Why are art therapy degree apprenticeships valuable?

The development of arts therapies apprenticeships began in 2017 with an innovative group bringing together employers, universities, and professional bodies to develop the arts therapies apprenticeship standard which was approved in 2019.

There is a great demand for a skilled, creative and flexible workforce to meet the UK’s mental health and development needs and these apprenticeships will help to meet it. In 2023, the first apprenticeships were launched.

Apprenticeships are available in Art Therapy, Dramatherapy and Music Therapy. Arts therapies apprentices train to the same postgraduate master’s level (level 7) as conventional art therapy trainees.

But rather than being placed in the workplace for a limited time to gain clinical experience, they are full time members of the workforce.

Apprenticeships help diversify the arts therapies workforce, particularly in terms of ethnic and socio-economic background. Having more diverse art therapists means organisations can reach out to more diverse individuals and groups who might not currently connect with art therapists. This will enhance the experience of therapy and clinical outcomes.

Apprentices also frequently live and work in their local area, and this local knowledge can be a helpful clinical and organisational resource.

Arts therapies have an important role to play in expanding the range of psychological interventions offered to organisations’ clients. They can offer a viable resource to individuals who find purely verbal therapy inaccessible, and apprentices will expand the availability of these therapies. Apprentices can also create strong links with arts and wellbeing resources.

Apprentices bring enthusiasm into a team as they share their growth and journey with colleagues. At a time when recruitment can be extremely challenging, organisations can also offer apprenticeship opportunities to their own junior staff, developing their career pathways, which will then help retain staff. An additional benefit is that a qualified apprentice is likely to be knowledgeable about the organisation, its partners, context and ways of working, and to be aligned to its values.

Arts therapies apprentices will undertake supervised clinical arts therapies sessions for service users in their home organisation as part of their training. These hours can form a valuable addition to the organisation’s therapeutic offer. They also attend personal therapy as a mandatory part of their apprenticeship, which helps to enhance their resilience, reflectiveness, and clinical understanding.

Arts therapies apprentices study part time, including a mix of regular online learning and less frequent intensive in-person learning. Personal therapy is weekly, with the minimum number of sessions varying with the specific discipline. They average 6 hours a week taught time and approximately 10 hours a week fulfilling their clinical hours (including delivering individual and group sessions in art psychotherapy to patients).