Wellbeing Education - Professional Training in Therapeutic Wellbeing Practice for Children and Young People

This module supports students to further research and integrate their knowledge and experience, including understanding of equality, diversity, inclusivity and intersectionality. This includes reflexive self-inquiry about the development of the self in context. Students share their lived experience through performative autoethnographic research journals and presentations. This is supported by a minimum of 50 hours of personal therapy with an appropriately registered professional, to enable autoethnographic research and increased development of self-awareness. Students can share in the process of collaborative research inquiry and presentation with many other students in training across the Institute for Arts in Therapy and Education. This includes selecting a topic that interests the student, as well as considering its significance for social injustice as a contributing contextual factor for child mental health and community wellbeing. 

This module is delivered over fifteen evenings of online lectures, group work seminars, peer mentor groups and engages students in collaborative reflection and dialogue. This is also accompanied by the site of integration which commences on year two with two evenings a month.  Students are required to attend at least once a month to ensure they are integrating theory and practice as well as gaining learning support.  The course includes tutor led break out groups and peer mentoring groups on all the subjects covered on the course which revise and consolidate the full training in Child Therapeutic Counselling. The course is structured to enable students to work through each of the sections in the case study research in chronological order and to receive cumulative and well as summative feedback on their written work. The case study is a piece of professional research which requires evidence of professional ethical standards and an integration of knowledge and experience as applied to child therapeutic counselling practice. This also includes an audit of all course requirements.  

These can commence on term two of year two and can continue throughout year three and four. This must be agreed by the Course Director in consultation with supervisors and tutors, depending on the experience and personal development of the trainee.  All students need to complete a minimum of 60 hours of supervision which includes 15 hours per year with an appropriately qualified and registered therapeutic professional.

Placements for year four must include 100 hours of child therapeutic counselling with the following age categories:

3-6 years – 20 hours

6-9 years – 20 hours 

10-13 years – 20 hours 

13+ - years - 6 hours +

At this level students have attended three years of training and completed ten assessments including: 

Year One 

Principles of professional practice viva 

Applied therapeutic thinking vignette presentations 

Creative and relational therapeutic counselling skills facilitation 

Year Two 

Safeguarding, child development and wellbeing interview 

Multi-disciplinary consultation 

Case presentation 

Year Three  

Professional profile presentation interview

Community wellbeing project presentation 

Case study research proposal 

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Year Four 

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Autoethnographic research journal / presentation

Social injustice presentation 

Professional practice audit 

Case Study 6,000 words 

Students must have completed two journal entries for each of the ten modules by the end of this course. Journal entries are 1,500 words each on relevant subjects throughout the training with six reflective practice questions within each of them. These evidence a combination of reading, research and practice based learning including academic standards, creativity and personal reflection.