Postgraduate Certificate in Therapeutic Play Skills
Summary
- 20-month course (click “Duration” for more details)
- 5 x 3 days or 15 day programme (all dates are mandatory)
- Course Fees are £4,375
- Blended delivery
- Course Description
- Duration
- Entry Requirements
- Locations and Dates
- Fees
- Course Structure
- Professional Award
- Academic Award
- Student Support
- How To Apply
- What's Next?
Introduction
The Postgraduate Certificate in Therapeutic Play Skills course delivered in the UK has been accredited by University of Chichester, as part of the MA in Practice Based Play Therapy programme run in a collaborative partnership with APAC. The academic award is made by University of Chichester.
The Postgraduate Certificate in Therapeutic Play Skills course delivered in the Republic of Ireland has been accredited by University College Cork, as part of the MA in Practice Based Play Therapy programme run in a collaborative partnership with APAC. The academic award is made by University College Cork.
The professional award which enables successful students to practice clinically is made by Play Therapy UK (PTUK), or for overseas students by Play Therapy International (PTI). Successful graduates will be placed as ‘Certified Practitioners in Therapeutic Play Skills’ on the Play Therapy UK’s Register of Play and Creative Arts Therapists which is accredited by the Professional Standards Authority.
An enlightened approach to coping with children’s difficulties
Our core model is integrative holistic making Certificate courses in Therapeutic Play Skills unique in integrating both non directive and directive approaches to Play Therapy using a wide range of creative arts media. The programme content is based upon the theory and practice of neuroscience, humanistic psychology, particularly that of Virginia Axline (“Dibs In Search of Self”), and Carl Rogers and the Gestalt Play Therapy approach of Violet Oaklander. It recognises contributions made by others in the 20th century such as John Bowlby, Carl Jung, Margaret Lowenfeld, Margaret Mahler, Donald Winnicott, etc. It also places importance on the spiritual aspect of human development. Opportunities for personal reflection and all forms of creativity will enrich your experience of the course.
The lives of children in the present day are highly regulated and controlled. Non-directive Play Therapy offers a child the opportunity of making choices and taking responsibility for them; expressing him/herself freely; being accepted unconditionally; having his/her deepest feelings respected and accepted. For these reasons their play is not interpreted and no judgements are made.
Designed To
The Postgraduate Certificate in Therapeutic Play Skills course is the first part of the programme leading to an MA in Practice Based Play Therapy.
This course may also be undertaken as a ‘stand alone’ course. On completion, it allows you to practice as a Certified Practitioner in Therapeutic Play Skills.
The part-time blended delivery course usually comprises five, three-day weekends of experiential taught time, spread out over a period of roughly nine months (therefore approximately 8-10 weeks apart). During this time students are also asked to complete a number of written assignments and online tasks. After the second taught weekend, students must also complete 100 clinical hours at the end of which they submit a portfolio. The total duration is around 20 months from the first taught weekend until the submission of the final portfolio (unless students request an extension on any of the assignments). **
We also offer Winter School in UK, Summer School in Ireland and an International School abroad (information tbc). The structure of this programme comprises 15 consecutive days of experiential taught training, with students asked to complete a number of written assignments in the months following their return home. Students will also have approximately 20 months after the training to complete 100 clinical hours at the end of which they submit a portfolio (unless students request an extension on any of the assignments)**.
**Please note that extra time will be added at the end for marking the work and going through the University Exam Board in order to receive your academic award. The timeline above includes submission of your final portfolio only. You will be allowed to start practicing in about five weeks after submitting your final portfolio.
The Postgraduate Certificate in Therapeutic Play Skills course is designed for anyone with experience of working with children or adolescents, who either works or intends to work therapeutically with them including:
- Counsellors
- Psychotherapists
- Clinical Psychologists
- Primary School Teachers/Assistants
- Nurses
- Occupational Therapists
- Paediatricians
- Nursery School Teachers/Assistants
- Social Workers
- Play School Teachers/Assistants
- Care Home Staff
- Psychiatrists
The entry requirements for the Postgraduate Certificate in Therapeutic Play Skills courses are as follows:
University of Chichester (United Kingdom courses)
- UK Level 6 Honours Degree (or equivalent) in a related subject (such as psychology, counselling, psychotherapy, health care, education, social care, social work, or early years and childhood development) .The University of Chichester also accepts some humanities degrees please do contact us to check if your degree is accepted.
AND
- A minimum of two years’ full time experience either in paid or voluntary work in child related employment.
- Two satisfactory references: one of the referees should be your line manager or current employer or equivalent and the other one a character reference (family and spouse references are not accepted).
Students who don’t meet these criteria can potentially access the course via our Recognised Prior Learning route.
It involves the completion of five selected written assignments prior to commencing the course. In order to be eligible to apply through this route, students will need to hold a UK Level 5 qualification in a child-based subject plus a minimum of five years’ experience working with children.
Once accepted on to this course, all students are required to obtain a new Enhanced DBS/ Access NI/ Scottish PVG check under the role of “Trainee Play Therapist” or “Play Therapist”. Please email contact@ptukorg.com for information on the associated fees.
Please note that we are unable to offer places on the Postgraduate Certificate in Therapeutic Play Skills course to students already enrolled onto another programme.
Information regarding the entry criteria for students applying for Certificate Courses in Play Therapy delivered in the Republic of Ireland can be found here.
All students that undertake their course in Ireland will be required to be Garda Vetted under PTIRL as well as under University College Cork.
Upcoming Courses
Please see below for the current courses running.
We have several intakes per year.
*course directors could be subject to change, please contact contact@apac.org.uk if you have any questions.
To submit an application, please click here.
Postgraduate Certificate in Therapeutic Play Skills
Start Date: January 16, 2026
Location: UK, Bristol
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Postgraduate Certificate in Therapeutic Play Skills
Start Date: February 6, 2026
Location: Birmingham
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Postgraduate Certificate in Therapeutic Play Skills
Start Date: February 11, 2026
Location: UK, Windsor Winter School
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Postgraduate Certificate in Therapeutic Play Skills
Start Date: February 20, 2026
Location: Dublin, Ireland
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Postgraduate Certificate in Therapeutic Play Skills
Start Date: February 20, 2026
Location: Arundel
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Postgraduate Certificate in Therapeutic Play Skills
Start Date: February 27, 2026
Location: Belfast
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Postgraduate Certificate in Therapeutic Play Skills
Start Date: March 6, 2026
Location: Edinburgh
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Postgraduate Certificate in Therapeutic Play Skills
Start Date: April 10, 2026
Location: Manchester
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Postgraduate Certificate in Therapeutic Play Skills
Start Date: April 17, 2026
Location: London - Kings Cross
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Postgraduate Certificate in Therapeutic Play Skills
Start Date: April 24, 2026
Location: Cork, Ireland
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Postgraduate Certificate in Therapeutic Play Skills
Start Date: July 26, 2026
Location: UK Summer School
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Costs
Postgraduate Certificate in Therapeutic Play Skills (Stage I of MA in Practice Based Play Therapy)
The full cost of the course payable to APAC is currently £4,375.00 for UK courses accredited by the University of Chichester.
For courses delivered in Ireland, please click here for more details.
Additional costs (UK courses accredited by the University of Chichester)
- PTUK membership fee of £60 (payable to PTUK). Please click here for information on grades and fees
- A fee of £15 (payable to APAC) for the mandatory course book “The Healing Path with Children – An Exploration for Parents and Professionals” by Mark A. Barnes. If you have a copy already, please indicate it on the application form and it won’t be charged on the invoice.
- A fee for an Enhanced DBS/ Access NI/ Scottish PVG check under the role of Trainee Play Therapist or Play Therapist. Please email contact@ptukorg.com for information on the associated fees (payable to Civil and Corporate Security directly – PTUK’s umbrella body).
- The University registration fee of £370 to cover registration with the University of Chichester for this course only (payable to APAC).
- £250 – £450 to build your Play Kit as you go along (not all at once)
- Supervision costs with a PTUK supervisor which you will require whilst undertaking your clinical placement. These charges would be payable directly to the supervisor and do vary. On average supervisors charge are around £50 per hour. You will require a minimum of 18 hours of individual supervision to meet the course requirements, and the 5 group supervision sessions provided on the course are on top of this (included within the course fees). Although the group supervision sessions are 2 hours in length only one hour can be claimed per session due to students’ not having the whole session available for their own clinical processing. In summary, students must a minimum of 18 hours of individual supervision (at their cost) and will receive an extra 5 hours as part of the group supervision sessions (included in the course fees). More information here
- Registration with the Information Commissioners Office – please see the ICO website for further details
- Course fees are not inclusive of accommodation or travel. Onsite accommodation is available at the majority of our training centres, but this must be booked directly with the venue and will incur an additional charge.
Payment Options
Payment Instalment Options at APAC
At APAC, we understand that funding your professional training is a significant investment. To support accessibility and flexibility, we offer payment by instalments for this course.
Once your place on the course is confirmed, you will have the option to pay your course fees either in full or through a structured instalment plan. Instalment plans are typically spread over several months and are designed to make payments more manageable throughout your study period.
Please note:
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A non-refundable deposit is required to secure your place.
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All instalments must be completed by a specified date
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Late or missed payments may impact your progression on the course.
| University of Chichester courses: | ||||
| Invoice due date | Paying in full | Paying 50/50 | Paying 25/25/25/25 | Invoice contents |
| One week post-application | £ 200.00 | £ 200.00 | £ 200.00 | Deposit (counts towards course fees) Non-refundable |
| 10 weeks before block 1 | £ 4,175.00 | £ 2,217.50 | £ 1,388.75 | Course fees plus a mandatory e-book “Healing Path” by Mark Barnes book (£15), university registration fee (£370), PTUK membership fee (£60)* |
| 6 weeks before block 1 | n/a | n/a | £ 928.75 | Course fees |
| 2 weeks before block 2 | n/a | n/a | £ 928.75 | Course fees |
| 2 weeks before block 3 | n/a | £ 1,957.50 | £ 928.75 | Course fees |
| Total | £ 4,375.00 | £ 4,375.00 | £ 4,375.00 |
*Please note that the PTUK membership fee will come as a separate invoice.
We accept a variety of payment methods:
- Bank Transfers
- Credit Card (via Stripe)
- PayPal
- Revolut Pay*
*Depending on the course, exclusions apply.
The overall purpose of our Certificate Courses is to enable participants to practice safely and effectively using therapeutic play skills in a variety of settings to provide emotional support to individual children with slight to moderate problems. Upon successful completion of the course each participant will have gained:
- A sound understanding of the principles underlying play therapy and the appropriate use of techniques – the Play Therapy toolkit
- Practical skills for running therapeutic play sessions with individual children
- An ability to assess children’s needs and organise the provision of therapeutic play facilities
- An appreciation of the ethical issues
- Increased confidence in using therapeutic play with children aged 4 -13 years old and adolescents
- The counselling, therapeutic and practical skills to enable you to carry out therapeutic play
- An understanding of the ethical considerations
- Awareness of your own process and development
- Theoretical knowledge of child development and child psychology
Learning Methods
This courses is usually divided into 5 x 3 day (all dates are mandatory) blocks forming 3 modules. Please note our Summer and Winter Schools run to a different schedule.
Participants will learn through working with other members of the course about the roles and responsibilities of the therapeutic relationship. There will be tutorials on theory but formal teaching and lecturing will be kept to an essential minimum.
Learning will be experiential and collaborative using pair, group work, role play and case presentations. Homework reading and other assignments will provide new information and consolidation of material from the experiential work encountered within the weekends. Assignments will be subject of group discussions the following weekend.
100 hours of supervised clinical work with children is required as a main learning method in a clinical placement.
Module 1 – Orientation to Setting Up and Development of Practice Based Play Therapy within an Integrative Holistic Model
You will learn how to:
- Use non-directive Play Therapy skills through sandplay
- Set up a safe play room and a therapeutic play service
- Recognise and be able to develop the thinking and skills required for studying at Masters level
- Successfully establish and assess therapeutic relationships
- Be able to communicate with children using music and movement therapy skills
- Analyse, present, apply and appraise the principles of the therapeutic play continuum in the context of a spectrum of needs
- Function within the essential practical, ethical, child protection and legal aspects of working therapeutically with children including stipulated health and safety procedures and under the auspices of clinical governance
- Understand PTI/PTUK standards of training and practice within the current climate of regulatory frameworks
- Start to assess the impact of current research, including your own practice data on healing children’s emotional, behaviour and mental health difficulties
The module starts with an introduction to Play Therapy principles, the latest outcomes research and putting non-directive play into practice. In addition a thorough coverage of the course requirements and what is needed to start working safely with the children is provided including confidential record keeping., safety aspects and keeping boundaries.
Music builds upon a child’s curiosity for sounds and sound making that emerges during childhood. You will be given the music therapy skills to communicate and build relationships with your clients.
During this module you will also be given an introduction to movement therapy using the Laban analysis method to understand the body, dynamics, space and relationships that develop and to communicate with the child during your sessions.
Module 2 – Using Symbolic Play Therapy Tools and Metaphor Safely
You will learn how to:
- Incorporate the use of art (drawing, painting, collage etc), puppets, therapeutic storytelling and clay in your practice
- Demonstrate a wide ranging knowledge, application and practice in relevant aspects of child development theory
- Appraise therapeutic interventions with children who have attachment/trauma based problems
- Be equipped with and have an up-to-date knowledge of child protection procedures
- Assess and successfully practise therapeutic play interventions with children who have conduct, fear, anxiety, mood, sleeping, grief and bereavement problems
A comparative approach is taken in teaching child development and attachment theory. This will enable you to relate the children’s issues and their processes during therapeutic play to a theoretical framework. Therapeutic story telling is based upon the theories of Milton Erickson and incorporates principles of CBT and NLP. You will be taught how to compose a story to achieve a particular therapeutic objective. Theoretical, as well as practical and experiential work, is undertaken so that you will be able to apply and understand work with images produced by the children in drawing, painting, clay and in sand trays. The use and making of puppets and how to use them, for example to control anger, is facilitated.
Module 3 – Using Expressive Arts Therapies as a Means of Processing and Reaching the Unconscious
- Articulate and apply the relevant principles of neuroscience to working with children and their parent/carers
- Integrate and evaluate sandplay and creative visualisation (guided imagery) as therapeutic play interventions
- Assess and work with children who have learning and communication difficulties, attention and over-activity problems (including ADHD)
- Examine, apply and debate the necessity and impact of safe endings within therapeutic work
One of the reasons why therapeutic play is successful is that it reaches the unconscious parts of the brain whereas talking therapies mainly address the conscious regions. The links between neuroscience and psychological theories will be explored.
This module enables students to gain an experiential understanding of sandPlay Therapy skills as an ‘X-ray of the soul’.
Creative visualisation will help you and your clients to centre themselves and provides a technique to help children anchor, nurture and cherish themselves. Relaxation exercises are often a vital prelude to other interventions.
Basic statistical methods are introduced to enable you to present and analyse your case study, clinical governance and understand research data.
Before you start this course, you will need to become a member of Play Therapy UK (PTUK) in order to ensure that you are complying with the Ethical Framework when completing your clinical placement.
On enrolment, you will be sent a link to complete your membership form and pay the necessary fee.
You will be awarded your first grade “Trainee”, which will appear on the Register of Play and Creative Arts Therapists accredited by the Professional Standards Authority via PTUK.
Once you complete this course and have submitted your portfolio, in approximately 5 weeks your will be awarded the grade of “Certified Practitioner in Therapeutic Play Skills” to allow you to start practicing.
For more detailed explanation on professional grades, please click here.
Please note that it is mandatory to maintain an active PTUK membership during your course.
PTUK Membership and PTUK accredited courses
- As per one of the PTUK’s mandate roles, PTUK accredits several Universities and Colleges overseas and other specialised training institutions based in the UK, such as Academy of Play and Child Psychotherapy (APAC) that offer a variety of courses in play therapy.
- It is a PTUK’s requirement that all course participants on any PTUK-accredited courses to hold a full practising PTUK / PTI membership whilst studying on an active course (e.g. “Trainee”, “Certified Practitioner in Therapeutic Play Skills”, “Certified Play Therapist”, etc). They cannot hold a “Non-Practising” grade during an active course.
- The practising grade cannot be downgraded until the course has been completed. Once the course has been completed and the full award has been received, the grade can be changed (e.g. to a “Non-Practising” if the member is not practising as soon as the course has finished). No refunds or additional fees will be issued in relation to the grade change during the membership year.
This means:
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- if a member changes from a lower cost grade to a higher cost grade during their current membership year, they will not be charged an extra fee.
- If a member changes from a higher cost grade to a lower cost grade during their current membership year, they will not be eligible for a refund.
- Any member on a current PTUK-accredited course that are due to hand in their portfolio during the revalidation period must renew their membership at their current practising grade. At times, it may be more beneficial for members holding a “Trainee” grade who are due to hand in their portfolio and receive their full award before the end of the revalidation period, to renew as soon as possible at their “Trainee” grade rather than the next grade up to save some money.
Academic Award from the University of Chichester
Postgraduate Certificate of Therapeutic Play Skills attracts 60 University credits.
Each of the stages is 60 credits, with 180 maximum upon completion of all three stages.
Please note that the graduation ceremony for the students on this course is organised by APAC, not the University of Chichester.
APAC has an excellent reputation for student satisfaction and retention. We are small enough to care but big enough to deliver.
We work with the accrediting Universities to provide a range of student services, amongst which is disability support (click here).
Complete The Application Form
In order to apply for this course, please click here when you have the following ready to upload with your application form:
- a copy of your highest academic qualification certificate
- a copy of a valid photo ID, such as your passport or driving licence
- a copy of your Enhanced DBS (if it is on the update service) along with an email giving written permission for us to perform an update service check. If you do not have a current Enhanced DBS / Access NI / Scottish PVG certificate, we will help you obtain one (at an extra cost)
- your passport style photo, which will be used for identification on your membership card and must follow these guidelines
Next Steps
- We will acknowledge the receipt of your application form
- We will inform you whether your application has been successful or not and provide reasons why not
- We will request you to pay your deposit
- We will check your references
- We will invite you to attend an interview with one of our Course Administrators. The purpose of this interview is to discuss your interest in the course, assess your suitability for this type of therapeutic training, and ensure that you understand the commitment involved. It is also an opportunity for you to ask questions about the course structure, clinical placement, academic expectations, and professional outcomes. The interview helps us support you in making an informed decision about your training journey and ensures we can provide the appropriate guidance as you begin your studies.
After the Interview
We will be in touch with either a formal offer of the place for you to accept or decline or an explanation why your interview has not been successful.
Once you accept the formal offer, your fees will become non-refundable.
After completing the Postgraduate Certificate in Therapeutic Play Skills with APAC, students have various opportunities to progress to the next stage of professional training by enrolling on:
- Postgraduate Diploma in Play Therapy
This advanced training builds upon the foundational skills developed during the Certificate stage and enables students to deepen their clinical practice, expand their theoretical understanding, and work with more complex cases. Successful completion of the Diploma leads to eligibility for certification as a Certified Play Therapist with Play Therapy UK (PTUK), further enhancing professional recognition and career opportunities within therapeutic and educational settings, and enabling them to work with individuals and groups of children who have moderate to severe problems.
For more details, please click here and go to “Entry Requirements” tab.
- Post qualifying Certificate in Filial Play Coaching
This course equips professionals to support parents or carers in facilitating play-based therapeutic engagement with their own children. Training as a Filial Play Coach provides a big opportunity for Certified Practitioners in Therapeutic Play Skills to extend their practice to working with parents, carers and families as well as children.
For more details, please click here and go to “Entry Requirements” tab.
