THE Crawford College of Art and Design, which is part of Cork IT, is the only third-level institution in Ireland providing a postgraduate course in art therapy. The course has been franchised from the University of Hertfordshire and is recognised all over Europe.

"Working in art therapy is working non-verbally," explains Ron Melling, head of art therapy and adult education at Crawford. "The art that's being made is speaking its own language. Where possible, we might look at ways of finding words to describe the image.

"It's a very useful way to work with people who can't find the words to express themselves. They could be emotionally traumatised. They could have some organic deficiency. Or they could have an elective mutism - this means that there could be a child who is perfectly capable but elects not to speak, it's not uncommon. It just means that, for whatever reason, a child has learned to keep silent. You can find this in adults also. The person speaks through the art work and the art therapist would be comfortable with unconscious processes."

Alice Byrnes, who also works in the art therapy department, says that "just simply being with the person and somehow conveying to him that it's OK to express themselves through art, is what we're about. They might need a bit of help.

"For example, someone with a learning disability might not be able to hold a brush. We would be responding to what his need rather than imposing something on him."

Byrnes, who worked as an art therapist in Britain, says that art therapy has been evolving for 30 years. Before it became professionalised, it was carried out by artists in hospitals dealing with traumatised people after the war. "The training was introduced to qualify people to practise and work with clients across the health, educational and social services."

Crawford is the only college in Ireland at the moment developing art therapy further, says Melling. "Art therapies are being developed in Dublin, but we're the first to offer postgraduate training and we're working closely with the Irish Association of Creative Therapists. They're supporting us, as well as the Southern Health Board."

Before this facility was available in Ireland, people went to Britain for training. The postgraduate training, at £2,000 a year, does not come cheap. At the moment, 10 people are in their first year of training. The course lasts for three years.

Some of the trainees have been released from their jobs for two days a week. They have an art background or a social-psychology background and they bring their training back to their institution. "Our students are by and large mature professionals," explains Byrnes. "The youngest people we would deal with would be in their mid-twenties and they would need to have some clinical training."

ART therapists work in schools, communities, social services, prisons and psychiatric institutions. Often, the clients say they can't draw or paint. But that doesn't matter - what's important is effort and commitment to art therapy.

"It can only be done with the full co-operation of the client," says Byrnes. "There's no way we could say - you're coming to art therapy.

"There's no interpretation of the work - that's a nice way of saying that whatever comes up is a message from the client. It would be very easy for us to put our interpretation on the art work but that's not what we're about. This doesn't mean we don't ever discuss the content, but it's about what meaning it has for the client.

It was clear, she says, that the need was there, judging by the children's response. "When I worked in England, I used to spend 45 minutes a week with children who might have been dealing with issues such as bereavement or any kind of difficulty a child might find himself in. We're bound by a code of ethics and within that code would be confidentiality."

COURSES in the art therapy department include an art therapy summer school, a disability arts training course, a foundation course in art therapy at postgraduate level and a postgraduate course in art therapy. For information, phone Ron Melling at (021) 966777.