Skip to main content

Accreditations

Accreditations are important,  in order to be trained as a safe and effective Play Therapist or Practitioner in Therapeutic Play Skills, it is essential that the Play Therapy courses you undertake are fully accredited by two different types of organisation:

  • A professional Play Therapy Organisation, recognised by the UK Government to issue a Certificate of Practice and ensure the quality of clinical work is acceptable. In APAC’s case, this is Play Therapy UK (PTUK) who manage the ‘Register of Play and Creative Arts Therapists’, accredited by the Professional Standards Authority under the Accredited Register Programme.
  •  A government recognised University to manage the quality of the academic work and issue the Postgraduate awards.  In the UK, APAC Courses are accredited by Chichester University. In the Republic of Ireland, they are accredited by University College Cork.

About our Professional Accreditor:

Play Therapy UK (PTUK) – the Society for Play and Creative Arts Therapies, was set up as a not for profit organisation in 1999 to:

    • Promote the use of Play Therapy and Therapeutic Play
    • Provide an infrastructure for sage practice
    • Provide support for Play Therapy Practitioners
    • Modernise the profession in the UK

Outside of the UK, these roles are undertaken by Play Therapy International (PTI) which has members in over 30 countries. PTI administers the educational accreditation and certification standards of our courses delivered overseas.

About our University Accreditors:

APAC’s Postgraduate Courses were originally validated for academic standards by the University College of Chichester, however we now work in a collaborative partnership with |Chichester University, who manage the academic quality and Postgraduate awards for courses delivered in the UK.

University College Cork, are responsible for the management of academic quality and Postgraduate awards for courses delivered in the Republic of Ireland. In addition, the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland (NQAI) have approved the alignment of the following three awards with the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ):

  • Postgraduate Certificate in Therapeutic Play Skills
  • Postgraduate Diploma in Play Therapy
  • MA in Practice Based Play Therapy

This means that participants successfully completing these courses will achieve Level 9 qualifications that are fully equivalent to those awarded by an Irish University; this is an important consideration for employers.

Warning!

Do not waste time or money on courses that are not accredited by both a recognised professional Play Therapy Organisation AND a University; they will not provide you with awards that are recognised by employers.

Be aware that:

    • Some training providers claim that their courses are at ‘Postgraduate level’;  these will not provide Postgraduate awards, which in the UK can only be awarded by a government recognised University
    • In some countries, Universities are set up without the recognition of the Government and therefore qualifications awarded by them are not valid
    • Courses delivered entirely through distance learning cannot, on their own, provide the essential experiential training that is required to become a safe and effective Practitioner