Terms and Conditions
Last updated 28/01/2014
1. Contract
By signing the Registration Form to attend an IDT course, workshop or event, you agree to adhere to the following ‘general’ terms and conditions as prescribed by Interactive Drawing Therapy Limited – which cover your registration and participation in IDT training, and the use of IDT material. (Additional ‘special’ terms and conditions apply to IDT teacher training and IDT teaching contracts – as described in the Teacher Training Prospectus).
We aim to provide high-quality training courses, professional and efficient administrative services, training environments that are conducive to learning, and supportive follow-up contact. We will act ethically with integrity, responsibility, fairness and confidentiality. Our courses are provided in the English language, and all IDT teachers are registered members of the New Zealand Association of Counsellors or approved equivalent.
These general Terms and Conditions are deemed to have been read and accepted by both the participant and the agency or person that pays their course fees.
2. Complaints
If you have any concerns or complaints regarding your IDT training or administrative service please speak directly to your course teacher or write to the Director, who will consider your concerns, investigate them and report back to you. In the event of a dispute that cannot be settled, both parties agree to submit the dispute to an independent, qualified arbitrator, whose decision shall be binding. IDT Ltd offers a valuable training, and we want you to get the most out of your investment. We are committed to professional excellence, and welcome your feedback.Conflicts and defences are psychologically inevitable and normal when working in an ongoing interactive group, where individuals come from a wide background of life experience and professional training, bringing different degrees of suitability and readiness. IDT training is experiential, and the modality is directive, interactive and regularly accesses unconscious material. Projection and transference will be present, but generally will not be addressed.
Complaints and suggestions to do with curriculum design, venues, administrative matters, etc should be addressed in the first instance to the IDT Office.
Whilst the Lesson Plans and Course Manuals are the intellectual property of the IDT Trust, IDT teachers operate as independent contractors and are not agents or employees of IDT Ltd. Complaints and suggestions about a teacher’s alleged professional misconduct, breach of ethics, or conflicts of interest should be addressed to the IDT office in the first instance, but may subsequently be referred to the professional association the teacher is a member of, if settlement is not reached.
Complaints of an interpersonal nature between class participants need to be discussed out of class hours. It is not the teacher’s responsibility to mediate a truce between the parties, but the teacher has the right to temporarily dismiss the parties (without refund) if their dispute is disrupting the learning of the rest of the class.
In the event of a complaint not being adequately settled, both parties agree to take the matter to mediation, and if that does not achieve resolution within 30 days, then the dispute shall be determined by arbitration, in New Zealand.
3. Privacy Act
The participant authorises Interactive Drawing Therapy Limited staff and agents to collect, hold and use registration information, for the purpose of supporting the education and well-being of the class participants, and this information may be used by any of the IDT staff or consultants to IDT in connection with that purpose. The information may also be used for organising the IDT training course for which you are registered, and informing you of future IDT courses, events and services. The participant also authorises the transfer of their contact details into a Class List for distribution to other class members who can then if desired contact each other to work together to complete course assignments as well as to their local IDT peer support group co-ordinator who can advise details of meetings. Participant information will not be given to any other third party without written permission. You have the right of access to and correction of the personal information collected by IDT.
4. Confidentiality
It is essential that personal and private information revealed by participants in class discussions, training exercises, assignments or class feedback rounds must not be passed on to any other party. Any breach of this obligation shall result in the informant being required to leave the course, and no refund of any fees or costs will be made on these occasions.
5. Copyright and Trade Protection
5.1 General
The purpose of IDT training courses is to provide participants with the principles and methodology of IDT for their own use in clinical practice with clients, supervisees and self-development. Russell Withers is the founder of IDT, the owner of Interactive Drawing Therapy Limited, and holds the intellectual property rights over the name Interactive Drawing Therapy. The IDT Trust owns the copyright of all course manuals, handouts, wall charts, website content, IDT logos and IDT processes and diagrams, and published papers. IDT Ltd holds all rights to trade protection for the structure, design and provision of IDT training courses, newsletter sales, conference and retreat events, merchandise, advertising and all IDT-related material. IDT material must not be copied or distributed to others, and participants are not permitted to teach, train, coach or formally pass on their IDT learning to others. It is illegal to copy and distribute any portion of the course manual or handouts. Breaches of copyright or trade protection will be prosecuted in the New Zealand courts, and damages sought.
5.2 Source material
Information on IDT is available in these published papers:
5.3 Giving an IDT presentation
You may be asked by your employer, or course tutor if you are a student
elsewhere, to make a summary presentation of IDT to work colleagues or other students, or you may propose to offer an IDT presentation at a professional conference or practice seminar. Presenters must restrict their presentations to being a two-hour (maximum) experiential ‘taster’ that explicitly encourages the recipients to enrol in an IDT Foundation Course. Presenters must adhere to the copyright and trade protection described above, as well as declare that they are not accredited IDT teachers or experts, and nor do they act as an agent of Interactive Drawing Therapy Limited. The IDT office will be pleased to post you a bundle of IDT brochures and course flyers at no cost, for you to distribute to those present, encouraging them to enrol in IDT training.
5.4 Coaching IDT and IDT Supervision
Completion of an IDT course is not an authorization to act as an IDT teacher, coach, supervisor or agent of IDT. Neither is it appropriate for IDT Intermediate or Advanced Course graduates to use local IDT peer support groups to teach IDT to Foundation Course graduates. Only licensed/franchised IDT Centres may organise courses, and only IDT-trained and accredited teachers may deliver courses or lead IDT training events. Please report any breaches of copyright or trade restraint to the IDT office.
6. Disclaimer of Liability
Like all other therapeutic modalities IDT can be used safely or inappropriately. IDT has the capacity to release unconscious material, strong feelings, issues and forces that can seriously disturb the user’s psychological balance. IDT is not intended to replace normal professional safe practices.
Neither Interactive Drawing Therapy Limited, nor Russell Withers, nor any of the IDT Teachers or staff accept any liability for the uses or misuses of IDT principles and practices as taught, demonstrated or described in class, or in the handouts or publications, that participants engage in, nor are any of the above responsible in any way for the consequences of such use, nor for errors, omissions or misinterpretation of the IDT modality, either during or subsequent to the training event.
Because of the course’s experiential training format, it is recommended and presumed that all class participants arrange to have regular supervision and therapeutic support with a suitably qualified person as part of their learning and use of IDT.
7. Working with Imagery and potent Words
IDT requires no artistic talent, graphic skill or drawing ability. Stick-figures, ginger-bread characters, snow-men, etc are more than enough for an IDT session. IDT has no interest in aesthetic imagination or creativity considerations (such as beauty, form, composition, proportion, line, scale, colour, graphic competency, etc) or the making of art objects. IDT is not concerned with artistic expression, decorative imagery, or the making of imaginative pictures. IDT avoids discussion about visual or design intentions, or the construction of ‘works in progress’. IDT avoids the pursuit of meaning-making, psychological explanations, diagnostic interpretation of the client’s pages, or the psycho-analysis of the client themselves. An IDT session is not an opportunity for artistic self-expression, nor for exploratory sketching, random mark-making or drawing pictures.
IDT imagery is about therapeutic engagement – not illustrated talk. From an IDT perspective, ‘pages’ are tools to be used by both client and counsellor, and are not treated with counsellor-imposed reverence, projection or protective value. In law, whoever makes ‘a drawing’ or writes an original text, owns that drawing or page (copyright is automatic), so the IDT counsellor does not presume to retain the client’s work. IDT pages may be torn up, burned, buried, filed away, taken home, thrown out, etc – in a ritual of ‘letting go’ – according to the client’s decision regarding the work at hand. An IDT approach to working with pages provides a structured opportunity to get to underlying issues. An IDT session may simply produce pages of writing and no drawing. IDT is essentially a process-oriented approach that assists therapists and social workers to use and work with pages in a psychologically enhancing manner, in order to get to underlying issues.
The effectiveness of this client-centred, process-directed therapy lies in its capacity to provide simple procedures and guidelines that sustain the client in their work, whilst the therapist operates from a more strategic and meta-level framework. IDT allows the words, images and behaviours of the client to reveal the nature of their underlying issues; what level of work is currently available; what stage the client has reached in their therapeutic process; and how best to intervene.
8. Participant Pre-Requisites and In-Course Safety
IDT training courses are specialised courses designed to teach IDT to practitioners for their use with clients, and do not provide basic training in counselling skills. They presume participants have a mature level of interpersonal competency, good communication skills, a working knowledge of counselling frameworks, and sufficient ego-strength to put their own needs and preoccupations aside while attending the course. IDT training courses are not offered as a time or place for personal therapy, nor for detailed academic debate.
IDT training courses include a wide range of short experiential exercises. Your participation in these training exercises will help you appreciate the unique power and effectiveness of IDT. As “clients” you will be doing real ‘work’. We rely on you to take care of your own safety by taking up the option to “pass” at any point on any individual or group activity or demonstration that you are not comfortable with, and to practice appropriate self-disclosure at a level that is right for you. It is presumed that participants have regular supervision and ready access to therapeutic support as part of their learning and use of IDT, as well as for processing personal matters that may get brought up during course training exercises or assignments. Please speak to the teacher if any personal issues brought up during the class become a difficulty.
Completion of the IDT Foundation Course is a prerequisite for attending all other IDT courses, workshops or events.
9. Course Postponement/Cancellation
We will make every effort to keep to the advertised course dates, but reserve the right to cancel or postpone courses if minimum numbers are not reached. In that event a full refund will be made. Interactive Drawing Therapy Limited shall not be liable for consequential loss of income, travel or accommodation costs, or other losses that registrants or their agency may incur by such cancellation.
10. Fees
Providing IDT training is an expensive service, involving costs for air travel, local travel, teacher fees, venue hire and catering, teacher accommodation, drawing equipment and class manuals, etc. IDT gets no subsidies on its income, and we need good numbers to ensure a course proceeds.
10.1 Early Bird Discounts
Payment must be received within the six-week time frame specified on the course registration form to qualify for this discount, or the course fee will revert to the non-discounted Standard Fee.
10.2 Employer Payments
Participants shall remain liable for payment of all fees and charges in the event of their employer or benefactor declining payment of fees.
10.3 Bounced Cheques
Participants shall pay a $50 IDT administration fee, plus all debt-collection costs and bank fees incurred in recovering debts from bounced cheques, declined credit, or non-payment.
10.4 Late Payments
Payments received after a course commences will incur a $50 Administration fee, unless arranged in writing with Interactive Drawing Therapy Limited prior to the course.
10.5 Withdrawals, Absences, Transfers and Substitutions
All requests for refunds, transfers and substitutions must be made in writing.
a) Withdrawals and no-shows
Financial costs are incurred when course registrants withdraw prior to or during a course.
A full refund (less $50 administration fee) will be given for withdrawals received more than one calendar month prior to the course start date. A 50% refund will be given for withdrawals received within one calendar month (and prior to 48 hours) of the course start date.
There will be no refunds for withdrawals received less than 48 hours before the course commences.
There will be no refunds for absences during a course.
Please note that, in addition to the above clauses, if both units of the Foundation Course have been paid for at the discounted bulk rate, and the withdrawal is for Unit Two, the original fee for Unit One reverts back to the ‘standard’ single unit fee.
b) Absences
If you miss more than three hours of class time you will impair your ability to work effectively with other participants, and you may be asked to not participate in the rest of that course. Missing any part of a course will be treated as a withdrawal, and no refund will be given. If you have attended part of a course and have had to leave due to illness or a family or work emergency, you may be entitled (at IDT’s discretion) to register for a future repeat of the course at the reduced Refresher discounted price.You must attend both days of each unit to be considered to have completed the unit, and be eligible for a certificate of attendance.
c) Transfers
Course registrants can transfer to another course scheduled for a different date or location.
A $50 administration fee will be charged for each transfer request received more than one calendar month prior to the course start date.
A $150 charge (- comprising a $50 admin fee plus $100 overheads cost) will be incurred for transfer requests received within one month of the course start date.
d) Substitutes
A substitute participant who meets the course pre-requisites is welcome to attend in the place of the original registrant on completion of the registration form. A $50 administration fee will be charged for each substitution.
11. Disruption
On the rare occasion where someone registers who is not ready for this sort of experiential training, your IDT Teacher has the right to require that participant to leave if their behaviour is deemed unsuitable, distracting or disruptive to the learning of other course participants. No refund will be made on these occasions.
Class times run from 8:30am to 5:00pm. An hour is provided for lunch, and there are two refreshment breaks of 15 minutes each. Late participants are disruptive, so you are required to be on time throughout each day.
Cell-phone calls and texting is disruptive, and participants must leave their cell-phones turned off, or on mute, during all teaching time, and to only use their phones in the refreshment breaks and lunch period in the outside lobby – not in the training room.
The teacher training programme is not available as a therapeutic or personal growth venue, so, apart from normal professional sensitivities, the programme will not be able to accommodate substantial time being given to individuals around their personal issues. If a participant’s distress becomes extensive, unsuitable or disruptive to the learning of other course participants, the Course Teacher has the right to require that participant to leave. No refund is due after the training programme has commenced.
If you use drugs or alcohol on the premises during the training days, or come to class under the influence of drugs or alcohol, your place in the course will be instantly withdrawn, without refund.
Should you cause harm (mental or physical) to your class teacher, IDT staff, teacher trainees, or other students while attending the course, your place in the course will be instantly withdrawn.
If you break a law of the country that the course is being delivered in, expulsion will be immediate.
There will be no fee refund on expulsions made under these circumstances. Interactive Drawing Therapy Ltd reserves the right to expel or suspend any person who does not comply with the provisions of this Teacher-training Prospectus.
12. Care of Belongings
While teachers take reasonable care to ensure the training room is secure and safe, IDT Limited is not liable for loss or damage to unattended participant belongings in the event of theft. We recommend items of value remain with you at all times.
13. Respect for Others
Please respect the rights of other participants to a training environment free from distraction or interruption. During class times, ensure your phone is either turned off or on mute. For fire safety and health reasons, the smoking of tobacco products is not permitted inside the training premises.
14. Assignments, Certificates and Feedback sheets
IDT courses include assignments for you to complete outside of class to consolidate and extend your IDT learning. These assignments will be checked for completeness, but no evaluation or feedback will be given, and assignments will not be returned. You are advised therefore to send in a photocopy of your finished sheets (or electronic version).
A certificate stating the number of hours you have put into this course (including an allowance for assignment time) will be issued on completion of the assignments (subject to your attendance at the whole course). Completion of the course and the receipt of any certificate of attendance or assignment completion is not an accreditation of skill, suitability, or professional competency.
Assignments (and course feedback sheets) are kept for periodically assessing the delivery and success of our teaching, and also for generic research of issues facing new IDT trainees. All names and identifying material will be strictly protected from such research. Your signature on your Registration Form authorises us to use your assignment material for IDT research.
15. The Nature of IDT Courses and Events
In summary, IDT courses, workshops and events have a similar structure and learning culture.
15.1 Training
IDT offers a training service, not a therapy or encounter group. IDT courses and workshops include a wide range of short training exercises, and we will be taking turns in both counsellor and client roles. The primary focus for the course is on the counsellor role; – short sessions for the counsellor to practice and develop IDT skills.
15.2 Readiness
This is a specialty course, not a basic training in counselling. It presumes participants have a mature level of interpersonal competency, have good communication skills, a working knowledge of counselling frameworks, and are able to put their own needs and preoccupations aside while they attend professionally to their partner in class.
15.3 Experiential
Because this is ‘hands-on’ experiential training, the class exercises may bring up personal issues when in the client role; however time is not given to process all that surfaces. Please ask the teacher for help if this becomes difficult during the course. Participants are presumed to have effective support and supervision systems (as required by most professional associations). In particular, we recommend that all participants organise a private session after the course to address any personal matters that may have
arisen. Your experience in the client role will help you appreciate the unique power and effectiveness of IDT. As clients you will be doing real ‘work’, so look after each other. IDT training courses and workshops are a mix of didactic and discovery learning – a carefully arranged balance between prescribed information and experiential learning activities, with each level of training building on previous courses. Detailed lesson plans and handouts ensure that each level of training has consistency of content and experience, wherever the course is taught
15.4 Individual Learning
Initial IDT training presents generic IDT principles and practice, and presumes a relatively willing and capable client. Special applications or uses of IDT, are better addressed after participants have completed their Foundation, Intermediate and Advanced courses. Class participants come from different personal and professional backgrounds. You are therefore encouraged to ask questions that can help you bridge between your prior learning and IDT.
15.5 Modality-Based Learning
IDT is a complete modality, providing a congruent body of theory, methodology, demonstrable effectiveness, and meta-level accountability. As you progress in your IDT training you will find that it has a particular rigour and discipline that may challenge aspects of other trainings you have received. New learning takes trial-and-error practice and time. However IDT is also very user-friendly, and integrates well with other ways of working. You are encouraged at this stage of your IDT learning to adapt IDT to fit into your existing professional repertoire.
15.6 Structured Course
Each course progressively builds through a series of modules, each presented with the format of: – wall chart presentation > handout > demonstration > class exercise > one-to-one feedback > and whole group Q & A time. There will be regular summaries and reviews. Feel free to ask questions or ask for a short break. We will start and end each day, and start and end our lunch-breaks on time.
15.7 Assignments and Certification
Each Unit includes two sets of Assignments, – one with clients, the other with your-self. A certificate affirming the time you have put into this course will be issued on completion of the assignments. Post us a photocopy of the Assignment sheets when completed. No feedback is given. IDT is recognised by various training providers and professional accrediting authorities. Many agencies in New Zealand pay for their staff to learn IDT. Your time spent here is of value.
16. Safety
A sense of safety is essential if we are to feel ready to enter into the exercises and discussions. You have the right to “pass” if we are having a round or are pairing off for an exercise, and the right to say “No” if invited out for a demonstration or to reveal something about yourself. Practice ‘appropriate self-disclosure’. IDT does not subscribe to compulsory growth, and this is not an encounter group. IDT is client-centred, – despite its directive nature, – and the client remains ‘in charge’. IDT believes the psyche will only present what it wants addressed. Like all modalities IDT can be used safely or inappropriately. Confidentiality is essential. Personal information shared within this workshop remains private to that moment. Counsellors, please check with your clients when we are having whole group rounds discussing how your session went.
17. Intensity
The course proceeds at a fast pace and is packed with information. You will experience information overload, and this is quite normal. The short sessions will keep opening up new issues, and you will be making a lot of inner connections. Most people are surprised by the depth, speed and power of IDT. Get the big ideas and the basic method, – don’t try to take in all the detail. It is the client who does IDT and who will reveal it to you; – we don’t do it ‘on them’ ! IDT works with the power of the right brain, – trust its ability to turn intense experience into insightful perception. IDT can access deep, strong feelings and emotions, and you will discover how the page provides new ways to contain, sustain and transmute these in safe and appropriate ways.
18. Delight
One of the great things about IDT is that it allows heavy issues to be addressed in a safe, light and remarkably effective way. The psyche is always looking for an opportunity to do inner work. There will be lots of laughter through this course, as insights abound, and the new self transforms its old associations, releases inner resources and new potential. IDT changes our perceptions and our sense of self.
19. The Role of the IDT Teacher
During your practice sessions, the course instructor will periodically move around the pairs and make practical suggestions or give an impromptu mini-demonstration. Besides offering specific IDT guidance on the exercise, these also show the particular focus of IDT on process cues, and the power of keeping out of the client’s content. Your course instructor is here to help you learn a new and liberating way of working with clients.
Your course teacher is a skilled and experienced IDT practitioner, and a full member of the New Zealand Association of Counsellors or the Australian Counsellor Association, or approved professional equivalent. They are fully trained and accredited to teach selected the IDT Advanced Course, (operating as an independent contractor to the licensed Centre for Interactive Drawing Therapy that you enrolled with). Please address queries about course content to your teacher, and any administrative matters to the IDT Office.
20. Training exercises
The training exercises and activities used in class have been designed to match and illustrate the topic currently being presented. They have been carefully developed to provide course participants with a safe, structured and progressive immersion into the nature of IDT, under the tutelage of your teacher.
Please note that these training exercises and class activities are often not suitable for direct use with clients, supervisee or consumer user groups.
21. Accreditation
The four-day IDT Foundation Course has been accredited (to earn Professional Development points) by the Australian Counselling Association, The Australian Association of Social Workers, and by Occupational Therapy Australia.
Apart from the IDT teacher-training programme, IDT courses offer no formal assessments or tutor feedback on individual competency. Completion of a course or workshop, and the receipt of any certification of attendance is therefore not an accreditation of skill, suitability, or competency.
22. Health and Safety
Please advise your teacher of any hazards or accidents in the training room or associated venue facilities that you are aware of. Please take note of the location of emergency exits, and follow the instructions of your IDT teacher if emergencies arise.
1. Contract
By signing the Registration Form to attend an IDT course, workshop or event, you agree to adhere to the following ‘general’ terms and conditions as prescribed by Interactive Drawing Therapy Limited – which cover your registration and participation in IDT training, and the use of IDT material. (Additional ‘special’ terms and conditions apply to IDT teacher training and IDT teaching contracts – as described in the Teacher Training Prospectus).
We aim to provide high-quality training courses, professional and efficient administrative services, training environments that are conducive to learning, and supportive follow-up contact. We will act ethically with integrity, responsibility, fairness and confidentiality. Our courses are provided in the English language, and all IDT teachers are registered members of the New Zealand Association of Counsellors or approved equivalent.
These general Terms and Conditions are deemed to have been read and accepted by both the participant and the agency or person that pays their course fees.
2. Complaints
If you have any concerns or complaints regarding your IDT training or administrative service please speak directly to your course teacher or write to the Director, who will consider your concerns, investigate them and report back to you. In the event of a dispute that cannot be settled, both parties agree to submit the dispute to an independent, qualified arbitrator, whose decision shall be binding. IDT Ltd offers a valuable training, and we want you to get the most out of your investment. We are committed to professional excellence, and welcome your feedback.Conflicts and defences are psychologically inevitable and normal when working in an ongoing interactive group, where individuals come from a wide background of life experience and professional training, bringing different degrees of suitability and readiness. IDT training is experiential, and the modality is directive, interactive and regularly accesses unconscious material. Projection and transference will be present, but generally will not be addressed.
Complaints and suggestions to do with curriculum design, venues, administrative matters, etc should be addressed in the first instance to the IDT Office.
Whilst the Lesson Plans and Course Manuals are the intellectual property of the IDT Trust, IDT teachers operate as independent contractors and are not agents or employees of IDT Ltd. Complaints and suggestions about a teacher’s alleged professional misconduct, breach of ethics, or conflicts of interest should be addressed to the IDT office in the first instance, but may subsequently be referred to the professional association the teacher is a member of, if settlement is not reached.
Complaints of an interpersonal nature between class participants need to be discussed out of class hours. It is not the teacher’s responsibility to mediate a truce between the parties, but the teacher has the right to temporarily dismiss the parties (without refund) if their dispute is disrupting the learning of the rest of the class.
In the event of a complaint not being adequately settled, both parties agree to take the matter to mediation, and if that does not achieve resolution within 30 days, then the dispute shall be determined by arbitration, in New Zealand.
3. Privacy Act
The participant authorises Interactive Drawing Therapy Limited staff and agents to collect, hold and use registration information, for the purpose of supporting the education and well-being of the class participants, and this information may be used by any of the IDT staff or consultants to IDT in connection with that purpose. The information may also be used for organising the IDT training course for which you are registered, and informing you of future IDT courses, events and services. The participant also authorises the transfer of their contact details into a Class List for distribution to other class members who can then if desired contact each other to work together to complete course assignments as well as to their local IDT peer support group co-ordinator who can advise details of meetings. Participant information will not be given to any other third party without written permission. You have the right of access to and correction of the personal information collected by IDT.
4. Confidentiality
It is essential that personal and private information revealed by participants in class discussions, training exercises, assignments or class feedback rounds must not be passed on to any other party. Any breach of this obligation shall result in the informant being required to leave the course, and no refund of any fees or costs will be made on these occasions.
5. Copyright and Trade Protection
5.1 General
The purpose of IDT training courses is to provide participants with the principles and methodology of IDT for their own use in clinical practice with clients, supervisees and self-development. Russell Withers is the founder of IDT, the owner of Interactive Drawing Therapy Limited, and holds the intellectual property rights over the name Interactive Drawing Therapy. The IDT Trust owns the copyright of all course manuals, handouts, wall charts, website content, IDT logos and IDT processes and diagrams, and published papers. IDT Ltd holds all rights to trade protection for the structure, design and provision of IDT training courses, newsletter sales, conference and retreat events, merchandise, advertising and all IDT-related material. IDT material must not be copied or distributed to others, and participants are not permitted to teach, train, coach or formally pass on their IDT learning to others. It is illegal to copy and distribute any portion of the course manual or handouts. Breaches of copyright or trade protection will be prosecuted in the New Zealand courts, and damages sought.
5.2 Source material
Information on IDT is available in these published papers:
- Zhang, W & Everts, H. (2012). Interactive Drawing Therapy and Chinese Migrants with Gambling Problems. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction.
- Withers, R. (2009). The therapeutic process of Interactive Drawing Therapy. New Zealand Journal of Counselling, 29(2), 79-90.
- Withers, R. (2008). The use of imagery and metaphor when working cross-culturally. 2008 International Asia Pacific Rim Counselling Conference.
- Withers, R. (2006). Interactive Drawing Therapy: Working with therapeutic imagery. New Zealand Journal of Counselling, 26(4), 1-14.
- Everts, H. & Withers, R. (2006). A practitioner survey of Interactive Drawing Therapy as used in New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Counselling, 26(4), 31-43.
- Stone, C. & Everts, H. (2006). The therapeutic use of metaphor in Interactive Drawing Therapy. New Zealand Journal of Counselling, 26(4), 31-43.
5.3 Giving an IDT presentation
You may be asked by your employer, or course tutor if you are a student
elsewhere, to make a summary presentation of IDT to work colleagues or other students, or you may propose to offer an IDT presentation at a professional conference or practice seminar. Presenters must restrict their presentations to being a two-hour (maximum) experiential ‘taster’ that explicitly encourages the recipients to enrol in an IDT Foundation Course. Presenters must adhere to the copyright and trade protection described above, as well as declare that they are not accredited IDT teachers or experts, and nor do they act as an agent of Interactive Drawing Therapy Limited. The IDT office will be pleased to post you a bundle of IDT brochures and course flyers at no cost, for you to distribute to those present, encouraging them to enrol in IDT training.
5.4 Coaching IDT and IDT Supervision
Completion of an IDT course is not an authorization to act as an IDT teacher, coach, supervisor or agent of IDT. Neither is it appropriate for IDT Intermediate or Advanced Course graduates to use local IDT peer support groups to teach IDT to Foundation Course graduates. Only licensed/franchised IDT Centres may organise courses, and only IDT-trained and accredited teachers may deliver courses or lead IDT training events. Please report any breaches of copyright or trade restraint to the IDT office.
6. Disclaimer of Liability
Like all other therapeutic modalities IDT can be used safely or inappropriately. IDT has the capacity to release unconscious material, strong feelings, issues and forces that can seriously disturb the user’s psychological balance. IDT is not intended to replace normal professional safe practices.
Neither Interactive Drawing Therapy Limited, nor Russell Withers, nor any of the IDT Teachers or staff accept any liability for the uses or misuses of IDT principles and practices as taught, demonstrated or described in class, or in the handouts or publications, that participants engage in, nor are any of the above responsible in any way for the consequences of such use, nor for errors, omissions or misinterpretation of the IDT modality, either during or subsequent to the training event.
Because of the course’s experiential training format, it is recommended and presumed that all class participants arrange to have regular supervision and therapeutic support with a suitably qualified person as part of their learning and use of IDT.
7. Working with Imagery and potent Words
IDT requires no artistic talent, graphic skill or drawing ability. Stick-figures, ginger-bread characters, snow-men, etc are more than enough for an IDT session. IDT has no interest in aesthetic imagination or creativity considerations (such as beauty, form, composition, proportion, line, scale, colour, graphic competency, etc) or the making of art objects. IDT is not concerned with artistic expression, decorative imagery, or the making of imaginative pictures. IDT avoids discussion about visual or design intentions, or the construction of ‘works in progress’. IDT avoids the pursuit of meaning-making, psychological explanations, diagnostic interpretation of the client’s pages, or the psycho-analysis of the client themselves. An IDT session is not an opportunity for artistic self-expression, nor for exploratory sketching, random mark-making or drawing pictures.
IDT imagery is about therapeutic engagement – not illustrated talk. From an IDT perspective, ‘pages’ are tools to be used by both client and counsellor, and are not treated with counsellor-imposed reverence, projection or protective value. In law, whoever makes ‘a drawing’ or writes an original text, owns that drawing or page (copyright is automatic), so the IDT counsellor does not presume to retain the client’s work. IDT pages may be torn up, burned, buried, filed away, taken home, thrown out, etc – in a ritual of ‘letting go’ – according to the client’s decision regarding the work at hand. An IDT approach to working with pages provides a structured opportunity to get to underlying issues. An IDT session may simply produce pages of writing and no drawing. IDT is essentially a process-oriented approach that assists therapists and social workers to use and work with pages in a psychologically enhancing manner, in order to get to underlying issues.
The effectiveness of this client-centred, process-directed therapy lies in its capacity to provide simple procedures and guidelines that sustain the client in their work, whilst the therapist operates from a more strategic and meta-level framework. IDT allows the words, images and behaviours of the client to reveal the nature of their underlying issues; what level of work is currently available; what stage the client has reached in their therapeutic process; and how best to intervene.
8. Participant Pre-Requisites and In-Course Safety
IDT training courses are specialised courses designed to teach IDT to practitioners for their use with clients, and do not provide basic training in counselling skills. They presume participants have a mature level of interpersonal competency, good communication skills, a working knowledge of counselling frameworks, and sufficient ego-strength to put their own needs and preoccupations aside while attending the course. IDT training courses are not offered as a time or place for personal therapy, nor for detailed academic debate.
IDT training courses include a wide range of short experiential exercises. Your participation in these training exercises will help you appreciate the unique power and effectiveness of IDT. As “clients” you will be doing real ‘work’. We rely on you to take care of your own safety by taking up the option to “pass” at any point on any individual or group activity or demonstration that you are not comfortable with, and to practice appropriate self-disclosure at a level that is right for you. It is presumed that participants have regular supervision and ready access to therapeutic support as part of their learning and use of IDT, as well as for processing personal matters that may get brought up during course training exercises or assignments. Please speak to the teacher if any personal issues brought up during the class become a difficulty.
Completion of the IDT Foundation Course is a prerequisite for attending all other IDT courses, workshops or events.
9. Course Postponement/Cancellation
We will make every effort to keep to the advertised course dates, but reserve the right to cancel or postpone courses if minimum numbers are not reached. In that event a full refund will be made. Interactive Drawing Therapy Limited shall not be liable for consequential loss of income, travel or accommodation costs, or other losses that registrants or their agency may incur by such cancellation.
10. Fees
Providing IDT training is an expensive service, involving costs for air travel, local travel, teacher fees, venue hire and catering, teacher accommodation, drawing equipment and class manuals, etc. IDT gets no subsidies on its income, and we need good numbers to ensure a course proceeds.
10.1 Early Bird Discounts
Payment must be received within the six-week time frame specified on the course registration form to qualify for this discount, or the course fee will revert to the non-discounted Standard Fee.
10.2 Employer Payments
Participants shall remain liable for payment of all fees and charges in the event of their employer or benefactor declining payment of fees.
10.3 Bounced Cheques
Participants shall pay a $50 IDT administration fee, plus all debt-collection costs and bank fees incurred in recovering debts from bounced cheques, declined credit, or non-payment.
10.4 Late Payments
Payments received after a course commences will incur a $50 Administration fee, unless arranged in writing with Interactive Drawing Therapy Limited prior to the course.
10.5 Withdrawals, Absences, Transfers and Substitutions
All requests for refunds, transfers and substitutions must be made in writing.
a) Withdrawals and no-shows
Financial costs are incurred when course registrants withdraw prior to or during a course.
A full refund (less $50 administration fee) will be given for withdrawals received more than one calendar month prior to the course start date. A 50% refund will be given for withdrawals received within one calendar month (and prior to 48 hours) of the course start date.
There will be no refunds for withdrawals received less than 48 hours before the course commences.
There will be no refunds for absences during a course.
Please note that, in addition to the above clauses, if both units of the Foundation Course have been paid for at the discounted bulk rate, and the withdrawal is for Unit Two, the original fee for Unit One reverts back to the ‘standard’ single unit fee.
b) Absences
If you miss more than three hours of class time you will impair your ability to work effectively with other participants, and you may be asked to not participate in the rest of that course. Missing any part of a course will be treated as a withdrawal, and no refund will be given. If you have attended part of a course and have had to leave due to illness or a family or work emergency, you may be entitled (at IDT’s discretion) to register for a future repeat of the course at the reduced Refresher discounted price.You must attend both days of each unit to be considered to have completed the unit, and be eligible for a certificate of attendance.
c) Transfers
Course registrants can transfer to another course scheduled for a different date or location.
A $50 administration fee will be charged for each transfer request received more than one calendar month prior to the course start date.
A $150 charge (- comprising a $50 admin fee plus $100 overheads cost) will be incurred for transfer requests received within one month of the course start date.
d) Substitutes
A substitute participant who meets the course pre-requisites is welcome to attend in the place of the original registrant on completion of the registration form. A $50 administration fee will be charged for each substitution.
11. Disruption
On the rare occasion where someone registers who is not ready for this sort of experiential training, your IDT Teacher has the right to require that participant to leave if their behaviour is deemed unsuitable, distracting or disruptive to the learning of other course participants. No refund will be made on these occasions.
Class times run from 8:30am to 5:00pm. An hour is provided for lunch, and there are two refreshment breaks of 15 minutes each. Late participants are disruptive, so you are required to be on time throughout each day.
Cell-phone calls and texting is disruptive, and participants must leave their cell-phones turned off, or on mute, during all teaching time, and to only use their phones in the refreshment breaks and lunch period in the outside lobby – not in the training room.
The teacher training programme is not available as a therapeutic or personal growth venue, so, apart from normal professional sensitivities, the programme will not be able to accommodate substantial time being given to individuals around their personal issues. If a participant’s distress becomes extensive, unsuitable or disruptive to the learning of other course participants, the Course Teacher has the right to require that participant to leave. No refund is due after the training programme has commenced.
If you use drugs or alcohol on the premises during the training days, or come to class under the influence of drugs or alcohol, your place in the course will be instantly withdrawn, without refund.
Should you cause harm (mental or physical) to your class teacher, IDT staff, teacher trainees, or other students while attending the course, your place in the course will be instantly withdrawn.
If you break a law of the country that the course is being delivered in, expulsion will be immediate.
There will be no fee refund on expulsions made under these circumstances. Interactive Drawing Therapy Ltd reserves the right to expel or suspend any person who does not comply with the provisions of this Teacher-training Prospectus.
12. Care of Belongings
While teachers take reasonable care to ensure the training room is secure and safe, IDT Limited is not liable for loss or damage to unattended participant belongings in the event of theft. We recommend items of value remain with you at all times.
13. Respect for Others
Please respect the rights of other participants to a training environment free from distraction or interruption. During class times, ensure your phone is either turned off or on mute. For fire safety and health reasons, the smoking of tobacco products is not permitted inside the training premises.
14. Assignments, Certificates and Feedback sheets
IDT courses include assignments for you to complete outside of class to consolidate and extend your IDT learning. These assignments will be checked for completeness, but no evaluation or feedback will be given, and assignments will not be returned. You are advised therefore to send in a photocopy of your finished sheets (or electronic version).
A certificate stating the number of hours you have put into this course (including an allowance for assignment time) will be issued on completion of the assignments (subject to your attendance at the whole course). Completion of the course and the receipt of any certificate of attendance or assignment completion is not an accreditation of skill, suitability, or professional competency.
Assignments (and course feedback sheets) are kept for periodically assessing the delivery and success of our teaching, and also for generic research of issues facing new IDT trainees. All names and identifying material will be strictly protected from such research. Your signature on your Registration Form authorises us to use your assignment material for IDT research.
15. The Nature of IDT Courses and Events
In summary, IDT courses, workshops and events have a similar structure and learning culture.
15.1 Training
IDT offers a training service, not a therapy or encounter group. IDT courses and workshops include a wide range of short training exercises, and we will be taking turns in both counsellor and client roles. The primary focus for the course is on the counsellor role; – short sessions for the counsellor to practice and develop IDT skills.
15.2 Readiness
This is a specialty course, not a basic training in counselling. It presumes participants have a mature level of interpersonal competency, have good communication skills, a working knowledge of counselling frameworks, and are able to put their own needs and preoccupations aside while they attend professionally to their partner in class.
15.3 Experiential
Because this is ‘hands-on’ experiential training, the class exercises may bring up personal issues when in the client role; however time is not given to process all that surfaces. Please ask the teacher for help if this becomes difficult during the course. Participants are presumed to have effective support and supervision systems (as required by most professional associations). In particular, we recommend that all participants organise a private session after the course to address any personal matters that may have
arisen. Your experience in the client role will help you appreciate the unique power and effectiveness of IDT. As clients you will be doing real ‘work’, so look after each other. IDT training courses and workshops are a mix of didactic and discovery learning – a carefully arranged balance between prescribed information and experiential learning activities, with each level of training building on previous courses. Detailed lesson plans and handouts ensure that each level of training has consistency of content and experience, wherever the course is taught
15.4 Individual Learning
Initial IDT training presents generic IDT principles and practice, and presumes a relatively willing and capable client. Special applications or uses of IDT, are better addressed after participants have completed their Foundation, Intermediate and Advanced courses. Class participants come from different personal and professional backgrounds. You are therefore encouraged to ask questions that can help you bridge between your prior learning and IDT.
15.5 Modality-Based Learning
IDT is a complete modality, providing a congruent body of theory, methodology, demonstrable effectiveness, and meta-level accountability. As you progress in your IDT training you will find that it has a particular rigour and discipline that may challenge aspects of other trainings you have received. New learning takes trial-and-error practice and time. However IDT is also very user-friendly, and integrates well with other ways of working. You are encouraged at this stage of your IDT learning to adapt IDT to fit into your existing professional repertoire.
15.6 Structured Course
Each course progressively builds through a series of modules, each presented with the format of: – wall chart presentation > handout > demonstration > class exercise > one-to-one feedback > and whole group Q & A time. There will be regular summaries and reviews. Feel free to ask questions or ask for a short break. We will start and end each day, and start and end our lunch-breaks on time.
15.7 Assignments and Certification
Each Unit includes two sets of Assignments, – one with clients, the other with your-self. A certificate affirming the time you have put into this course will be issued on completion of the assignments. Post us a photocopy of the Assignment sheets when completed. No feedback is given. IDT is recognised by various training providers and professional accrediting authorities. Many agencies in New Zealand pay for their staff to learn IDT. Your time spent here is of value.
16. Safety
A sense of safety is essential if we are to feel ready to enter into the exercises and discussions. You have the right to “pass” if we are having a round or are pairing off for an exercise, and the right to say “No” if invited out for a demonstration or to reveal something about yourself. Practice ‘appropriate self-disclosure’. IDT does not subscribe to compulsory growth, and this is not an encounter group. IDT is client-centred, – despite its directive nature, – and the client remains ‘in charge’. IDT believes the psyche will only present what it wants addressed. Like all modalities IDT can be used safely or inappropriately. Confidentiality is essential. Personal information shared within this workshop remains private to that moment. Counsellors, please check with your clients when we are having whole group rounds discussing how your session went.
17. Intensity
The course proceeds at a fast pace and is packed with information. You will experience information overload, and this is quite normal. The short sessions will keep opening up new issues, and you will be making a lot of inner connections. Most people are surprised by the depth, speed and power of IDT. Get the big ideas and the basic method, – don’t try to take in all the detail. It is the client who does IDT and who will reveal it to you; – we don’t do it ‘on them’ ! IDT works with the power of the right brain, – trust its ability to turn intense experience into insightful perception. IDT can access deep, strong feelings and emotions, and you will discover how the page provides new ways to contain, sustain and transmute these in safe and appropriate ways.
18. Delight
One of the great things about IDT is that it allows heavy issues to be addressed in a safe, light and remarkably effective way. The psyche is always looking for an opportunity to do inner work. There will be lots of laughter through this course, as insights abound, and the new self transforms its old associations, releases inner resources and new potential. IDT changes our perceptions and our sense of self.
19. The Role of the IDT Teacher
During your practice sessions, the course instructor will periodically move around the pairs and make practical suggestions or give an impromptu mini-demonstration. Besides offering specific IDT guidance on the exercise, these also show the particular focus of IDT on process cues, and the power of keeping out of the client’s content. Your course instructor is here to help you learn a new and liberating way of working with clients.
Your course teacher is a skilled and experienced IDT practitioner, and a full member of the New Zealand Association of Counsellors or the Australian Counsellor Association, or approved professional equivalent. They are fully trained and accredited to teach selected the IDT Advanced Course, (operating as an independent contractor to the licensed Centre for Interactive Drawing Therapy that you enrolled with). Please address queries about course content to your teacher, and any administrative matters to the IDT Office.
20. Training exercises
The training exercises and activities used in class have been designed to match and illustrate the topic currently being presented. They have been carefully developed to provide course participants with a safe, structured and progressive immersion into the nature of IDT, under the tutelage of your teacher.
Please note that these training exercises and class activities are often not suitable for direct use with clients, supervisee or consumer user groups.
21. Accreditation
The four-day IDT Foundation Course has been accredited (to earn Professional Development points) by the Australian Counselling Association, The Australian Association of Social Workers, and by Occupational Therapy Australia.
Apart from the IDT teacher-training programme, IDT courses offer no formal assessments or tutor feedback on individual competency. Completion of a course or workshop, and the receipt of any certification of attendance is therefore not an accreditation of skill, suitability, or competency.
22. Health and Safety
Please advise your teacher of any hazards or accidents in the training room or associated venue facilities that you are aware of. Please take note of the location of emergency exits, and follow the instructions of your IDT teacher if emergencies arise.