Dozens of Irish students who paid thousands of euro for a play therapy qualification have been left “high and dry” after the group running the course went into liquidation.
The Academy of Play and Child Psychotherapy (APAC), based in the UK, runs master’s degree courses in practice-based play therapy in Ireland every year, among other qualifications.
The course is facilitated here through Play Therapy Ireland (PTI), with both organisations recently, but not currently, sharing the same directors and secretaries, according to company accounts.
Play therapy is designed for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties. It allows them to communicate with a therapist through play, helping them understand what has happened to them and how they feel.
RM Block
Students in Ireland pay almost €10,000 for this qualification through APAC, with accreditation provided by the University of Chichester in the UK.
However, on Monday, students of APAC received an email from the organisation saying it had ceased training and would be going into voluntary liquidation.
The company said it was working on a “rescue and continuation plan for existing students”, but no further details on this were given.
It is understood that more than 100 students in Ireland are affected, with at least 48 of these starting their studies in Dublin just a few weeks ago.
In a follow-up email to the announcement from APAC, the University of Chichester said: “Our immediate priority is to understand the implications for current students and to explore all available options to support students affected by this situation. We are working closely with both APAC and PTUK/PTI to identify how to best support teach-out arrangements.”
The university told students to refrain from making any further payments to APAC and advised them to “seek independent advice” if they had “any concerns regarding fees already paid”.
One of the students affected, Aoife Bagnall, a primary school teacher in Co Dublin, told The Irish Times that she and her classmates feel they have been left “very much high and dry”.
“I am disappointed for myself, my peers and the lack of children that will have access to us as play therapists.
“We have become far more aware of children’s mental health, emotional wellbeing and the impact of trauma. We have better language for discussing these issues and a greater understanding of what children may need.
“Yet awareness alone is not enough, the need for play therapists in Ireland is really there within education and family resource centres and I hope that somehow our time and money invested by so many of us will not simply disappear and that there is still a way for that investment to be recognised and put to meaningful use,” Bagnall said.
Another student in Ireland, Theresa Falconer, said she has invested over €6,500 in the course through student fees, equipment and accommodation costs.
Falconer qualified as a primary school teacher in the UK before moving home to Waterford with her husband and three children. She felt the play-therapy qualification was her way back into the workforce and she started the course this summer in Dublin, with an intensive 15-day in-person teaching module.
This required her to pay for accommodation for two weeks through Airbnb, purchase a laptop and buy materials on top of the €4,500 course fee.
Speaking to The Irish Times on Monday, Falconer said she has “no idea what is going on” or what will come next for her and her classmates.
“My heart just sank [when I got the email]. It was a real blow to the stomach, you know, because I felt like this was my way back into doing something meaningful after taking a break and looking after my kids for the last 10 years. I was really sinking my teeth into it. I was really enjoying it. It felt like a really unlucky thing to happen,” she said.
“I have no idea what’s going on. They’re saying they’re going to formulate a plan, but I don’t understand how we’re going to do our placements in September. Who’s going to be monitoring it? What’s going to happen with supervisors? I also feel like maybe it will just be left, and that it will have been a waste of time.
“I don’t feel like there’s going to be any offer, refund of money, or anything like that. I would rather they said we’ll guarantee that you’re going to finish the course.”
In response to queries from The Irish Times, the University of Chichester said it was “working closely with professional bodies Play Therapy UK and Play Therapy International to support teach-out arrangements, enabling students to complete their qualifications.”
Play Therapy Ireland and the Academy of Play and Child Psychotherapy have been contacted for comment.
