The Diploma in Person-Centred Expressive Arts for Professionals at the International College for Personal and Professional Development (ICPPD) is designed for professionals who wish to enhance their current practice through the use of expressive arts approaches within professional and therapeutic settings. Delivered in Athlone, the programme combines experiential learning, academic study, and reflective practice within a supportive learning environment.
The Diploma in Person-Centred Expressive Arts for Professionals is aimed at participants who wish to integrate expressive arts approaches into their professional work with people. The programme is experiential in nature and encourages learners to engage directly with expressive arts techniques through creative exploration and personal reflection. Learners work within a phenomenological intermodal approach while developing an understanding of Expressive Arts theory, philosophy, and terminology.
Throughout the programme, participants are encouraged to deepen their understanding of various expressive arts approaches while developing their own emerging expressive arts style and approach. The course also explores the integration of clinical and expressive arts therapy theory and practice, combining academic learning with practical applications of the creative process.
The programme examines the role of non-verbal approaches within therapeutic practice and considers how expressive arts approaches can support communication, understanding, and personal exploration. Learners are encouraged to reflect on their own creative processes and consider how these experiences may transfer into professional practice.
One past participant described their experience of the programme as follows:
“The journey was far more than I expected. The art itself became the story that unfolded as we laughed, danced, and played as the weeks went on. We became the art, and we expressed ourselves and witnessed the growth and development of us all. A remarkable journey has changed my way of seeing myself, my process, and what we call art and how we express it. Thoroughly recommend it, but be aware that we are never the same once tasted the explosion of expressive arts.”
Teaching and learning on the programme include experiential learning, artistic practice, discussion, reading, and group process work.
The Diploma in Person-Centred Expressive Arts for Professionals is delivered as a 60-hour part-time programme over 10 days in Athlone. Participants who successfully complete the programme are awarded ICPPD’s Diploma in Person-Centred Expressive Arts for Professionals.
