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Bachelor of Arts Therapy
Study Mode: On-Campus, Distance Learning
Campus Locations: Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth (Distance Learning), Sydney
Attendance Mode: Full-time, Part-time
CRICOS Code: 094684M
AQF Level 7
Arts Therapy is effective in working with diverse groups of clients of all age groups,
abilities, and with a range of issues; it is particularly effective in engaging people who may struggle to participate in more traditional ‘talking therapies’ such as children, adolescents, people suffering from trauma, those with disabilities, language difficulties or those from other cultural backgrounds. The experience of expressing oneself through creative activity has been found to assist in the promotion of physical, emotional, cognitive and social integration and functioning. The consequent insights and personal understandings can be instrumental in facilitating change.
Key Information
Trimester 2 2022 Application Close Date: Thursday 19 May 2022
AWARD
Bachelor of
Arts Therapy
DURATION
3 years full-time (or part-time equivalent)
INTAKES
February
May
September
CAMPUSES
Adelaide
Brisbane
Melbourne
Perth
Sydney
STUDY MODE
On-Campus
Distance Learning
COURSE FEES
Overview
The Bachelor of Arts Therapy is designed to provide graduates with a broad and coherent body of knowledge relating to the field of psychotherapy, with specific emphasis on the underlying principles and concepts of Arts Psychotherapy.
Graduates may be eligible for tier membership of the key arts therapy professional body in Australia, ANZACATA.
This qualification is recognised in the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) and is accredited by the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA).
This qualification is FEE-HELP approved for eligible applicants.
#FindYourWhy with Ikon
Face to face delivery is an essential part of quality learning. Ikon’s experienced teaching staff will support you during your studies and share a variety of real-life approaches and experiences to help you develop your professional skills, and feel confident and career-ready, upon completion of your course.
Smaller class sizes creating a dynamic and supportive learning environment for students
A journey that mixes theory with experiential processes to ensure students obtain a deeper understanding of what is being taught
Student support through the entire lifecycle of your learning, with our dedicated team of Student Counsellors and Academic staff
What will I learn?
At Ikon we all learn together. A feature of this course is the focus on experiential small group learning; this enables students to develop and practice their skills and knowledge in a safe supportive environment. Ikon’s academic staff are all highly qualified, experienced and involved in current Arts Therapy practice; this ensures that the academic content is relevant, current, practical, and engaging. Our specialised academics will support you during your studies and expose you to a variety of approaches and experiences to help you develop your full potential and feel confident and career-ready upon completion of the course.
Students will learn:
- To use a range of different modalities (visual art, sculpture, movement, drama, voice, story-telling) in an improvisational manner that is responsive to clients’ needs.
- To be client-centered and respond to people’s lived experience in a holistic way rather than treating a particular diagnosis.
- A range of intervention techniques and processes including group work, creativity in mental health and systems approaches to psychotherapy.
- Students will also have the opportunity to choose from a range of exciting electives covering innovative and contemporary fields of practice such as:
- Eco-psychotherapy;
- Art and social action;
- Indigenous approaches to health and wellbeing;
- Dreams and symbols.
Study Sequence
The course consists of 24 subjects including three elective subjects, plus a 480-hour placement. You must successfully complete all subjects to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts Therapy (144 credit points). Each academic year consists of three study periods called trimesters. Each trimester consists of eleven weeks of teaching plus one exam week.
A full-time study load is typically nine subjects per year.
A part-time study load is typically five subjects per year.
Delivery & Workload
Course delivery for the Bachelor of Arts Therapy is a combination of lectures, tutorials, self-directed study and workplace learning.
You should allow for 3 hours per subject for lectures and tutorials. For each subject, you should then spend approximately 10 hours per week for self-directed study to complete prescribed readings, practice skills, research, study and complete assessments.
Interested in studying this course online? Click here to learn more about our distance learning options.
Progression
In order for a student to progress into the next subject level, they must successfully complete 18 credits of the previous subject level or have received those credits in advanced standing. For example, students must complete 18 credits of Level 1 subjects before enrolling into any Level 2 subjects. This same rule applies for Level 3 subjects for both Core and Selective subjects.
Pre-requisite subjects must be successfully completed in order to progress into that specific subject. Some subjects require enrolment alongside, or at the same time as another specific subject – this is referred to as a co-requisite subject.
SUBJECTS
Core Subjects
PSYC101 Foundations in Arts Psychotherapy
In this subject, you will explore your subjective lived experience as the basis for the development of your personal arts psychotherapeutic approach. You will develop your capacity to be aware of your own experience of being in the world. The learning will be experiential and focused on your ability to notice your lived experience in the present moment and articulate this through rich description using a range of modalities.
Credit Points: 6
Prerequisite Subjects: None
SOSC101 Foundations of Scholarly Practice
This subject explores with students the foundations of scholarly practice in higher education and its role in supporting a humanistic liberal arts education. Students will develop an understanding of how scholarly practice contributes to the development and organization of self and mind. The subject introduces, places into context, and develops skills in listening and speaking; reading and writing; reasoning, argumentation, and communication; the schematics of thought; reflective and reflexive thinking; metacognition and the development of self; communication and community; and the scientific method; and explantation of international and Australian trends to enable successful engagement in scholarly practice as a higher education student.
Credit Points: 6
Prerequisite Subjects: None
ARTS101 Qualities of Art Making and Media
This subject extends the focus on subjective lived experience, covered in PSYC101 Foundations of Arts Psychotherapy, to encompass an exploration of the lived experience of ‘being with’ art, art-making and art media. Within this subject, you will be introduced to the history of art in healing and will undertake research into tribal, religious, and secular traditions. Through interactive lectures and experiential learning, you will explore questions such as: What is art? What are art materials/media? What happens during the art-making process?
Credit Points: 6
Prerequisite Subjects: None
ARTS102 Dimensional Modalities in Arts Therapy
In this subject, students will acquire and develop a range of specific 2D and 3D visual art skills. They will come to understand art materials as a therapeutic modality and practice in assessing the inherent qualities of the media. Students will practice self-reflection when being with another person in the art-making process. They will come to understand the power of witnessing, holding space, and withholding comments and judgement while developing metacognition in the witnessing process. Students will gain a comprehensive understanding of the qualities that art materials possess and learn to work with appropriate art materials in particular contexts. Students will learn relevant underpinning materials theory and explore how intersubjectivity relates to client experiences of materials in arts psychotherapy.
Credit Points: 6
Prerequisite Subjects: None
ARTS103 Expressive Modalities in Arts Therapy
In this subject, students will be introduced to working with various expressive modalities including play, drama, movement, music, voice, storytelling, and sand-play. Students are encouraged to consider their experiences engaging with expressive modalities and conceptualise how they may be used to explore and achieve therapeutic goals. Students will learn relevant underpinning materials theory and explore how intersubjectivity relates to client experiences of materials in arts psychotherapy.
Credit Points: 6
Prerequisite Subjects: None
PSYC108 Integrative Psychotherapy in Practice 1
In this subject, students will be introduced to the fundamental theory and practice that underlies effective psychotherapeutic practice. Students will be encouraged to reflect on the role of psychotherapy in society. They will reflect on their own acculturation and the ways in which this might influence their practice. Students will be introduced to the notion of relationality, and explore why it is foundational to the therapeutic change process.
At a practical level, students will witness demonstrations of certain key therapeutic skills essential to effective psychotherapy, and also engage in exercises designed to develop these basic skills. In addition to a strong emphasis on skills-based learning this subject will focus on the areas such as: therapeutic relationship building, communication, empathy and transference / counter-transference issues.
Credit Points: 6
Prerequisite Subjects: None
PSYC109 Integrative Systems of Health and Wellbeing
This subject focuses on developing competence in understanding and integrating contemporary and classical views on the nature of health and wellbeing and draws upon current debates and practices concerned with the complex mind-body relationship, consciousness and states of consciousness and therapeutic interventions within psychotherapy, medicine, psychiatry, neurosciences and ethnomedicine. In addition, these elements of an integrative approach are supported and expanded by critical, analytical perspectives on culture, social and political structures and dynamics in the definition of health and wellbeing and systems of intervention.
Credit Points: 6
Prerequisite Subjects: None
SOSC171 Ethics and Politics in Psychotherapy
This subject has as its focus the knowledge and skills required to practice as a psychotherapist within the designated professional ethical, legal and professional standards as set down by the peak accrediting bodies within the field of psychotherapy/arts psychotherapy. The subject requires the student to examine their own personal values and belief systems as a foundation for the development of professional ethical practice.
The ethical, political and legal context of psychotherapeutic practice will be explored through case studies, professional situations and duty of care issues in contemporary therapy practice. There is emphasis on the personal and professional competencies and attributes required to practice ethically and legally as a therapist including self-reflection of the practitioner’s own values. Skill development includes understanding of how to work with confidentiality, informed consent, themes of power, and practice boundaries.
Credit Points: 6
Prerequisite Subjects: None
SOSC172 Foundations of Professional Competency
In this subject, students will explore their personal resources as a means to develop awareness and understanding of therapeutic practices. Students will reflect on the influence of family, culture, life experience, professional history and other contextual influences including current role and workplace. Students will focus on both verbal and non-verbal levels of communication and conscious and non-conscious dimensions of relating. A strong focus on empathy and self-exploration will be incorporated in this subject.
Credit Points: 6
Prerequisite Subjects: None
ARTS104 Arts Therapy - Inter-modal Approach
This subject will introduce students to the application of an inter-modal approach to Arts Psychotherapy, including the advantages and challenges of this approach. Inter-modal arts Psychotherapy is the practice of using imagery, storytelling, dance, music, drama, poetry, movement, horticulture/nature, dreamwork, and visual arts together, in an integrated way, to foster human growth, development, and healing. Building on their knowledge of the multi-sensory body, students will learn to attune to their senses of touch, sight, taste, smell, and hearing as the foundation of an inter-modal approach in which the therapist and client move freely between different modalities. Students will be introduced to the application of a range of creative arts in an improvisational way in the form of a self-inquiry. Additionally, students will learn to apply a range of creative arts therapy techniques and processes including horizontalisation, amplification, reduction, and providing creative responses within this inter-modal approach.
Credit Points: 6
Prerequisite Subjects: ARTS102; ARTS103
PSYC201 Arts Psychotherapy in Practice 2: Groups
During this subject, students will develop an understanding of the theory and practical skills necessary to begin facilitating arts psychotherapy group work. The subject will introduce students to the curative factors of groups as well as group development and facilitation theories. This subject is highly skills-based and students will have the opportunity to plan and practice their group facilitation skills and gain feedback from group members. Students will engage in a range of creative group processes and will use these experiences to reflect upon and articulate their own therapeutic approach to group work.
Credit Points: 6
Prerequisite Subjects: None
PSYC202 Creativity in Mental Health
This subject will summarise the foundations for creativity as integral to healthy connections with self, others and the world. In this subject students will explore the theory and application of the developmental role of creativity in the first relationships humans experience. Students will also explore how this contributes to the spectrum of mental health throughout the lifespan as we focus on the disruption of this developmental process, or developmental trauma and the experience of loss. Using their lived experience, students will investigate the significance of boundaries, regulation and meaning making. We will then consider how these experiences and knowledge informs an intermodal arts psychotherapy context.
Credit Points: 6
Prerequisite Subjects: None
PLAC201 Placement A - Arts Therapy
Supervised therapeutic work with clients as a ‘therapist in training’ is an essential part of the Bachelor of Arts Therapy. This will enable students to immerse themselves in their practice experience and develop safe and professional practice within a placement setting. A dedicated Placement Team will support students throughout their placement experience. Placement opportunities will be drawn from a variety of settings, including the opportunity for students to work with adults, children, and groups.
Subject Code: PLAC911
Credit Points: 12
Hours: 240
Pre Requisites: ARTS101, SOSC172, 48 Credit Points
PSYC208 Life Span Development
This subject will explore central issues, theories, and methods in the study of developmental psychology and life span development. An interdisciplinary approach is taken to go through the development of life from an evolutionary and cultural perspective. By focusing on evolution, embryology, attachment, and cultural history, students can gain a deeper awareness of how life develops with regard to concepts of nature and nurture. An overview is provided of abnormal development alongside the important developmental stages that human beings pass through – birth, infancy, adolescence, adulthood, seniority, dying, and death.
Credit Points: 6
Prerequisite Subjects: None
PLAC301 Placement B - Arts Therapy
Supervised therapeutic work with clients as a ‘therapist in training’ is an essential part of the Bachelor of Arts Therapy. This will enable students to immerse themselves in their practice experience and develop safe and professional practice within a placement setting. A dedicated Placement Team will support students throughout their placement experience. Placement opportunities will be drawn from a variety of settings, including the opportunity for students to work with adults, children, and groups.
Credit Points: 12
Hours: 240
Pre Requisites: ARTS101, SOSC172, PSYC201, 84 Credit Points
Capstone Subjects
Selective Subjects
PSYC102 Introduction to Integrative Psychotherapy
In this subject, students will explore the intellectual foundations of integrative approaches to Psychotherapy. This subject will develop an intellectual foundation for integrative world views exploring the ontological assumptions of various approaches to psychotherapy. This subject will demonstrate the historical development of integrative psychotherapy and its role in the current psychotherapeutic landscape. This subject will explore the problems and modes of integrative thinking in psychotherapy and develop a foundational view of integrative psychotherapy that will be used throughout the degree.
Credit Points: 6
Prerequisite Subjects: None
PSYC103 Models of Therapeutic Practice 1
Students will develop a working understanding of a number of the principal paradigms that promote growth, healing and psychotherapeutic change. Students will learn to recognise major theoretical perspectives, concepts and explanatory frameworks employed within psychotherapy. There will be a central focus on how to compare therapies with respect to their conceptual and theoretical structure, evidential basis, conditions of application (problem- and client-types) and philosophical assumptions. The models studied are all contextualised within an integrative case formulation framework, and are considered as different metaphors for the organisation of mind.
Credit Points: 6
Prerequisite Subjects: None
PSYC104 Case Conceptualisation 1
This subject explores case management and conceptualisation. Students will examine the foundations of the case conceptualisation process to enable them to progressively map and work with the varied elements of a client’s experience. Conceptualisation frameworks will be introduced that enable students to integrate a range of appropriate theories and techniques. An integrative approach will be developed in order to reflect contemporary developments in research, theory, and practice in an interdisciplinary framework.
Credit Points: 6
Pre Requisites: PSYC103, PSYC108
PSYC105 Models of Therapeutic Practice 2
In this subject, students will develop a working understanding of a number of other principal paradigms that promote growth, healing and psychotherapeutic change, that augment their understanding gained in the Models of Therapeutic Practice 1 subject. Students will learn to recognise major theoretical perspectives, concepts and explanatory frameworks employed within psychotherapy. There will be a central focus on how to compare therapies with respect to their conceptual and theoretical structure, evidential basis, conditions of application (problem- and client-types) and philosophical assumptions. The models studied are all contextualised within an integrative case formulation framework.
Credit Points: 6
Prerequisite Subjects: None
PSYC171 Integrative Psychotherapy in Practice 2
In this subject student’s will deepen their understanding of relationality as a foundational aspect of the therapeutic change process and to skills required to facilitate effective psychotherapy and support the therapeutic change process. This subject has a strong emphasis on the practice of inter-personal psychotherapy, it draws together the content of all previous subjects in practice and application.
Introduction to Integrative Psychotherapy
Integrative Systems of Health and Wellbeing
Models of Therapeutic Practice 1
Case Conceptualisation 1
Models of Therapeutic Practice 2
Ethics and Politics in Psychotherapy
Foundations of Professional Competency
Introduction to Mental Health
Understanding Systems in Psychotherapy
Students will utilise experiential methods, including, triads and role-play to develop the basic concepts, techniques and practical skills required in psychotherapy, including conceptualisation in practice.
Credit Points: 6
Pre Requisites: PSYC108
PSYC172 Case Conceptualisation - Art Therapy
PSYC271 Introduction to Mental Health: Wellbeing and Distress
In this subject, students will gain an overview of the Australian mental health system and examine the role of the active participants therein, including psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and others. Students will explore the varied experiences of consumers utilising mental health services in Australia and identify the current strengths and weaknesses of that system. Students will learn about how the conceptions of normal and abnormal behaviour have developed historically. Students will focus on the historical emergence of systems of diagnosis (DSM / ICD10), their justifications, and criticisms. Students will learn to identify important terms and major categories of the current classification systems in psychopathology. They will also critically evaluate the changing role of psychopharmacology within the Australian mental health system. Finally, students will gain an understanding of the roles available to Ikon Graduates working within or alongside the Australian mental health system.
Credit Points: 6
Prerequisite Subjects: None
PSYC272 Understanding Systems in Psychotherapy
This subject will take a systems lens to psychotherapy focusing on the person: environment approach. Students will be introduced to General Systems Theory (GST) as the foundation for understanding the different systems that impact an individual’s wellbeing. The exploration of a systems approach will be undertaken within the philosophy of phenomenology. This subject will build on the knowledge of groups already covered in the course and provide a bridge between the introductory subject of Integrated Systems of Health and Wellbeing and the Eco-psychotherapy subject. Students will be introduced to the historical, as well as the contemporary, understanding and application of systems approaches in psychotherapy. The subject will commence with an exploration of broad eco-systems approach and move through a range of systems such as social/cultural/political systems, community/neighbourhood/tribal systems, family systems, couple systems and finally link to the earlier subject on individual psycho-biological systems. The subject will focus on developing theoretical understanding and an application of a systems approach to psychotherapy practice.
Credit Points: 6
Prerequisite Subjects: None
PSYC273 Altered State Techniques in Psychotherapy
This subject concerns state-specific knowledge and techniques, which derive from research on the nature of consciousness and states of consciousness. Specifically, it focuses on the ways in which human resources such as knowledge insight, health enhancement, problem-solving and self-realisation may be accessed through a range of states of consciousness, including those central to therapeutic imagery techniques, hypnosis, meditation, focusing and psycho-spiritual experience accessed in cultural medicine. The subject emphasises skill development in using Ericksonian-styles of state-change, Gendlin’s focusing and recent developments in the use of mindfulness formats in psychotherapy, medicine, and psychiatry. These techniques, along with related methods, are placed in an integrative psychotherapeutic context.
Credit Points: 6
Prerequisite Subjects: None
PSYC204 Treatment of Grief and Loss in Psychotherapy
This subject will enable students to develop both a sound understanding and familiarity with the techniques of case management concerning central issues around grief, loss and bereavement in the psychotherapeutic process. This will involve acquisition of skills, knowledge and an understanding of appropriate interventions for different grief and loss contexts and presentations. The subject will also focus on the cultural, sociological, and ethical aspects of working with these themes.
Credit Points: 6
Prerequisite Subjects: None
PSYC205 Narrative, Identity and Integrative Process
This subject will introduce students to the core concepts and practices which focus on dealing with the notions of self, agency, autonomy, identity, and narrative as they appear in psychotherapy. This subject draws from an interdisciplinary perspective in order to enable students to understand how these critical aspects of human experience may be considered and worked within a clinical setting. This subject is divided into two distinct phases. The first is theory-based and draws from the philosophy of mind, neuroscience, neuro-psycho-pathological studies, and cognitive science. The second draws these into clinical relevance by engaging these ideas alongside the practices of narrative therapy and mentalization-based psychotherapy.
Credit Points: 6
Co Requisites: PSYC207
PSYC206 Case Conceptualisation 2
In this class, students will return to a formal focus on clinical thinking and clinical skills. This subject is designed as a seminar to allow students to workshop clinical matters drawn from live clinical cases. In this class, the teacher or students will workshop a case demonstrating a clear integrative conceptualisation and treatment plan. Any clinical issues or skill deficiencies that arise will then be workshopped and practiced in class. This class is designed to further prepare students for their clinical placement.
Credit Points: 6
Pre Requisite: PSYC104
PSYC207 Psychotherapy and the Body in the Treatment of Trauma
In this subject, students will be introduced to the theory and practice that underlies the emergent area of trauma-focused and somatic informed psychotherapy. This subject will enable students to develop a sound introduction to the key areas concerning trauma treatment and practice. This subject will involve the acquisition of basic safety and stabilisation skills for trauma treatment and a working knowledge of the phases of trauma treatment and practice. Students will gain some understanding of appropriate interventions for trauma presentations across all three phases of trauma treatment, however, this subject as an introduction will be focused on phase one skills. The subject will also focus on the ethical aspects of working with these themes.
Credit Points: 6
Co Requisite: PSYC205
ARTS271 Creative Art Modalities - Introduction to Drama Therapy
This subject provides a firm introduction to dramatherapy utilising the core processes that inform this modality. Students will consider their dramatic histories before using role, story, projective techniques and a range of dramatic processes to further their dramatic development. Students will have an opportunity to reflect upon their experiences and conceptualise how the theatre arts may be used to explore and achieve therapeutic goals.
Credit Points: 6
Prerequisite Subjects: None
ARTS272 Creative Art Modalities - Introduction to Dance and Movement Therapy
This subject provides an overview of the foundational concepts and practices of Dance Movement Therapy (DMT), which is understood as the relational and therapeutic use of dance and movement to further the physical, emotional, cognitive, social and cultural functioning of a person (www.dtaa.org.au).
In common with other arts therapies modalities, DMT focuses on individual expressivity within the therapeutic practice. It draws on the use of a range of theoretical premises from psychology and psychotherapy to support this. DMT differs from other arts modalities in that it uses the body as the prime instrument of creative expression, with dance and movement its main medium. DMT practice is centred on the essentialness of dance, aesthetics and the body-mind-feeling framework for a better understanding of human health and wellbeing. It works to establish and develop a therapeutic relationship through additional concepts that include kinaesthetic empathy, presence, attunement, witnessing and intersubjectivity.
Students will engage primarily in experiential learning to explore these core theoretical underpinnings and related embodied therapeutic processes. They will develop an awareness of themselves as embodied beings through engagement in improvised movement, the principal dance modality of DMT.
Credit Points: 6
Prerequisite Subjects: None
ARTS273 Creative Art Modalities - Introduction to Voice and Sound Therapy
Sound therapy is a relatively new healing technique that employs the vibrations of the human voice to go beyond relaxation and foster healing. This subject will prepare students to understand the history, foundations, and some of the key concepts of voice and sound therapy. Some sound therapists use external instruments, such as tuning forks or singing bowls. However, there is no tool more powerful for healing than the human voice. Students will engage in experiential work to explore how to free the voice and use it to fully express themselves in all aspects of their life. Through sound therapy, you just might be able to find the authority of your own true voice – and self.
Credit Points: 6
Prerequisite Subjects: None
PSYC274 Psychotherapy and Literature: The Poetics of Practice
Literature is the affective representation of human experience (understood in its broadest possible sense); a representation that is performed for its own sake (rather than for reasons of utility or morality (Kant)); and which cultivates complexity (in order to remain faithful to the complexity of human experience) through a rigorous mobilisation of the inherent ambiguity of natural language.
If we accept that mind is an ‘embodied, relational and informatic process with self-regulating capacity’ (Dowie) then we might rephrase the former definition of literature as an attempt to provide, in natural language, an adequate representation of mind. Literature is not a logos of experience. It is rather an experience of experience: the doubling of mind—the presentation of mind to itself—in the medium of language. Reading literature is therefore an encounter with other minds, and the practice of reading literature becomes by extension the practice of engaging with other minds.
Credit Points: 6
Prerequisite Subjects: None
PSYC371 Psychotherapy with Different Client Populations - Young People
This subject has as its focus the knowledge and skills required to apply psychotherapy/arts psychotherapy to working with young people. The subject requires the student to develop an understanding of child and adolescent development, concerns facing young people in today’s society, common issues that young people may bring to therapy, best practice engagement strategies for working with young people in a therapeutic context and processes in working with this specific population group.
This subject provides students with the opportunity to understand how art-based engagement activities can be used to effectively build rapport and positive therapeutic relationships with young people.
There is also an emphasis on the personal and professional competencies and attributes required to work effectively with children and young people. Skill development also includes an understanding of how to work with relevant legislation, confidentiality, informed consent and duty of care with children and young people under the age of 18, and also how to effectively engage families, parents and caregivers in the therapeutic process.
Credit Points: 6
Prerequisite Subjects: None
PSYC372 Psychotherapy with Different Client Populations - Addictive Behaviours
This subject has as its focus on the knowledge and skills required to apply psychotherapy/arts psychotherapy to working with addictive behaviours. The subject will support students to understand what constitutes an addiction, with a focus on both substance and behavioural addictions.
This subject enables students to develop a holistic understanding of addiction incorporating biological, psychological, emotional and spiritual dimensions. Additionally, students will be introduced to the predisposing, precipitating and perpetuation factors which may be contributing to the emergence and maintenance of addiction, the Stages of Change process, and the micro (individual and family) and macro (community, societal, legal and systemic) factors which can impact on working with clients’ lived experience of addiction. The subject requires the student to develop an understanding of, best practice engagement strategies for working with addictive behaviours in a therapeutic context.
There is also an emphasis on the personal and professional competencies and attributes required to work effectively with addictive behaviours. Skill development also includes understanding how to work with relevant legislation to ensure that Duty of Care obligations are being upheld and to work with carers, families and other service providers to ensure quality therapeutic engagement.
Credit Points: 6
Prerequisite Subjects: None
PSYC373 Psychotherapy with Different Client Populations - People with Disabilities
In this subject, students will acquire knowledge and skills for working with and alongside people with disability. Students will explore how the diverse, complex experiences of people with disability can be understood from multiple perspectives, and how their stories are told and re-told in different settings and in a variety of ways. Such acts of telling and retelling can be healing experiences, political expressions (‘the personal is political’), and/or instruments for social action and change.
This subject addresses the personal and professional competencies and attributes required to work effectively with children, adolescents and adults with disability. They include understanding how to work with relevant legislation; the complexities of interdisciplinary team work; ethical professional client-centred writing; and engaging with families, parents and caregivers in the therapeutic process.
In this subject, students will develop a working understanding of a number of other principal paradigms that promote
Credit Points: 6
Prerequisite Subjects: None
SOSC371 Social Ecology - Ecopsychotherapy
This subject will introduce students to the emerging field of eco-psychotherapy – exploring both theory and practice.
The subject will be run as a five-day experiential intensive, with one half-day session in the weeks before the intensive, and one half-day session in the weeks following the intensive.
Credit Points: 6
Prerequisite Subjects: None
SOSC373 Introduction to Research Methods
This subject focuses on providing students with a basic understanding of a wide range of research methods in psychotherapy. This module covers basic conceptual and practical issues in research design, and quantitative and qualitative methods of research. Students will develop a basic understanding of the role of empirical evidence and learn to reflect on, review and audit their professional practice. This subject carefully scaffolds students’ exposure to research methods in two ways: first, it is internally scaffolded by means of assessments that are appropriate to students’ level of learning and research within the subject; and second, it is externally scaffolded insofar as the subject as a whole serves as an undergraduate ‘apprenticeship’ in research that builds capacity for conducting research at a post-graduate level.
Credit Points: 6
Prerequisite Subjects: None
TRAN371 Transpersonal Theory and Practice - Dreams and Symbols in Psychotherapy
This subject is concerned with developing an understanding of the symbol and dream producing resources of the human psyche. In particular, the subject focuses on the capacity of the dreaming function to access and mobilise resource systems to engage with problem-solving, stress reduction, knowledge and understanding, change management and psychological development. The unit explores experiences gained in the dreaming, liminal, conscious imaging and metaphor states of consciousness. Skill development is directed towards using various methods to access this domain, including Jungian, Gestalt, shamanic and archetypal processes, in both individual and group settings. These methods are developed as part of an integrative psychotherapeutic skillset.
Credit Points: 6
Prerequisite Subjects: None
TRAN372 Transpersonal Theory and Practice - Eastern Practice and Western Psychology
This subject will develop the themes of growing up and waking up. The subject runs in an intensive format following a structured program of personal reflection, practice and lectures. The subject explores themes of organization of mind through understanding the research and practices that help facilitate individual organization of mind. This subject will begin by addressing early developmental factors in the formation of mind and move to include transpersonal psychology and eastern philosophy and practices.
Credit Points: 6
Prerequisite Subjects: None
TRAN374 Transpersonal Theory and Practice - Philosophy and Psychotherapy
This subject seeks to explore the important relationship between philosophy and psychotherapy. The subject takes a wide and varying look at philosophical approaches and problems that are deeply connected to psychotherapy practice. The subject introduces the core ideas in the philosophy as therapy movement. This subject provides a rich intellectual landscape for students interested in the practice of thinking and its relationship to psychotherapy.
Credit Points: 6
Prerequisite Subjects: None
Career Opportunities
The Bachelor of Arts Therapy prepares graduates for an exciting career as arts therapists with the skills to attend to the needs of clients in a variety of professional settings, ranging from mental health organisations and agencies through to private practice.
Professional Accreditation
Graduates may be eligible for tier membership of the key arts therapy professional body in Australia, ANZACATA.
Ikon has a range of admission pathways available to students of all circumstances and academic backgrounds:
- Australian Year 12 Secondary School Certificate with a minimum ATAR 65
- Completion of a VET qualification at Diploma level or higher
- Completion (or partial completion) of a higher education qualification
Applicants may also gain entry in recognition of their work and life experience. You must be at least 21 years of age at course commencement and provide a written admission statement of 300-500 words explaining how the knowledge, skills and personal qualities you’ve gained through your experiences will help you succeed in your studies at Ikon. For more information about writing your admissions statement click here.
All applicants must participate in an admissions interview.
International applicants, and any applicants who did not complete their previous study in English, must evidence a minimum IELTS Overall Score of 6.0 with no band less than 6.0.
You should choose the admission pathway most relevant to your academic background. To discuss the best pathway for your circumstances, please contact Admissions at 1300 000 933 or via email at admissions@ikon.edu.au.
For more information see:
Application Process
Domestic Student Admission Policy
Student Profile Table
Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)
Recognition of Prior Learning is an assessment process used to determine the extent to which a student has achieved the learning outcomes of a subject from earlier learning, experience or achievements. Where equivalence of prior learning can be established, the student is exempt from attending that particular subject in order to complete their course.
You may apply for course credit towards the Bachelor of Arts Therapy in recognition of prior learning which may result in course credit and exemption from that subject. For more information on the application process, see the Recognition of Prior Learning & Credit Policy or contact Admissions at 1300 000 933 or admissions@ikon.edu.au.
Pathways
Exit Pathway
Students who successfully complete the first year of the Bachelor of Arts Therapy and decide they do not wish to continue their degree studies may exit with the nested award of Diploma of Arts Therapy.
Students who successfully complete two years of the Bachelor of Arts Therapy and decide they do not wish to continue their degree studies may exit with the nested award of Associate Degree of Arts Therapy.