The Academy of Therapeutic Arts understands that we all lead busy lives and that we need to value our time and resources with great care.
ATA is committed to the concept of creating a Flexible learning environment where students can maximise their time and energy in the most efficient way.
For this reason we have developed our courses so that all the theory components can be studied in the comfort of your own home, anywhere, anytime in Australia or from around the world. We have no semesters so you can start studying when ever you like.
With this you are given two choices in how you would like to complete your studies, we can either send you the studies guides via Australia Post or you can use our E-learning option where you are given your own log in pass word which links you to the study materials. We recommend E-learning as the best option as firstly it is better for the environment as it saves more trees and secondly all of your assessment material can be sent electronically which will save you time and money in postage and handling.
ATA’s practical training has been developed to also be as efficient as possible, so we run our practical training by what we call intensive experiential training.
ATA’s experiential training develops your skills in your chosen therapy stream quickly and gives you direct experience of working with clients in industry conditions. These are set at specific times throughout the year to enable you to plan your attendance to suit your needs. Students will be kept informed of any special training opportunities, intensives and seminars that may be held at the ATA from time to time. Click here to see course calendar.
Some courses carry with them a requirement for you to complete an unsupervised practicum and there are options as to how you may complete this. Once you have been assessed competent under ATA’s teaching conditions you will be able to complete you’re unsupervised cases studies from where ever you are in Australia or around the world. You may use this experience to build the case studies that you will submit as evidence of skills extension.
If you are already in a clinical practice, either in your own business or as an employee, you may use this to satisfy the unsupervised practicum component of the course.
Study pathways:
Our courses have been designed to build upon skills at each level. In some cases, it is possible to ‘Fast Track’ your studies by selecting pathways that build the foundation for the Diploma, or to complete Statements of Attainment in a specialization to ‘add on’ to existing qualifications.
In order to make the courses more relevant to the needs of a wide range of career options, we are in the process of developing a range of elective options which we plan to offer in Semester Two. This includes streaming the Diploma to provide training that focuses on a specific modality.
‘Fast Tracking’ of qualifications is also possible if you meet the criteria for Mutual Recognition, Credit Transfer, Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) and Recognition of Current Competencies (RCC).
External students that are unable to attend ATA supervised clinics are able to complete their clinical practice through Vocational Placement providing they are supervised by appropriately qualified massage therapists in clinical practice.
Some of the guidelines for Industry Placement are as follows, for a full list go to Fact Sheet for Vocational Placements or contact ATA for further information. You can also download a Vocational Placement Agreement form from here.
- The student must be treated at all times as a student under the supervision of a therapist.
- The training organisation must take out a student workcover insurance (this is really quite cheap).
- Students should have their own professional liability insurance.
- Students must make it known to each client that they are students and that this forms part of their training.
- Each client must sign a form giving consent to being treated by a student and having their case histories submitted for assessment purposes.
- The vocational placement scheme must be registered with DET, because they have to make sure that there are (a) no union issues and (b) the students are not being used as free labour.