What is a masterclass and who can attend?

Our masterclasses are special events taught by people who are highly experienced in the subject. Attendees may include anyone with a genuine interest in the subject, but ideally, you will already know the basics so you can learn from listening to interesting discussions and questions from advanced practitioners. For some practitioners, masterclasses can be part of a pathway from entry level (as set out by HCPC) to becoming an enhanced or advanced level practitioner (as set out by NHS England).

The aims of our masterclasses are for all attendees to learn from the knowledge and practice of the teacher, for less experienced practitioners to learn from the discussions between advanced practitioners, teacher and practice related Q&A, but most importantly for everyone to leave feeling inspired to progress their practice in the specific area.

What is meant by ‘hard to reach’ children and young people?

‘Hard to reach’ is a term sometimes used within health and social care to refer to CYP who struggle to engage with services and/or services struggle to engage with them. Young carers, CYP within the justice system, refugees, those affected by poverty, and looked after children are more often referred to as ‘hard to reach’ than other groups of CYP. The term has been criticised for assigning blame to CYP for not taking up services. Therefore, when CYP struggle to engage with a service, it is highly recommended to carefully consider the unique circumstances and wider social factors that may be having a significant impact on their lives such as social and economic deprivation, social exclusion, racism, victimisation or gang culture.

What you will learn

On completion of this masterclass, you will have:

• Explored what the term ‘hard to reach’ means to you and many organisations and discussed ways to address the issue.
• Considered how and why CYP are classified and identified by this negative terminology.
• Identified intrinsic barriers and issues that might negatively impact on CYP engagement in therapeutic interaction.
• Gained further knowledge of practical and effective ways to address and mitigate these issues.
• Explored your personal knowledge and skill gaps to identify how we can be better informed and prepared to positively engage with these CYP in art therapy.

How you will learn in our masterclasses

The difference between our standard courses and our masterclasses is the setup. In a masterclass, everyone will have the opportunity to listen to the teacher’s feedback on examples of practice from advanced practitioners. The value of the masterclass setup is that all attendees can benefit from the teacher’s detailed feedback on examples of advanced practice.

After booking onto one of our masterclasses, advanced practitioners will be able to complete a form within the memberzone to submit brief examples of practice which illustrates specific topics they would like to explore further. The teacher will then review the topics and select a practice example to illustrate the emerging themes. Please note the form will close two months before the masterclass, therefore we highly recommend early booking so you can have your input. After the form closes, bookings will remain open until one week before the masterclass.

Learning will also be through:

• Taught presentations including examples and videos.
• Art-based learning and reflective practice art making workshops.
• Small and large group discussions.
• Feedback and Q&A sessions.
• Less experienced practitioners will also learn from listening to interesting discussions and questions from advanced practitioners.

Tutor

Jacqui McKoy-Lewens