Pastels and acrylic paint tubes
Pastels and acrylic paint tubes
Pastels and acrylic paint tubes
homeimage1

Gain confidence in using multiple art and play therapy modalities

homeimage2

Enjoy the benefits
of self-paced
online learning

homeimage3

Use our internationally accredited training for your annual CPD requirements

Accredited cpd The CPD Standards Office CPD Provider 50353 2023-2025
previous arrowprevious arrow
next arrownext arrow

The Academy of
Art & Play Therapy

Welcome to the Academy of Art & Play Therapy. We are a Sydney-based international training organisation offering postgraduate training and supervision in clinical art and play therapy. 

We are passionate about inspiring counselling clinicians to discover the therapeutic power and clinical rigour of art and play therapy and how it offers creative and dynamic ways to enrich and deepen therapeutic practice with clients of all ages.

We offer a comprehensive 4-tier scaffolded training program consisting of:

  1. Introductory workshops
  2. A postgraduate certificate course
  3. A postgraduate diploma course
  4. Masterclass electives

We have also partnered with the Transdisciplinary (TD) School at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) to provide a Higher Degree by Research (HDR) pathway for graduates of the Academy who wish to pursue a Master’s by Research or PhD. This option is available to domestic and international students.

All our training and supervision are delivered online, with face-to-face in-service and residential training options available in Australia, Asia, Europe, New Zealand, and the UK. Our training is internationally accredited with the CPD Standards Office (UK) and CPD hours completed through the Academy can be used to meet the annual CPD requirements with your clinical board/association.

Academy
News

Get a copy of our Student Handbook

Contact the Academy to receive your copy of the 2025 Student Handbook.

Attend our Free Info Sessions

Discover more about our training program by attending one of our free info sessions. Contact the Academy for details.

Assortment of books
Toys in sandpit
Clinical art and play therapy is a specialised area of therapeutic practice that involves the systematic, theoretically guided use of art and play mediums, methods, and modalities by a qualified counselling clinician to achieve specific client counselling goals. Counselling goals are developed through the process of case formulation which is based on a whole person approach to client wellbeing.

Clinical art and play therapy draws on the unique therapeutic and expressive attributes of art and play to assist clients communicate, explore and address conscious and unconscious influences impacting on their wellbeing. It involves facilitating and understanding clients’ art and play expressions using either a directive or non-directive theoretical approach to address a wide range of psychological issues and needs. It can be used with clients across the life span, including children, young people, and adults.

Clinical art and play therapy is guided by the principles of evidence-based practice whereby art and play therapy interventions are carefully selected and tailored to meet the needs of the client by considering available research and clinical expertise in the context of the client’s values, culture and therapeutic preferences.

Young girl with toy sword
Rosa and adult at a desk

What are the benefits of clinical art and play therapy for clients?

Clinical art and play therapy offers clients powerful, creative, and emotionally safe ways to express their thoughts, feelings, and experiences that they may not be able to express easily through verbal communication alone. Clinical art and play therapy offers inclusive and developmentally appropriate ways of engaging and working with clients who are marginalised by traditional “talk therapies” due to their age, culture, linguistic background, and/or communication and expressive preferences.

By offering multimodal forms of expression, clinical art and play therapy immediately places clients at ease, helping to develop the client-therapist relationship and connect them to the overall therapeutic process without the hesitancy and resistance often associated with “talk only” approaches.

Clinical art and play therapy makes the invisible world of thoughts, feelings and experiences visible, enabling clients to externalise their issues rather than embody them.

Through its symbolic and multisensory art and play expressions, clinical art and play therapy provides a bridge between the conscious and unconscious, allowing clients to gain deep, transformative insights that they would not ordinarily gain solely through talking.

therapist teenager drawing
Table with drawings

What are the benefits of clinical art and play therapy for counselling clinicians?

Clinical art and play therapy offers an invaluable postgraduate skillset for qualified counselling clinicians that can be integrated with and complement their existing theoretical orientations.

Clinical art and play therapy can enrich and deepen all aspects of your counselling practice due to its broad versatility. It can be used with clients of all ages and can be used at all stages of the therapeutic process, including:

  • building and maintaining the therapeutic relationship
  • assessment and case formulation
  • therapeutic intervention
  • therapy breaks and endings

Clinical art and play therapy can be used with children, adolescents, and adults to address a wide range of psychological issues and needs including those associated with:

  • addictive behaviour
  • anxiety
  • attachment
  • compulsive behaviour
  • depression
  • grief
  • identity
  • learning difficulties
  • neurodevelopment conditions
  • sensory processing
  • trauma

Flat clay face being sculpted with hands
Black teen painting on canvas on floor
Our training has been carefully designed to provide you with a comprehensive yet flexible pathway to gain advance skills in clinical art and play therapy. We do not compromise on quality and are committed to providing you with the best possible learning experience. We draw on over 25 years of experience in designing and delivering quality training with a depth and breadth that includes all aspects of clinical practice.

Flexibility

  • We offer online, guided, self-paced training.
  • You can participate in our training and clinical supervision anywhere around the world.
  • Our training is designed to be tailored and customised to meet your specific client and workplace needs.
  • Our training includes guided experiential activities you can complete at your own pace.
  • All our training workshops, postgraduate courses and masterclass electives include a Welcome Starter Pack to assist you complete our practical art and play therapy activities.
  • For our courses with an individual clinical supervision component, you can choose morning, afternoon, or evening session times.
  • We offer face-to-face in-service and residential training options in Australia, Asia, Europe, New Zealand, and the UK.

Expertise

  • Our training is designed by psychologist Dr Rosa Bologna who is a qualified and experienced curriculum writer, trainer, and clinical supervisor with over 25 years of clinical art and play therapy experience.
  • We have extensive experience and expertise in working with highly challenging and complex client presentations, issues and needs.
  • We understand the principles of adult learning and practice-based education and how they apply to the needs of counselling clinicians working in a wide variety of workplace settings and with clients presenting with a broad range of issues and needs.
  • We blend theory and practice throughout our training program, using a range of client case examples to illustrate the application of theory to practice and also how practice informs theory.
  • We have a nuanced understanding and extensive experience in navigating the layers and dimensions involved in safely and ethically interpreting the symbolic and metaphoric meanings in clients’ art and play expressions.
  • Our training includes interviews and presentations from guest speakers who are experts in various aspects of clinical art and play therapy as well as those from related disciplines whose transdisciplinary skills enrich our approach to clinical art and play therapy practice.

Scope

  • Our training covers using art and play therapy across the lifespan – with children, young people, adults, couples and families.
  • Our training includes both directive and non-directive (child-centred) approaches and models of art and play therapy practice.
  • Our training includes a broad range of art and play therapy mediums, methods, and modalities.
  • Our theoretical models of practice are designed to complement and strengthen your existing theoretical orientation.
  • We adopt a wholistic, systemic, psychosocial approach to case formulation where we look beyond individual diagnostic criteria to identify broader contextual factors influencing clients’ presenting issues.
  • We have partnered with the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) to offer you a Higher Degree by Research (HDR) pathway which includes the opportunity to enrol in either a Master’s by Research or PhD once you complete our postgraduate diploma level course.
  • We provide you with the opportunity to become a Registered Clinical Art & Play Therapist (ClinAPT)™ and Registered Clinical Art & Play Therapy Supervisor (ClinAPT-S)™ with the Academy.
postcard-collage

Depth

  • We provide in-depth theoretical and conceptual models of practice to guide work with clients presenting with a range of psychological issues and needs.
  • We provide training in how to use art and play therapy in all stages of the therapeutic process including building and maintaining the therapeutic relationship, assessment and case formulation, therapeutic intervention, and therapy breaks and endings.
  • We provide training in ethical and legal considerations of art and play therapy practice including documentation, legal proceedings, and expert testimony.
  • All our training is guided by trauma-informed practice and a commitment to child protection principles.
  • All our training is guided by culturally informed, client-centred practice which we achieve by applying the principles of critical reflective practice.
  • We value and are guided by all three components of evidence-based practice:
1) the best available research on efficacy and effectiveness

2) clinical judgement and expertise

3) client values, culture and therapeutic preferences

  • Our postgraduate certificate, diploma and masterclass elective levels of training include individual fortnightly clinical supervision.

Quality

  • The Academy is an internationally accredited provider with CPD Standards Office (UK).
  • Our training and supervision can be used for your annual CPD requirements with your clinical board/association.
  • Our postgraduate certificate and diploma-level courses have been written in accordance with the standards associated with the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) and the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (FHEQ) in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
  • We only offer our training to qualified counselling clinicians, ensuring therapeutically safe, ethical client outcomes.
  • We have an advisory committee made up of independent industry representatives who provide advice and recommendations to the Academy’s Director on any number of organisational and student matters that may arise while providing our services.
  • We engage in regular systematic consultation with the counselling industry (clients, counselling clinicians, employers, funding bodies, and researchers) to ensure the Academy’s courses continue to meet industry needs.

Community

  • We provide you with online and face-to-face opportunities to connect with like-minded colleagues around the world.
  • We provide you with the option of participating in group supervision with other counselling clinicians completing our training.
  • We provide you with the option of participating in a quarterly journal and book club where we meet to critically evaluate recent articles and books in the art and play therapy literature.
  • We provide students of the postgraduate certificate, diploma and masterclass elective levels of training with exclusive access to the Academy’s private blog.
  • We host optional periodic residential training programs, where you can meet with and learn from other counselling clinicians from around the world.

Centrality of place

  • We acknowledge the centrality of place in teaching, learning, and practice.
  • We recognise the importance of the lands we all live and work on and acknowledge the traditional and contemporary custodians of these lands, waterways, and communities.
  • We acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the traditional custodians of the land the Academy conducts its services from in Sydney, Australia. We value their continuing connection to Country and pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.
  • The Academy celebrates the diversity you all bring, and we look forward to learning more about you and the people, places and spaces you work with.

Eco sustainability

  • For each workshop or course you enrol in, you receive a Welcome Starter Pack which uses boxes that are constructed from 99.9% recycled paper and are fully recyclable and compostable. All our additional packaging such as our mailers, tissue paper and labels are also compostable and biodegradable. Best of all, for each course you enrol in, a tree is planted through Ecologi ♻️🌱.

Our training

We offer a comprehensive four tier training program:

1.

Introductory Workshops

  • Online
  • Self-paced
  • Welcome Starter Pack
  • Online support
  • Accredited with the CPD Standards Office (UK) 
  • 22 hours CPD per workshop
  • Awarded certificate of completion

*Option of individual supervision at additional cost

2.

Postgraduate Certificate

  • Online
  • Self-paced course work
  • Fortnightly individual supervision
  • Welcome Starter Pack
  • Accredited with the CPD Standards Office (UK) 
  • 220 hours CPD
  • 9 months duration (part-time)
  • Awarded Postgraduate Certificate in Clinical Art & Play Therapy

*Option of group supervision at additional cost

3.

Postgraduate Diploma

  • Online
  • Self-paced course work
  • Fortnightly individual supervision
  • Welcome Starter Pack
  • Accredited with the CPD Standards Office (UK) 
  • 220 hours CPD
  • 9 months duration (part-time)
  • Awarded Postgraduate Diploma in Clinical Art & Play Therapy
  • Eligible for Registration as a Clinical Art & Play Therapist (ClinAPT)™ with the Academy 
  • Eligible to enrol in Masters by Research or PhD via Academy’s partnership with the University of Technology Sydney (UTS)

*Option of group supervision at additional cost

4.

Masterclass Electives

  • Online
  • Self-paced course work
  • Fortnightly individual supervision
  • Welcome Starter Pack
  • 150 hours CPD per elective
  • 6 months duration per elective (part-time)
  • Awarded certificate of completion and academic transcript for each masterclass elective completed
  • If you complete the MCE401 Clinical art and play therapy supervision elective you are eligible for registration as a Clinical Art & Play Therapy Supervisor (ClinAPT-S)™ with the Academy 

*Option of group supervision at additional cost

The Academy of Art & Play Therapy + UTS University of Technology Sydney logos
The Academy of Art & Play Therapy + UTS University of Technology Sydney logos

Our partnership with the University of Technology Sydney (UTS)

We have partnered with the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) to provide a Higher Degree by Research (HDR) pathway for graduates of the Academy who wish to pursue a Master’s by Research or PhD.