Developing effective approaches for arts psychotherapies practice in mental health.
Arts psychotherapists use a non-verbal medium to help link talking and feeling in powerful and focused ways. It is of no surprise that arts can promote mental health and wellbeing, however the models of practice need to be applied in the right way with the knowledge of technical aspects of implementation informed by evidence.
The International Centre for Arts Psychotherapies Training in Mental Health (ICAPT) was established in 2011 to build upon the excellence of arts psychotherapies clinical expertise and to offer training for evidence-based models more widely. The aim of the centre is to provide a better experience for patients where interventions are guided but not prescriptive and are informed by the latest research without losing the intuition and innovation of which arts psychotherapists are known for.
The priorities of the centre are to:
- Offer training in mentalisation-based arts psychotherapies, interpersonal arts psychotherapies and interventions for psychosis
- Develop clinical research and quality improvement projects for arts psychotherapies within mental health services
- Develop dialogues with service users about what works for whom
- Build an international community
This is the first centre of its kind, accessible to all arts psychotherapists with a focus on evidence-based practice for clinical groups and will help to offer a way forward for arts psychotherapists refining clinical methods verbally and non-verbally for specific clinical populations.
We are moving all planned face-to-face training courses for qualified arts psychotherapists, music therapists, drama therapists and dance movement psychotherapists to online. More details will follow soon.
Why train with us?
The training integrates well-established principles of arts therapies with research informed psychological interventions:
- Developing a shared language for arts therapies interventions
- Linking practice with outcomes
- Using research to inform clinical development
The ICAPT team is led by clinical leads and managers who have demonstrated clinical expertise in art psychotherapy, music therapy and drama therapy. The training is attended by arts therapists from different backgrounds and offers an opportunity to provide a multi-modal learning forum.
During these times of such significant change in the health services, where jobs have far less security than ever before, and as payment by results becomes implemented through value-based commissioning, it will become more a requirement that we are able to demonstrate a shared understanding of the treatment process from the therapist's, manager's and patient's perspective.
These training programmes are a significant step towards establishing a position that offers a clinically led solution.
If you have not already completed this training and you are either intending to work in a health setting which involves the treatment of severe mental health disorders or you are already working in a health setting, we believe that these training programmes would be of benefit to you.
For any enquiries contact us at icapt.cnwl@nhs.net
We offer placements exploring the use of different clinical models in health settings.
Our growing research culture provides a learning context for aspirational students developing their career focus, and to support this we offer the following:
- Psychiatric placements for psychotherapists working with adults
- Psychiatric placements for psychotherapists working with older adults and healthy ageing
Psychiatric placements for psychotherapists working with adults (ref UKCP1)
We offer 20-day psychiatric placements to psychotherapy trainees from various educational organisations designed specifically to meet UKCP requirements.
The aims of the placements are to enable trainees to become familiar with treatment options for service users with a range of psychiatric diagnoses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, dementia, personality disorders and psychosis. The trainee will familiarise themselves with the systems and culture of a psychiatric environment as well as theory and clinical methods used within the NHS.
Trainees will learn about:
- Current approaches to the management and treatment of mental disorders including the role of mental health nurses, occupational therapists and arts psychotherapists and psychiatrists
- Medical and psychodynamic approaches to treatment
- The basics of the legislative and organisational framework, including the Mental Health Act, the Care Programme Approach and the various agencies involved
Course details
- Placement length:100 hoyrs
- Placement cost: £595 (from 2018), including special rates for ICAPT training
If you would like to be notified of placement opportunities and how to apply please email icapt.cnwl@nhs.net
Psychiatric placements for psychotherapists working with older adults and healthy ageing (ref UKCP2)
We offer placements in older people’s service tailored to the needs of the individual; including psychiatric placements for artists, health care workers, arts psychotherapists and psychotherapy trainees from various organisations wanting to gain experience in working with older adults who have mental health needs (including dementia).
The aims of this placement are to enable people to become familiar with service users who have mental and physical health issues associated with ageing. The trainee will learn about using the arts as a method of engagement and get to know the system and culture of psychiatric environments as well as the theory and clinical methods used in this environment to rigorous NHS standards.
The OPHA Arts Psychotherapy Team (drama, art, music), have many years of clinical experience in working with older people who have mental health needs. They work in the community and continuing care and placements can involve observation and interaction in a range of settings with different arts interventions.
On your placement you will learn about:
- Aetiology and diagnosis
- Psychiatric and psychodynamic formulation of mental health diagnosis
- NICE guidance for the treatment of mental health issues
- Experience of arts therapies context of practice
- Familiarity with psychiatric assessment and treatment practice
- Practice guidance in working clinically and in using arts media with people who have dementia
- Current approaches to the management and treatment of mental disorders
- Basic evaluation of outcomes of practice
- Understanding working with safe levels of risk
- An overview of the roles of psychiatric professionals, psychiatric nurses, care coordinators, clinical psychologists, psychiatrists
- Record-keeping, data collection and issues of confidentiality
Course details
- Placement length: 100 hours
- Placement cost: £595 (from 2018), including special rates for ICAPT training.
If you would like to be notified of placement opportunities and how to apply please email icapt.cnwl@nhs.net
The research knowledge base is a repository of information for both new and experienced researchers in the field of arts psychotherapies.
ICAPT promotes high quality research in arts psychotherapies. To that end, we have created a research knowledge base; a repository of information that we hope will be useful to both new and experienced researchers in the field of arts psychotherapies.
Currently, two sections have been implemented:
- Research projects, service evaluations and clinical audits: knowing the distinction between a research project, service evaluation and clinical audit can can help you to determine whether your study is research
- Database of PhDs in arts psychotherapies: a list of PhD-level research theses completed (or underway) in the field of arts psychotherapies, primarily from the UK but also from other countries
Future additions will include:
- Current research projects: research projects in arts psychotherapies in the UK and abroad to showcase the kinds of research that are happening and to offer an opportunity for collaboration
- Research methodologies: a brief overview of research methodologies used in arts psychotherapies, including quantitative, qualitative and mixed methodologies
The Research Forum
The first Research Forum for arts psychotherapies was held on 23 July 2013. We provided a space for exploring research, ideas, methodologies and ambitions. The afternoon offered discussion about contexts and ways of seeing research about arts psychotherapies.
- What does good research practice mean?
- What research questions are being asked and why?
- How does this help clinicians to improve their practice in the field?
As part of CNWL, ICAPT aspires actively to link with empirically informed methods of arts psychotherapies practice that promote recovery for the patient in mental health settings.
The Research Forum will evolve to create stronger connections between researchers and arts psychotherapists (often dual role) as well as informing the research progress of our work with the Horizons Project.
The forum will focus on training needs, the international and cultural context, service user involvement and outcomes studies.
It aims to help establish an ongoing network with active researchers, those in the early days of ambitious projects and those that are considering further research. Within CNWL, we have been involved in developing randomised controlled trials, outcome measures and qualitative research.
This work is supported by the Arts Psychotherapies University Alliance and associate professors:
- Professor Peter Fonagy
- Professor Helen Odell Miller
- Professor Helen Payne
- Professor Diane Waller
ICAPT promotes high quality research in arts psychotherapies. To that end, we have created a research knowledge base; a repository of information that we hope will be useful to both new and experienced researchers in the field of arts psychotherapies.
Currently, two sections have been implemented:
- Research projects, service evaluations and clinical audits: knowing the distinction between a research project, service evaluation and clinical audit can can help you to determine whether your study is research
- Database of PhDs in arts psychotherapies: a list of PhD-level research theses completed (or underway) in the field of arts psychotherapies, primarily from the UK but also from other countries
Future additions will include:
- Current research projects: research projects in arts psychotherapies in the UK and abroad to showcase the kinds of research that are happening and to offer an opportunity for collaboration
- Research methodologies: a brief overview of research methodologies used in arts psychotherapies, including quantitative, qualitative and mixed methodologies
More information
For more details or to become a member, contact Dominik Havsteen-Franklin or Claire Grant by email: icapt.cnwl@nhs.net.
