Educational and Clinical Art Therapy Course Accreditation
College For Educational And Clinical Art Therapy (CECAT) provides students with Diploma Course and Certificate in Educational and Clinical Art Therapy available both in On-campus as well as Online, comprising 10 and 15 modules respectively.
Our Art Therapy Course Modules aims to provide accessibility to students in Australia as well as living abroad where the course is not available. If you choose to continue your study after the certificate program (10 online modules) aiming for a Diploma in Educational and Clinical Art Therapy, you’ll need to complete another 5 online modules
Art Therapy Courses: Work Experience
For graduates who wish to be part of a growing professional association, there are several options.
Course Accreditation
Courses offered by Clinical Art Therapy (CECAT) are accredited in following ways:
1. Australian Community Couselling Association (ACCA)
Graduates of the Diploma program are eligible to apply for full professional membership with ACCA.
2. British Association of Art Therapists (BAAT)
Diploma graduates may also seek associate membership with BAAT.
3. Holistic Health Associates International (HHAI)
Certificate holders are eligible for membership with HHAI.
4. Recognition for CPD
Most professional bodies recognise CECAT’s courses as Continuous Professional Development (CPD), allowing students to claim CPD hours.
Professional Recognition
Students who have successfully completed the Certificate in Art Therapy can become members with the Holistic Health Associates International (HHAI).
Students who finish their studies with a Diploma Program from CECAT are able to apply for a full professional membership with the Australian Community Counselling Association (ACCA). This esteemed recognition will enable you to confidently identify as a professional counsellor and art therapist. This is a valuable opportunity, especially for those embarking on their professional careers without previous memberships. Diploma students may also apply for an associate membership with the British Association of Art Therapists (BAAT).
While memberships are certainly valuable, they are not mandatory. Many practitioners in Australia are not affiliated with any particular organisation. Regardless of your choice, you can start working as an art therapist in Australia after graduating from our Certificate Course; however, only the diploma level will be respected by your peers.
Therefore, aim to complete all 15 modules (10 Certificate modules and a further 5 Diploma modules) and attend the in-person intensives (which will give you10 days of face-to-face teaching and input via the 2-, 5- and 3-Day Intensives).
After graduation with the certificate or diploma from CECAT, students are also able to apply for a professional indemnity and public liability insurance if they choose to work in private practice. We recommend contacting AON or TherapySure (Combined Professional Indemnity (PI) & Public Liability (PL) Insurance for Complementary Medical Practitioners in Australia).
For each course, our students can claim 6 hours per day Continuous Professional Development (CPD) with the Australian Psychological Society (APS), the Australian Association of Psychologists Inc (AAPi), the Australian, New Zealand and Asian Creative Arts Therapies Association (ANZACATA), the Australian Community Counselling Association (ACCA), the Australian Counselling Association (ACA), the Counsellors & Psychotherapists Association (CAPA), the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) and the Australian College of Mental Health Nurse.
If your association is not listed here, it is most likely that they will also recognise our courses for your professional development.
Career Opportunities
1. Employee
Most of our students start their career path by applying for a local counselling position. Why counselling? Counselling is the generic name for what we all do—including psychologists, social workers, psych nurses, counsellors, welfare workers and art therapists.
Being a member with the Australian Community Counselling Association (ACCA) will help especially if you don’t have any other professional memberships. With this, you can represent yourself as a professional counsellor, with art therapy as your approach, similar to a psychologist whose approach might be behavioural therapy.
You could end up with a non-governmental position in a NGO, like in Wesley Mission or a neighbourhood centre. Or you could apply for a job in a governmental agency, such as drug and alcohol counselling, child protection counselling and the like. Others end up working in rehab centres, schools or aged care facilities. There are endless opportunities for you if you are a creative, passionate person with a big heart and are well trained.
2. Business Owner
Running your own art therapy clinic is the dream of many, as it gives you independency and ownership of what you do best.
Most of us rent a room in a health centre, shared by other clinicians, like GPs, OTs, psychologists, social workers, dieticians and the like.
3. Freelancer
Many art therapists around the world love being in between 1 and 2, and that works well with their creative and organic nature. They prefer not worrying about what tomorrow may bring and live more in the moment. They commit themselves to some projects at their local schools (for example, one term of ‘anger management’ and one term of ‘increasing self esteem’) and retirement homes (for example, every Wednesday), leaving plenty of time to see clients online or face to face while running an art class at the local art centre or gallery.
4. Transform your Current Position
As many of our students are artists, they want to teach art from a deeper place with a greater impact on their students, but also make their own position more enjoyable in return.
The other group of students we have are counsellors and psychotherapists from various backgrounds. Since they are already counselling people, they would like to be more effective in what they do, go deeper and empower their clients to own this journey of healing and transformation.
Determining a Course’s Credibility
Nothing can ever guarantee a course’s value as 100% foolproof, but there are several things that can indicate credibility. Consider the following checklist below. Courses that check on more counts are likely to be more credible than those that match less.
- Quality of staff. Consider the qualifications of the staff and the quality of their experience.
- The age of the organisation. How well established is the institution?
- Graduate success. Satisfied and successful graduates are the most certain indicator of a course’s value.
- Any credible educational centre, college or university will present its credentials and associations and memberships clearly.