experiential, theoretical and practice-based learning approaches.
An important part of training as a creative arts therapist is professional conduct and behaving respectfully and ethically, not only on placement but in the classroom environment. Managing yourself with appropriate boundaries, emotional self-regulation and reflexivity throughout the course is integral to your training and learning towards respecting clients, peers, supervisors, tutors and the wider community.
Who is this course for?
The Master of Creative Arts Therapy has been developed specifically for arts educators, community arts workers, health workers and therapists who are interested in training to practice as a drama and dance movement therapist.
What is dance movement therapy?
Dance movement therapy is the relational and therapeutic use of dance and movement to further the physical, emotional, cognitive, social, and cultural* functioning of a person. Dance movement therapy is based on the empirically-supported unity of body and mind. It recognizes that change and growth in one supports change and growth in the other.
What is drama therapy?
Drama therapy is an embodied, action based form of psychological therapy using various aspects of drama and theatre within the therapeutic process. This approach uses playful and creative methods in order to address a wide range of personal challenges and facilitate insight and growth for individuals and groups in different professional settings.
Professional registration
Graduates of this program are eligible for professional registration with appropriate professional associations. In Australia, this is the DTAA (Dance Movement Therapy Association of Australasia) and ANZACATA (Australian, New Zealand and Asian Creative Arts Therapies Association). Our course has been approved by ANZACATA.
Delivery mode
This course is delivered using Blended Learning. This involves online study, two intensives per year on Southbank Campus, as well as an industry placement of 40 days per year (2 days per week throughout the course, in addition to your day of classes).
Fit for Practice Statement
Students undertaking the Master of Creative Arts Therapy are expected to demonstrate readiness for professional learning and practice. Participation in this program requires the capacity to engage in a rigorous educational environment, both online, on campus and within industry placements. This includes a commitment to collaborative learning with peers and staff, ongoing self-reflection, and the ability to receive and integrate constructive feedback.
Teaching methods may incorporate discussions, experiential activities and simulated practice scenarios that reflect the complexity and unpredictability of human experience. To be considered fit for practice within this context, students must be able to:
Sustain focus, composure, and active participation while managing competing academic and interpersonal demands.
Participate in assessment processes that may involve receipt of constructive feedback related to personal attributes as presented in therapeutic context
Approach material that may be sensitive, distressing, or potentially traumatic with professionalism, and emotional regulation.
Staff will work with students to recognise when they may need to take leave from their studies and address personal stability, should this be considered a risk in practice.