Postgraduate study in occupational and arts therapies

Our Division of Occupational and Arts Therapists brings together the disciplines of occupational therapy, art therapy, drama therapy, music therapy and play therapy.

We are committed to educating the next generation of compassionate practitioners who will go on to make a lasting impact, helping people overcome challenges, realise their potential and live fuller lives.

A figure of a person made of pipe cleaners and yarn sitting on the edge of a shelf

MSc Art Psychotherapy

This MSc in Art Psychotherapy helps you build on existing skills and develop as a professional art psychotherapist. It is the only art psychotherapy training course in Scotland and can be studied full-time or part-time.

MSc Art Psychotherapy

Dramatherapy students performing with a series of different masks on

MSc Dramatherapy

Our MSc Dramatherapy is also the first of its kind in Scotland and the only opportunity to engage in accredited training as a Dramatherapist here.

MSc Dramatherapy

Musical Therapy students performing as a group

MSc Music Therapy

This well-established MSc in Music Therapy at QMU is the only music therapy course in Scotland. It offers stimulating and varied learning experiences, including practice placements in various settings that will be central to your learning and can be the first step to an exciting and rewarding career.

MSc Music Therapy

A student pulling an occupational therapy book out of a library bookshelf

MSc Occupational Therapy (Pre-Reg)

The MSc Occupational Therapy (Pre-Registration) is an accelerated two-year course designed for graduates seeking to embark on a new career helping people live fuller, more independent lives.

MSc Occupational Therapy (Pre-Registration)

Four students working on a group project poster together

MSc Advancing Practice in Occupational Therapy

Are you a qualified working occupational therapist who wants to advance your practice? As part of our Advancing Professional Practice Framework, this part-time online course aims to equip you with the knowledge and skills to become a dynamic leader of innovative, person-centred change that advances occupational therapy practice.

MSc/PgDip Advancing Practice in Occupational Therapy (Advancing Professional Practice Framework)

MSc Play Therapy

This course is designed for experienced professionals who work, or have worked, with children, young people and families and who want to develop specialist therapeutic knowledge and skills. Delivered by With Kids in collaboration with QMU, this part-time three-year course prepares you to work safely, ethically and creatively as a play therapist in a range of settings.

MSc Play Therapy

Why QMU?

Our two-year pre-registration courses:

will enable you to embark on a new rewarding career as a qualified therapists in your chosen field particular field and improve people's lives;
provide practice placements which give you the opportunity to apply your learning in real-world settings, developing the practical skills, confidence and professional judgement needed for your future career. They also provide valuable experience of working with people, multidisciplinary teams and different service environments; and
give you access to physical resources on campus, including an Occupational Performance Suite. incorporating activities of daily living facilities with functional appliances/ equipment to simulate a home environment. The arts therapies utilise general and custom-built studio spaces for music therapy and art psychotherapy.

For those who are already qualified as an occupational therapist, we offer you the opportunity to explore your own practice in more depth through our MSc Advancing Practice in Occupational Therapy. As a postgraduate student, the opportunities to gain invaluable experience through applying your learning directly to your workplace allows you to contribute to the modernisation of occupational therapy, the arts therapies and healthcare globally.

Staff expertise and professional links

Staff expertise: Our staff have many years of experience in occupational therapy or arts therapies, practice, education, research and policy, and ensure that there is a real focus on the individual student’s future working needs embedded into their postgraduate study.

Strong industry links: Occupational therapists and arts therapists at pre-registration level undertake a series of work-based placements as part of the course in their respective fields. We have excellent links with our practice providers, ensuring that our courses are current and relevant. We aim to integrate your work-based studies with your academic studies, to facilitate a deep understanding of the key issues that will affect your chosen profession in a rapidly changing and complex health and social care arena.

Qualified occupational therapists undertaking the part-time MSc Advancing Practice in Occupational Therapy continuously utilise their daily practice in their studies.

Our student-centred approach to learning and teaching

Our learning and teaching approaches for these courses are developed using the following core values in relation to student-centred education:

Maximise the potential of our academic and professional communities of learners, working together locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.
Continuously enhance the student experience through the development of learner-centred educational provision, research and scholarship.
Enable all of our students to become independent lifelong learners.

In addition to the values stated above, we employ enquiry-based learning in the majority of our postgraduate courses. Enquiry-based learning is essentially student-centred, with an emphasis on group work and the use of library, web and other information resources.

Lecturers are also facilitators, providing encouragement and support to enable you to take responsibility for what and how you learn. You will reach a point where you are not simply investigating questions posed by others, but can formulate your own research topics. You will gain a deeper understanding of the subject matter, as well as the knowledge development and leadership skills required for tackling complex problems that occur in practice.

You will be expected to draw on your previous knowledge and skills to inform your postgraduate study and will benefit from a variety of interesting ways to participate and share experiences and opinions with your peers to deepen your understanding of your chosen profession.

Queen Margaret University Events Management students listening to a talk in a lecture theatre

Preparing you for successful careers

We prepare our students for the challenges of the 21st century and actively encourage aspiration to higher levels of the profession.

The MSc Advancing Practice in Occupational Therapy has been designed to suit occupational therapists from a wide range of settings, to support you to redefine your career as an advanced practitioner in education, research, leadership, policy or practice. It is possible to take individual modules as part of continuing professional development, or to continue to study towards a PgCert, PgDip or the MSc as part of your ongoing career and personal development.

Music therapists are employed in a variety of settings throughout the health, education and community sectors, such as in schools, hospitals, residential care homes and hospices, and work with people of all ages. Many music therapists from Queen Margaret University have created new posts in existing services, as well as successfully setting up private practice, helping the profession to continue to grow in Scotland and elsewhere. There are many opportunities to work collaboratively with other professionals, become clinical supervisors and pursue further research to add to an already rich and dynamic field.

Art psychotherapists work with a whole spectrum of clients within a variety of settings: many are employed in the NHS, but others work in mainstream primary and secondary schools, hospices, prisons and voluntary agencies, for example. Many art psychotherapists welcome the flexibility of sessional employment and are able to tailor their input to the needs of the organisation. Art psychotherapists can also take on roles that extend beyond clinical work by providing supervision to other staff members and co-working with colleagues from other professions.

Play therapists practise in many environments, including: NHS, social services, primary, secondary, further and special education, charities and private practice. Play therapists work with children and young people who present with a range of emotional difficulties.

Dramatherapy involves the application of healing aspects of drama and theatre to a therapeutic process. It is a method of working and playing that uses action methods to facilitate creativity, imagination, learning, insight and growth. Dramatherapists work with the understanding that it is through identifying with characters and stories that people make sense of the world and come to understand themselves and others. They draw on a very wide range of dramatic and creative techniques in verbal and non-verbal ways. These may include role work and improvisation, story-making, movement/embodiment, music, work with objects/puppets/masks and art-making. Dramatherapists work therapeutically with a diverse range of individuals, groups and organisations, who needn't have any prior experience of theatre or drama.