Melbourne

Institute for

Experiential

&

Creative

Arts Therapy

"Humankind is
a being in search
of meaning"
— Plato

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General

This course is currently only available in Melbourne, Australia. Please read the Study Information page for general student and study matters.

Purpose

The MIECAT Master of Arts (by Supervision) has two (2) often intersecting and mutually related purposes which need to be understood by intending students:

  1. Not everyone completing the Graduate Diploma and intending to further their studies in the MIECAT Master of Arts programme, wishes to become a counsellor. They may have their own career paths into which they wish to apply these procedures of inquiry. For those who wish to continue into the Master of Arts (by Supervision), who do not necessarily want to be a professional counsellor, but who have a sense of career applications, there is an opportunity in the Master of Arts (by Supervision) to learn more and bring this learning into contexts of their choice, to explore the applications of this form of inquiry into meaning. These might be in community or organisational development, in schools with pupils or staff, in forms of group work, in administration, nursing, Occupational Therapy (OT) or other health contexts;
  2. For those who do wish to work as professional counsellors, and may wish to be placed on a national register of counsellors, such as PACFA or ACC, they will be informed of such extra requirements (in addition to the scheduled workshops and supervision) as may be required to meet those forms of accreditation or registration.

Admission Requirements & Selection Criteria

Candidates must first meet one (1) of the following requirements in order to apply for admission to the Master of Arts (by Supervision) programme:

OR

NOTE: Applicants in Category 'B' who apply for the Master of Arts (by Supervision) will be required to undertake, as a minimum, the Introductory Unit and may additionally be required to complete a number of units from the Graduate Diploma programme. These decisions are made on a case-by-case basis.

Additionally, all candidates must have access to clients in order that supervision can occur.

All applicants are initially required to submit a written application to MIECAT for consideration of entrance to this course of study.  The written application should consist of:

Selection of students will be made via:

Verified copies of all tertiary qualifications will be required prior to admittance to course.

Content & Structure

The Introductory Unit may only be taken part time.

Year Unit Description
1 Introductory unit NOTE: This unit only applies to those students entering the MA (by Supervision) who do not have the prior qualification of MIECAT's Graduate Diploma.

The aim of this unit is to show the MIECAT epistemology and for students to apply the form of inquiry to an aspect of their professional work. Students will be introduced to the following procedures: description; bracketing; intrasubjective responding; the intersubjective response; clustering, depictions and thematic analysis; the creation of a synthesis of the inquiry.
Duration (semesters): 1
Contact hours: 40
Assessment: Paper (6,000 words)

 

The Master of Arts (by Supervision) may only be taken part time over two years.

Year Unit Description
1 Advanced unit Comparison with and contrast of the MIECAT form of inquiry against person-centred approaches, existential therapy, gestalt, psychoanalytic and intersubjective approaches to working with others.
Duration (semesters): 1
Contact hours: 30
Assessment: Paper (5,000 words)
1 Applied group work 1 Exploration by students of the issues arising in their practice using experiential multi-modal group processes.
Duration (semesters): 2
Contact hours: 40
Assessment: Reflective paper (6,000 words)
1 Supervised practice 1 Write and keep up-to-date a professional journal "Reflections on the companioning process." which is grounded in your experience of (3-4 hours /week) client work.
Duration (semesters): 2
Contact hours: 100 total of client/small group work plus 15 (max.) one-to-one supervision
Assessment: Professional journal (min. 15 entries / 15,000 words)
2 Applied group work 2 Exploration by students of the issues arising in their practice using experiential multi-modal group processes.
Duration (semesters): 2
Contact hours: 40
Assessment: Reflective paper (6,000 words)
2 Supervised practice 2 Write and keep up-to-date a professional journal "Reflections on the companioning process." which is grounded in your experience of (3-4 hours /week) client work.
Duration (semesters): 2
Contact hours: 100 total of client/small group work plus 20 (max.) one-to-one supervision
Assessment: Professional journal (min. 15 entries / 15,000 words)
2 Research & practice 2 Introduction to the major research paradigms and relevant methodologies including an overview of positivist, post positivist and postmodern research paradigms with particular emphasis on Heron and Reason"s (1997) Participatory Paradigm. Exposure to the epistemologies of transcendental, existential and hermeneutic phenomenology and how aspects of these have been incorporated into the MIECAT form of inquiry.
Duration (semesters): 2
Contact hours: 15 (max.) one-to-one supervision
Assessment: Research project (15,000 words)