OBJECTIVES
The Master in Art Therapy aims to prepare art therapists to be able to practice the profession inside and outside of Spain. For this reason, the essence of the course lies in clinical practices and supervision sessions. Students will acquire diverse conceptual tools, utilizing them in art therapy projects in institutions in both the public and private health networks, education centers and social assistance centers. In total, the Master’s students carry out 600 hours of clinical practice in addition to 160 hours of supervision.
In the Master’s, practical and theoretical knowledge acquired during the postgraduate (Advanced Diploma in Art Therapy) training as well as in the path of self-knowledge through the artistic processes, is reinforced and consolidated.
Throughout the program, students specialize in one area of therapeutic work while acquiring the necessary knowledge to work in other specific areas. These areas range from art therapy in mental health contexts and special education, to childhood, adolescence, and the elderly, as well as in the prison population, etc.
EXPERIENTIAL MODULE IN ART THERAPY
EXPERIENTIAL GROUP ART THERAPY
The objective of experiential group art therapy is to explore the dynamics of a group in which images and art objects are produced. Students remain in the same small group throughout the two years of the Master’s program.
The session is divided in two: first, the students create and then they generate a dialogue around these creations. Guided by a facilitator, the participants discover, little by little, through the experience of creating, some of the situations that give name to the different concepts that form the theory of art therapy. The role of the leader of the group is to help the members be the ones who explore and reveal the dynamics that occur within the interactions of the group.
OBSERVATION AND EXPRESSION TECHNIQUES
This is an extension of the experiential art therapy groups, with the objective of approaching psychotherapeutic work through observation, reflection and communication. The composition of the groups and their leaders are the same as in experiential art therapy groups. Students meet in this group for a monthly session.
The objective of the course is to acquire skills when observing situations or artistic processes, reflect on what is observed, whether the object of observation is oneself, the other, or a group situation, and finally to explore creative ways to communicate our experience to others.
INDIVIDUAL TUTORIALS
Throughout the course, tutors meet individually with students to monitor their comprehension of the training and the therapeutic process.
ART THEORY AND WORKSHOPS MODULE
ART PRACTICE
It is essential that students maintain a continuous artistic practice throughout the course. Added to this practice are the monthly assignments of the TOE space and, in case of agreement, preparation of possible exhibitions. A minimum dedication of 120 hours over nine months is recommended.
PRESENTATIONS OF THE CREATIVE PROCESS
In these sessions, and as a continuation of the presentations made during the postgraduate training, students will continue to develop artistic projects that will be presented during these sessions. The artistic practice will be accompanied by tutors from the art module, thus helping the student to develop their creative process through proposed topics.
ARTISTIC WORKSHOPS
As in the postgraduate course, this course aims to continue bringing the student closer to contemporary art. During the training, this approach is carried out by invited professionals from the current art scene to present their work.
THEORY OF ART THERAPY MODULE
THEORY OF ART THERAPY
This is an introduction to the prominent authors and ways of working that characterize our profession. The theory of art therapy is explored through its history, the theoretical framework and other aspects that shape the discipline, examples of its practical application and intervention modalities, with special emphasis on the Relational model, Mentalization and recent implementation of art therapy.
The objective is not only to discover the theoretical definition of the contents, but also the promotion of the capacity for reflection and the empowerment of bibliographic reading, two fundamental aspects for the development of the profession. At the same time, we will try to delve into the various aspects that make up this discipline and its variety of applications and possibilities within the proposed theoretical framework.
CASE PRESENTATIONS
These sessions are dedicated to presenting clinical work carried out in different centers by Metáfora’s team of art therapy professionals, as well as invited art therapists. In these meetings, professionals present in detail the course of cases and treatments carried out in different groups.
METHODOLOGY
Art therapy is a young profession that still needs a body of research to support it. Much of the work of art therapists is to publicize their findings and therefore contribute to the development of the profession. This course introduces students to the fundamentals of research and teaches them how to evaluate clinical work and how to write about it.
ART THERAPY APPLICATION WORKSHOPS
Like the case presentations, workshops are an opportunity to learn about different areas in which art therapy is applied. Students will be exposed to a range of artistic media in order to broaden potential uses of art in the application of art therapy.
The artist/art therapist invited to teach each workshop begins the class by exposing the possibilities of the medium or technique that can be used in art therapy. After their presentation, students have the remaining class time to experiment with the workshop facilitator’s proposals.
PROJECTS
In the first year of the Master’s degree, the course teaches students how to compose and carry out art therapy proposals and projects linked to the art therapy practices that are being carried out.
In the second year, the projects module has a different objective: to facilitate work opportunities once the program is finished. For this, students are taught how to design a personalized, professional project, how to manage their internet presence, and how to propose a project to various entities where art therapy is carried out (institutions, associations, individual practice) .
CONCEPTS OF RELATIONAL PSYCHOTHERAPY MODULE
RELATIONAL PSYCHOTHERAPY AND PSYCHOANALYSIS
The objective of this cycle of conferences is to introduce students to the theory and techniques of relational psychoanalytic psychotherapy.
CHILD AND ADULT PSYCHOPATHOLOGY
This subject acts as a guide to distinguish the different psychopathologies to support students in their practices. During one year of the master’s degree, the course is devoted to the psychopathology of childhood and adolescence, and in the second year to psychopathology of adulthood.
GROUP THEORY
Part of the art therapist’s work is done in user group sessions within larger groups or institutions. Possessing a theoretical knowledge about group behavior is essential to understanding the institutional dynamics as well as the user group.
ACADEMIC WORK MODULE
The academic work module does not contain subjects, it is intended for the submission of academic papers. The course requires students to submit two evaluable academic papers. The first paper is delivered between December and January and the second before the end of the course. The correction of these works is carried out by the tutors and is shared in the evaluation boards of the faculty. Papers can be submitted in Spanish, Catalan or English. The return of these two works are made by the respective tutors, individually, during the tutoring session.
INTERNSHIP AND SUPERVISION MODULE
CLINICAL PRACTICE
The most notable characteristic of the Master in art therapy resides in the clinical practices. Students complete 600 hours spread over two years in care or educational centers with which Metàfora has collaboration agreements. We have more than one hundred clinical practice centers across Catalonia, the rest of Spain and institutions abroad in hospitals, schools, day centers, residences and prisons.
PARTICIPATORY SUPERVISION
Supervision is done in small groups that meet regularly to share and refine clinical work.
