ABOUT THE ACADEMY

The Academy of Art & Play Therapy is a boutique Sydney-based training organisation founded in 2007 by Dr Rosa Bologna. The Academy was established to deliver postgraduate training and supervision in clinical art and play therapy as well as maintain the Register of Clinical Play Therapists™ (for more information about Registered Clinical Play Therapists see services).

The Academy offers high quality training and supervision in a number of different art therapy and play therapy approaches and models of practice including directive art and play therapy and non-directive (child-centred) play therapy. The training is designed for counselling clinicians working with any number of client issues and needs, including issues associated with anxiety, depression, trauma, addictive behaviour, compulsive behaviour, grief and attachement. The clinical art and play approaches and models of practice used can be applied to a variety of client groups including children, adolescents, adults, couples, and families.

The Academy's mission is to be the leader in the provision of high quality training and supervision in clinical art and play therapy.

ABOUT ROSA

Dr Rosa Bologna is the founder and Director of the Academy of Art & Play Therapy. She is a registered psychologist with the Psychology Board of Australia (PBA) and a Qualified Trainer and Assessor in the Australian Vocational Education Training (VET) sector. Rosa has been providing practice-based training in art and play therapy to clinicians and counselling teams across Australia since 2000. Rosa is an experienced tertiary curriculum developer with over 12 years’ experience in developing and delivering Australian nationally accredited practice-based clinical art and play therapy education. Rosa draws from 25 years experience working with a number of client groups. She has previously held positions as a psychologist in a variety of settings including out-of-home care, alternate education, juvenile justice, child protection, occupational rehabilitation, immigration detention, and private practice. Rosa has also worked as a Psychiatric Disabilities Consultant for NSW TAFE and has taught child protection and early childhood development modules for Child Studies Departments in the VET sector. Rosa has provided clinical supervision to clinicians from over 50 different government and non-government agencies including Child & Adolescent Mental Health, Child Protection Counselling services (aka PANOC), Adult Mental Health, Community Health, Drug & Alcohol services, Women's Health Centres, Domestic Violence services, Department of Community Services, Brighter Futures services, Department of Education, Aboriginal Out-of Home Care services, Child & Adult Disability services (including Mature Carers programs), Transcultural Mental Health, Anglicare, the Benevolent Society, Barnardos, Burnside, and Centacare.

Rosa has presented at numerous conferences across Australia and has been a keynote speaker for Child Protection Annual Forums, School-Link Annual Conferences, National Child Protection Week Conferences, School Counsellor Annual Conferences and a number of Annual Conferences for Child, Adolescent and Family Counselling Associations.

Rosa's PhD study involved developing a theoretical and methodological thought partnership between Pierre Bourdieu, Carl Jung, and Paul Ricoeur to explore mental health play therapy counsellors' understandings and critical reflexivity of influences on their relational practices with parents. Rosa was awarded the Charles Sturt University Medal for her PhD research.