Msc Play Therapy

We are no longer accepting applications for intake in September 2021. If you wish to apply for next year’s intake (September 2022), please note that the process will open in November 2021.

PLEASE NOTE that fees for the course are not curently confirmed and may be subject to change.

If you have any queries regarding the MSc Play Therapy, please read the Application Info or email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

queen margaret univarsity

The key purpose of the profession of Play Therapy is defined by British Association of Play Therapists (BAPT):

“Play Therapy is the dynamic process between child and Play Therapist in which the child explores at his or her own pace and with his or her own agenda those issues, past and current, conscious and unconscious, that are affecting the child’s life in the present. The child’s inner resources are enabled by the therapeutic alliance to bring about growth and change. Play Therapy is child-centred, in which play is the primary medium and speech is the secondary medium.”

Accreditation

The course is accredited by the British Association of Play Therapists (BAPT). Successful graduates will gain an Msc in Play Therapy and will have completed the required training to practice as a Play Therapist, and to register with BAPT as a qualified Play Therapist.

Course Overview

This is a three year taught Masters programme in Play Therapy which will prepare students for working therapeutically with children, young people and their families in a range of settings in the public and private sector. The teaching has its basis in psychodynamic, child centred, non-directive practice, and is delivered by qualified and experienced Play Therapy practitioners, who draw on their professional experience to illustrate teaching.

The course ethos emphasises professional and personal development through taught elements and experiential opportunities, and facilitates the development of a thorough and holistic knowledge and understanding of what is required to work therapeutically with children and families who have encountered difficulties. The course will enable students to integrate and synthesise theoretical knowledge with practice based skills and techniques.

Throughout the course students will be expected to attend classes and small group seminars, contribute to group discussions, attend supervision regularly, participate in observations and submit/participate in required assessments. Students will also undertake a supervised practice placement of 100 hours over the course of the 3 years.

In addition to teaching hours, placements, supervision, observations and independent study students are also required to undertake 60 hours of personal therapy at their own cost in addition to the course fee.

The time commitments and workload for this course are not slight, and students should expect that, in addition to the day of training, they will be required to have the equivalent of at least one to two days available to attend to the demands of the course – placement, observations, personal therapy and self-directed study. The workload increases significantly in second year, but reduces somewhat again in third year. It is worth bearing in mind that every 10 credits roughly equate to 100 hours of teaching/placement/independent study.

Key Details

Delivery: The course will be delivered in Glasgow one day per week (Tuesdays - tbc). Students will also be expected to undertake a practice placements throughout the course.

Entry Requirements: A UK honours degree or equivalent in a related discipline together with 2 years post qualifying experience. In the absence of a degree 5 years relevant experience and learning may be considered

Duration: 3 years

Start Date: September 2021

Selection: Applicants are expected to attend an interview as part of the application process.

Criminal Records Check: A satisfactory PVG will be required for all students.

Apply: Applications for 2021 are open. Download an application pack from here.

Current Fees per annum: Home/EU Students: currently £4,500 (subject to change) - Made payable to QMU, and can be paid in instalments.

Course eligible for SAAS Tuition Fee Loan. Details of more funding sources in the application pack.

Visit: www.saas.gov.uk/

Further information: For further information on the course please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Modules

Developmental, Clinical and Play Therapy Theory (with Observational Studies) 1 and 2 (60 SCQF in total)

Clinical Skills, Process and Practice 1, 2 and 3 (30 SCQF in total)

Research Methods(30 SCQF)

Clinical Research Project (60 SCQF)

Module Information

First year

Developmental, Clinical and Play Therapy Theory with Observational Studies(1) (30 SCQF)

This module covers aspects of normal development from prenatal to adolescence, with a focus on amongst others, attachment theory, stage theories of development and object relations theorists. Clinical and Play Therapy theory is explored in depth and links to play therapy practice facilitate understanding of these theories. As well as direct teaching, there are experiential elements to the teaching and learning methods.

In addition, there are 20 weeks of hourly infant observations in the home of the infant, carried out in your own time. These require detailed write-ups, which are discussed in weekly small group seminars.

Clinical Skills, Process and Practice (1) (10 SCQF)

This module covers core play therapy skills, competencies, practice knowledge and procedures through direct teaching, group clinical supervision and through small group skills practice. This module, or and supervision in particular, enables the synthesis of theoretical knowledge and practical skills.

The placement element of this module involves 2 placements. The first is for 8 hourly, weekly sessions with a child who has little or no difficulties, commencing October; the second is 10 hourly, weekly sessions with a child with mild or moderate emotional difficulties, beginning in January.

Each placement session will require detailed write ups, which can take at least an hour. The sessions are conducted in your own time. Clinical supervision will be provided by tutors within course time.

It is important that for your placement you can meet the child at the same time each week (this must be protected time), in the same room – which must be free from interruptions. If your workplace cannot offer these requirements then With Kids may be able to find you a placement.

Second year

Developmental Clinical and Play Therapy Theory with Observational Studies (2) (30 SCQF)

This module considers: the impact of adversity or condition on development, with a focus on the impact of trauma; play therapy in context of today’s culture; professional practice issues; policy and legislation.

These are also 12 hours of observations of children at different ages which will require detailed write ups, and which enable first hand observations of different developmental stages of childhood.

Clinical Skills, Process and Practice (2) (10 SCQF)

This module enables students to develop advanced play therapy skills, to develop their understanding of both the theory and practice of Play Therapy in relation to working with children who have experienced, for example, abuse, neglect, trauma, separation and loss, and to develop a deeper understanding of the unconscious, internal world of the child, and of symbolic communication. Students will develop a deeper understanding of how to facilitate a therapeutic relationship and to evaluate the therapeutic change process. The supplementary skills required to support a therapeutic intervention are also developed, e.g. meeting with parents/referrer, assessment, report writing.

This learning is supported and consolidated through practice placement and clinical supervision. Placements are of 15 and 20 weeks in length (again hourly) and require the student to work with children with increasing levels of difficulty.

Research Methods (30 SCQF)

The aim of the Msc Research Methods module is to provide the student with an understanding of research principles, a range of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies and appropriate analysis for these. This will enable the student to develop the research skills and knowledge necessary to undertake an independent research project.

This module is led and taught on-line by QMU staff.

Third year

Clinical Skills, Process and Practice (3) (10 SCQF)

The aim of this module is to explore further facets of Play Therapy skills, focussing on particular aspects of the role and work of a play therapist e.g. working independently as a play therapist, adult/child joint work and group play therapy, preparing students fully for professional practice as they emerge from the training as a qualified Play Therapist.

The student will undertake a 30 session practice with a child who is experiencing significant difficulties. The undertaking of Clinical Supervision provides the opportunity for reflection and advancement of skills and practice.

Clinical Project (60 SCQF)

The aim of this module is to enable students to apply conceptual and academic rigour in critically appraising all aspects of Play Therapy; use of supervision, integration of theory and practice; personal performance and reflection in keeping with good reflexive and ethical practice.

Students will produce a comprehensive piece of writing based upon a sustained therapeutic relationship which illustrates and makes transparent, through narrative and image, the student’s knowledge, and understanding of Play Therapy in relation to clinical work, professional and inter professional competency and readiness to practice.

This module is led by QMU staff.

Play Therapy Today

The With Kids Msc in Play Therapy is underpinned by the British Association of Play Therapists (BAPT) ethical framework of good practice, core standards and competencies in Play Therapy.

Play Therapy is a form of psychotherapy that uses the medium of play as its primary mode of communication. It involves the use of play as a means of self-expression. Play Therapists aim to enable clients both to discover an outlet for often complex and confusing emotions that cannot always be expressed verbally, and to foster self- awareness and growth. Practitioners have evolved distinct ways of working according to their specialism. Play Therapists are expected to practice in accordance with the guidance set out by the British Association of Play Therapists and as such exercise clinical judgment as a means of practicing safely and effectively

The spectrum of environments in which Play Therapists practice is broad. The variety of settings include: NHS, social services, primary, secondary, further and special education, charities, private practice, etc. They also work with people of all ages (not just children) living with a wide range of emotional or physical conditions.

A History of Play Therapy

The use of play in therapy was first developed by the pioneers of Child Psychotherapy. Anna Freud (1928, 1964, 1965), Margaret Lowenfeld (1935, 1970) and Melanie Klein (1961, 1987) put forward the theoretical premise for the use of play. For example, Klein (1961, 1987) stipulated that a child’s spontaneous play was a substitute for the free association used within adult psychoanalysis.

Theories and practices surrounding play differ within each Child Psychotherapy tradition. However, each tradition is connected by the central proposition that play transmits and communicates the child’s unconscious experiences, desires, thoughts and emotions.

Play Therapy has emerged from elements of Child Psychotherapy with the specific theoretical foundations emerging from the Humanistic Psychology tradition and Attachment Theory.

In the 1940’s Carl Rogers (1951, 1955) established a new model of psychotherapy – client centred therapy (later termed person-centred therapy). This new tradition was born as a protest against the diagnostic, prescriptive perspectives of that time. Emphasis was placed upon a relationship between the therapist and client based upon genuineness, acceptance and trust. As such, the person centred approach provided a new and original theoretical perspective of personality structure, psychological health, acquisition of psychological difficulty and the change process within therapy.

Largely influenced by this person centred approach, Axline (1969, 1971) developed a new therapeutic approach for working with children – non directive Play Therapy. Utilising the person centred theoretical foundations, Axline devised a clear and succinct Play Therapy theory and method. Her account of how she worked with a young boy called Dibs is well known (Dibs: In Search of Self, 1964). Axline described in great detail how she worked with Dibs and how he was able to heal himself over a period of time. She said “No-one ever knows as much about a human being’s inner world as the individual himself. Responsible freedom grows and develops from inside the person”.

Her eight principles of the therapeutic relationship inform the work of many Play Therapists to this day.

For over 50 years, Play Therapy has been practiced and researched within America. This has been led by many Play Therapists, including Moustakas (1953, 1966, 1973, 1981, 1992), Schaefer (1976, 1986, 1993) and Landreth (1991,2002). They have progressed Axline’s original formulations and devised differing models integrating elements of systemic family therapy, narrative therapy, solution focused therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy.

In Britain, Play Therapy started to emerge as a new and differing tradition in the 1980’s. Initially the Children’s Hour Trust taught professionals the basic techniques of Axline’s Play Therapy used in a multitude of settings. In parallel, two Dramatherapists started using Play Therapy methods to inform their Dramatherapy practice with children. Sue Jennings (1994) and Ann Cattanach (1993, 1994, 1998) integrated elements of non-directive Play Therapy to formulate a British Play Therapy movement. In 1990, the Institute of Dramatherapy started to offer a Certificate and Diploma in Play Therapy.

In 1992, the British Association of Play Therapists (BAPT) was started by a group of professionals studying at the Institute of Dramatherapy. Since then, BAPT has developed the British Play Therapy movement and now accredits a number of training courses in the UK including the Masters level programmes currently running at the University of Roehampton(London), University of South Wales, and With Kids in collaboration with Queen Margaret University, (Glasgow/Edinburgh) (Taken from BAPT website, 2018).