MA in CFT with Drama Therapy

Foster change through movement, story, and role play.

Successful therapy of any kind requires a strong working relationship between client and therapist, based on trust and emotional honesty. In drama therapy, through the client and therapist’s creation of movements, pretend images, stories, and scenes, the therapeutic relationship develops at an accelerated rate. By mutual agreement, client and therapist enter a shared imaginal realm and experience pretend consequences of choices they make within the fictional contexts they create together.

This degree is offered by AU Seattle.

Program Overview

Drama therapy is one of several creative arts therapies used by clinicians and practitioners to help their clients achieve emotional and physical integration, personal growth and symptom relief. Like art therapy, it is the application of a creative modality to psychotherapy. Drama therapy allows you to develop your own way of working with clients.

The Antioch program is one of only a few in the country that offers a special focus in Developmental Transformations (DvT).

Drama therapists work in numerous settings including, but not limited to, hospitals, residential treatment programs, schools, shelters, community centers, prisons, and private practice.

The master’s degree can be completed in three years. Students choose from Couple and Family Therapy and Clinical Mental Health Counseling coursework, integrating drama therapy as part of an additional concentration-specific training which includes an internship.

Degree Requirements

Coursework

Antioch’s Drama Therapy specialization is combined with the MA in Psychology with Couple and Family Therapy (CFT) concentration.  It is recommended that you consult with your adviser to create your own sequence of courses before the middle of the second quarter.

The Drama Therapy program is 90 quarter credits. To accommodate working adults, our schedule allows students to work during the day and take classes in the afternoons and evenings as well as all day on Friday.  You may begin the program only in the fall.

Required Clinical Courses:

•    Applied Couple Therapy
•    Applied Family Therapy
•    Communication and Counseling Skills
•    Competency Assessment I
•    Competency Assessment II
•    Competency Assessment III
•    Counseling Individuals in the Family
•    Ethics in Family Practice
•    Group Therapy
•    Human Development in Context: Family Life Cycle
•    Human Sexuality
•    Internship Preparation
•    Psychodiagnostics and Treatment Planning
•    Psychopathology
•    Research in Family Practice and Drama Therapy
•    Systems Perspectives in Family Therapy
•    Theories & Practice of Family Therapy I

Required Drama Therapy Courses:

•    Approaches to Drama Therapy
•    Creative Arts Therapy I: Children and Adolescents
•    Creative Arts Therapy II: Adult and Geriatrics
•    Community-Based Theater & Sociodrama
•    Ethics in Drama Therapy
•    Family of Origin Systems & Drama Therapy
•    Improvisation and Creative Dramatics
•    Intro to Drama Therapy
•    Master’s Project or Thesis
•    Multicultural Perspectives & Drama Therapy
•    Psychodrama
•    Research and Assessment in Drama Therapy with Individuals & Families

Elective Courses:

One elective in counseling a culturally specific population OR one of the following:

•    Abusive Relationships
•    Addictions and Substance Abuse

Internship Courses:

•    DT/CFT Internship I, II, III, IV, and V
•    DT Case Consultation I, II, III, IV, and V

For detailed curriculum, degree requirements, and course descriptions, please visit the AUS catalog.

Career Outlook

Drama therapists work in private practice and/or in clinical, educational and rehabilitative settings such as:

•    hospitals and clinics
•    residential treatment centers
•    long-term care facilities
•    community centers
•    prisons
•    shelters
•    schools
•    mental health and social service agencies