CAT "Creative arts therapies" to support resilience

The Master’s degree in Creative Arts Therapies for Supporting Resilience comprises seven modules:

• Holistic intervention
• Therapy through drama
• Therapy through photography
•  Poetics and spirituality in the East and West
• Therapy through music and the voice
• The healing power of the visual and the dreamlike
• Arts therapies in childhood and adolescence

Within the master’s programme, creative arts therapies are used as a complementary approach for professionals working in psychosocial and relational fields, who have therefore already acquired specific prior training (for example, psychiatrists, psychologists and psychotherapists).

They also provide a field of specialisation for professionals in education, training and social work interested in promoting resilience and well-being through creative and expressive processes, such as educators, teachers (at all levels), educationalists, healthcare professionals and social workers.

Through a multidisciplinary approach, participants learn to use creative techniques and strategies to meet the needs of different user groups within contexts such as: hospital wards, hospices, schools, local community centres, private institutions, and the voluntary sector

The Master’s in Creative Arts Therapies for Supporting Resilience is structured around the following core modules:

• The HICAT (Holistic Integrated Creative Arts Therapies) approach: theoretical foundations and the evolution of the various disciplines (Art Therapy, Music Therapy, Drama Therapy, Dance and Movement Therapy). Through an integrated and multidisciplinary perspective, the course examines various contexts in which artistic and creative practices can foster processes of expression, communication and well-being, in situations of vulnerability and in intergenerational projects;
• the importance of dramatic action: drama therapy, psychodrama, playback theatre, theatre of the oppressed, and specific performative strategies for adults. Through theoretical lectures and experiential workshops, methods of action are explored in which inner experiences are externalised and represented.
• support through imagery: photography as a therapeutic strategy for resilience and well-being. On a theoretical level, the focus is on the psychology of visual art and visual anthropology; on a practical level, on techniques such as: Phototherapy, Photolangage, Photovoice;
• exploring the relationship between poetics and spirituality in Eastern and Western traditions for the expression of symbolic imagery and the construction of new systems of meaning, with reference to practices such as Butoh dance, haiku, kintsugi and writing based on the archetypal model of the journey;
• the integration of HICAT and meditation;
• the use of music and vocal techniques to promote resilience, well-being, listening and healing through music therapy and musical anthropology;
• the exploration of the visual and dream-like dimensions: the role of images, symbols and dreams in the construction of meaning and in personal and collective transformation;
• in-depth study of the use of the HICAT approach in childhood and adolescence: individual, group and parent-child interventions in educational, social and clinical settings.

The lessons, organised into thematic modules, will take place on Fridays and Saturdays, twice a month, from 9.00 am to 1.00 pm and 2.00 pm to 6.00 pm.

Interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity characterize the entire curriculum, while maintaining a cogent unity of knowledge, focusing on the individual. Contents are dealt with by keeping the essential role of art therapy in well-being and resilience central, to meet individual and collective needs. For this reason, the course includes meetings, comparison and discussion with specialists presenting their research and studies, and also experiential workshops.

The Course focuses on the different disciplines of three fundamental fields of knowledge: philosophy and anthropology, psycho-pedagogy, and medicine-nursing.

The contents considered concern:

• Theoretical fundamentals, contemporary models, applicative art therapy contexts (art therapy, music therapy, drama therapy, dance-movement therapy);
• Dramatic action as therapy;
• Use of photography as resilience support strategy;
• Storytelling strategies: poetry therapy, use of myths and fairy tales and narrative medicine.
• Care through therapy: musical anthropology and music therapy;
• Art therapy to support children, adolescents and parents;
• Elements of quantitative and qualitative analysis in creative art therapies.

Interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity characterise the entire curriculum, whilst maintaining a coherent unity of knowledge and respecting the centrality of the individual. The content is structured with a focus on the fundamental role of the arts therapies in promoting well-being and resilience, whilst addressing individual and community needs.

For this reason, the programme includes opportunities for meetings, exchanges and discussions with specialists who present their research and studies, and experiential workshops are provided

The course professors include internationally-renowned experts and specialists, such as:

• • Prof. Ines Testoni
  • Prof. Massimo Grassi
  • Prof. Umberto Curi
  • Prof. Michela Gatta
  • Prof. Michele Biasutti
  • Prof. Cristina Marogna
  • Prof. Amedeo Boros
  • PhD Laura Liberale
  • PhD Silvia Piol
  • Dott. Gianmarco Biancalani
  • Dott. Maria Letizia Cipriani
  • Dott. Gloria Garbujo
  • Dott. Lucia Moretto
  • Dott. Francesca Belgiojoso
  • Dott. Riccardo Bononi
  • PhD Shoshi Keisari
  • Dott. Chiara Acler
  • PhD Livia Sani
  • Dott. Nina Ferrari
  • Prof. Salvatore Pitruzzella
  • Dott. Raffaele Schiavo
  • Dott. Erika Iacona
  • PhD Camilla Mele.

The general ranking of merit for the academic year 2026/27 will be published on the Italian page of this Master according to the timing provided in the Call.