Trauma-Responsive Therapy

The Trauma-Responsive Therapy major focuses on research-informed, ethical trauma-therapy practice. It is designed to deepen the knowledge, critical reflection, professional awareness, and therapeutic capability of experienced practitioners.

Students integrate theoretical knowledge, personal reflection, professional experience, culturally responsive practice, and faith-informed perspectives within their existing vocational context.

The published pathway has required students to begin with the Postgraduate Certificate in Responding to Trauma, progress into the Trauma-Responsive Therapy major within the Postgraduate Diploma in Professional Practice, and then progress into the Master of Professional Practice.

Unique Approach

At BTI, we recognise that professional practice engages with the spiritual dimension as well as the social and physical dimensions of people’s lives and the places where they live and work.

The integration of theoretical, personal, spiritual, and professional learning is a distinctive feature of BTI’s Postgraduate Diploma and Master of Professional Practice study.

Integrating the Professional with the Personal

A key component of the programme is developing awareness of the gifts, talents, strengths, limitations, assumptions, and ways of thinking that influence each practitioner’s way of being.

Students bring existing literature, personal experience, the biblical narrative, and their own professional context into dialogue, allowing each to inform the others.

These cycles of critical reflection create opportunities to question societal, cultural, and institutional norms and examine the assumptions and values that influence therapeutic and professional practice.

Prospective students should confirm the requirements for their intended qualification and entry point with the programme leader. Published requirements include:

• An interview with the programme leader
• An NZQA-approved Level 7 bachelor’s degree or equivalent
• Completion of the required preceding qualification for entry into the Postgraduate Diploma or Master’s pathway
• Provisional or full membership of an appropriate professional body
• Relevant supervised practice experience in responding to trauma
• Current employment or volunteering in counselling, psychology, mental health, or another relevant professional context
• A supporting letter from a supervisor or manager confirming an appropriate vocational context for applying the learning

International Applicants

• Qualifications completed overseas may require an International Qualification Assessment.
• Published English-language requirements are equivalent to IELTS Academic 6.5, with no band score below 6.0.
• International applicants should confirm current qualification, English-language, delivery, and attendance requirements before applying.

Postgraduate study in Trauma-Responsive Therapy can strengthen a practitioner’s therapeutic knowledge, critical reflection, cultural responsiveness, ethical decision-making, and ability to work with people and communities affected by trauma.

The major is intended to deepen capability within an existing professional field or support progression into an allied area of therapeutic, mental-health, counselling, social-service, or trauma-responsive practice.

Career progression will depend on a graduate’s existing qualification, professional membership, registration requirements, supervised experience, and employment context. Completion of this major should not be presented as creating a new professional registration by itself.

The available programme booklet is dated November 2024. It can be used as background information, but applicants should not rely on it for 2027 dates, availability, fees, or application requirements.