Postgraduate Diploma in Creative Arts Therapy

The Whitecliffe programme offers a spectrum of approaches to Arts Therapy, stretching between two poles:

• ‘The arts as therapy’, follows the philosophy that participation in creative activities is universally beneficial, and that engagement with any of the arts at any level of proficiency, can have a healing effect.

• “The arts in therapy’, or arts psychotherapy, which involves using the arts within a psychotherapeutic relationship as a powerful mode of expression and agent of change.

Students will gain an understanding of how an Arts Therapist can work along this spectrum, taking into account the population they are working with as well as a range of other factors such as context, presenting problems, and appropriate arts modalities.

It is a highly innovative programme offering a variety of creative arts modalities. Applicants are expected to be comfortable or familiar with at least one of these when entering the programme, and to achieve a basic grounding in the other creative modalities during the programme. The programme supports students to develop culturally sensitive practices responsive to the Māori worldview as well as other cultures.

The Postgraduate Diploma in Creative Arts Therapy (PGDipCAT), is a one-year full-time programme that offers an introduction to the foundational philosophy, theories, and practices relating to the Creative Arts Therapies. The Diploma is offered in two locations, Auckland and Christchurch, and is scheduled for ten weekends - one per month from February to November - in each location. This introduction operates as a stand-alone qualification equipping students to take skills into the workplace for those working in a related field. The Diploma is also the pre-requisite for progression onto the Master’s qualification. Progression requirements include assessment of a student’s ability for clinical practice and academic ability to undertake Level 9 research.

This one-year full-time (blended delivery, low-residency) programme includes the following papers:

• Creative Studio

• Social Aspects of Arts Therapy

• Psychology of Arts Therapy

• Group Arts Therapy

The Postgraduate Diploma of Arts Therapy and Master of Arts in Arts Therapy (clinical) are low-residency courses of study to provide flexibility for students in the workplace and/or travelling to study.

The Postgraduate Diploma is offered in two locations, Auckland and Christchurch, and is scheduled for ten weekends - one per month February to November - in each location. The Postgraduate Diploma offers an introduction to the foundation philosophy, skills and theories relating to the creative arts therapies in readiness for taking skills into the workplace for those working in a related field as a stand-alone qualification, or can provide the pre-requisite for application for progression onto the Masters qualification.

Progressions requirements include assessment of a student’s suitability for clinical practice and academic ability to undertake level 9 research.

The Masters programme is currently offered in Auckland only. The seminar delivery pattern is four intensive seminars per year for two years.

NZ Government key information link for students, that provides more information to support your decision making for this programme

Domestic Student Entry Requirements:

• Completed application form
• An undergraduate diploma or degree qualification in a relevant field, equivalent to NZQF Level 7
• A letter of intent
• Three letters of reference
• A current curriculum vitae
• Evidence of academic writing ability which reflects the potential for successful study at the graduate level (examples of previous academic writing may be submitted)

International Student Entry Requirements:

• Completed application form
• Passport copy
• Minimum Age: Students must turn 18 within their first year of study at Whitecliffe
• IELTS Academic overall score of 6.5 with no band less than 6.0 or equivalent
• An undergraduate diploma or degree qualification in a relevant field, equivalent to NZQF Level 7
• A letter of intent
• Three letters of reference
• A current curriculum vitae
• Evidence of academic writing ability which reflects the potential for successful study at the graduate level (examples of previous academic writing may be submitted)

BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) Requirements:

This programme has Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) requirements, the following specifications will support you to be successful in your studies.

Required IT Specifications:

Minimum Hardware requirements 

• Mac - Intel processor with 64-bit support; 2 GHz or faster processor with SSE 4.2 or later
  OR 
• MacBook Air with M1 Chip 
  OR 
• Intel® or AMD processor with 64-bit support; 2 GHz or faster processor with SSE 4.2 or later 
• 8 GB RAM (Recommended 16 GB)   
• 250 GB SSD or higher hard drive with 10GB free space minimum    
• Wireless capability 802.11n dual-band    
• Up-to-date antivirus software    

Minimum Operating System     

• Windows 10 (64-bit) version 1809 or later; LTSC versions are not supported
  OR     
• Apple macOS Mojave (version 10.14) or later 

• Internet and data plan.    

Not Supported:    

• Chromebooks    
• Windows X or Windows S OS    
• Tablets (except Windows Surface Pro or iPad Pro)