Expressive Arts Therapy E-News
Special Edition | New Programming for 2020
NEW PROGRAMMING AND NEW COURSE PLATFORM | ONLINE LEARNING TO GET STARTED OR JOIN US ON ZOOM
Since we last wrote, the world has changed in ways we could not imagine. But there are also new possibilities as a result and we hope that the information in this newsletter will manifest possibilities in your professional life.
Many of you have been with us for several years or more, taking online courses or attending live events. While we are making plans for a return to live events as soon as possible [including our course at Ghost Ranch this fall], the pandemic has impacted the schedule through the summer of 2020.
But there are some exciting developments on the horizon, including online courses leading to new designations for mental health professionals and those of you who are arts-based facilitators in coaching and educational settings. We are excited to offer you these options --- and many of you have completed some or a large part of the requirements toward these designations.
So be sure to read the next section to learn more about the EXAT -- Expressive Arts Therapist, Trauma-Informed. And the EXA-CE-- Expressive Arts Coach Educator, Trauma-Informed.
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Trauma-Informed Expressive Arts Therapist (EXAT) and Expressive Arts Coach-Educator (EXA-CE)
We are now offering an opportunity for those of you who are committed to using the expressive arts within your psychotherapy or other types of practices. Many of you have been with us for a long time and have accumulated many hours of coursework online and in live trainings; others are just beginning our course sequence or have started expressive arts therapy supervision with us. Many of our participants hold current psychotherapy and counseling credentials and are applying trauma-informed, expressive arts approaches in work with individuals, families, groups, and communities. Others are arts-based practitioners, educators, bodyworkers, yoga practitioners, pastoral counselors and even first responders who are using these approaches in their work in diverse settings.
In response to our participants over the past decade, we are excited to offer the following designations described below. Please let us know if you have any questions and more importantly, let us help you begin your pathway to completing the requirements outlined at this page.
Expressive Arts Therapist--Trauma Informed [EXAT] is a continuing education program designed to help you acquire the competencies necessary to apply Trauma-Informed Expressive Arts Therapy within the context of psychotherapy and counseling. To be admitted to this program and participate in the courses and practices to achieve this designation, applicants must be hold a master's degree or higher and be licensed or board certified mental health professionals including psychologists, psychiatrists, psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, social workers, counselors, marriage and family therapists, psychiatric nurses and addictions counselors.
Expressive Arts Coach/Educator--Trauma-Informed [EXA-CE] is a continuing education program designed to help individuals in a variety of fields acquire the competencies necessary to apply trauma-informed expressive arts in your work. Applicants for this designation include individuals with degrees in the arts, humanities or education, health or other types of coaches, nurses and nurse practitioners, occupational therapists, physical therapists, emergency medical workers, acupuncturists, bodyworkers (massage therapists, Rolfers®, Craniosacral and Polarity therapists, Feldenkrais practitioners, yoga practitioners, and others), first responders, crisis center staff, educators, mediators, clergy, and chaplains.
We are still offering the Trauma-Informed Expressive Arts Therapy Level One and Level Two Certificates as an option for those learners who simply want to complete a more limited course of training and competency. Please see this page for the requirements for these options. And you can apply this coursework toward either the EXAT or EXA-CE designation.
Some of our learners are working on their REAT (Registered Expressive Arts Therapist) with IEATA; we encourage you to visit this page and also to be in close contact with International Expressive Arts Therapy Organization at www.ieata.org.
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If you are enrolled in the EXAT or EXA-CE programs, you can attend either of these Zoom Sessions and register for free; if you are interested in talking with us about Trauma-Informed Expressive Arts Therapy, you can also join these sessions for a nominal fee. Each session will be approximately 75 minutes long. Register at these links:
Tuesday April 28th at 5 pm [Eastern Standard Time-- New York City Time]
Friday May 1st at 11 am [Eastern Standard Time-- New York City Time]
Register Here for Online Courses on Expressive Art Therapy and Trauma-Informed Practice
We have a user-friendly, contemporary Learning Center -- please visit it at Trauma-Informed Practices and Expressive Arts Therapy Institute Learning Center! We think you will enjoy the quality of this site and the ease of use and registration. New courses are coming on board and these courses are applicable to Level One and Two and the EXAT and EXA-CE designations.
We also offer supervision in expressive arts therapy if you are working toward the EXAT, EXA-CE, REAT or REACE credentials, or just need some consultation or professional development.
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Podcast Interview with Cathy Malchiodi PhD on Expressive Arts Therapy and Trauma
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Tapping the Healing Rhythms of the Vagal Nerve -- An Essential Read on Psychology Today
Rhythm plays an essential role in our lives because if our bodies cannot generate the most fundamental rhythm of life—the heartbeat—we cannot survive. Our heart rate must increase to initiate fight or flight and it must maintain its rhythmic pulse despite any demands placed on it. Regulating heart rate during stress and controlling stress hormones are two critical tasks that require that the brain and body keep proper time.
The regulation of the body’s internal rhythms can be best understood through the lens of polyvagal theory (Porges, 2011). In particular, the ventral vagal network that runs from the diaphragm to the brain stem is key because it can be influenced by breathing patterns and social cues such as smiling and making eye contact to generate a sense of calm and safety. Experiences that generate sounds such as gargling, humming, prosody, and specific vocalizations can also be self-regulatory. These practices can help us find ways to “rest and digest” when hyperactivation or dissociation overtake brain and body. Read more here:
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We Are the Canaries in the Mental Health Mineshaft-- Another Essential Read on Psychology Today and LinkedIn
Lately, like many of my psychotherapy colleagues, the turbulent air currents of this pandemic are now firmly embedded in my life narrative. I lost a relative in Italy during the first few weeks of the coronavirus outbreak amid my own nightmares of people I love being put on a ventilator, dying alone in a hospital bed and quickly cremated and buried without ceremony or preferred ritual. These moments were intensified by simultaneous worry about two friends who ended up in the hospital because of tenacious symptoms from the coronavirus.
I know I am not the only one with these stories. They are becoming all too common at this juncture of this global crisis. And I am keenly aware that these stories may only be floating on the surface of a tsunami of mental health issues about to emerge.
Like many psychotherapists, the individuals who make up my professional social network form another significant narrative thread for me. As the situation in the US and around the world turned quickly toward mitigation after unsuccessful containment, the majority of my colleagues were told to transform their case loads into telehealth sessions over the span of a few days. Initially, I watched with awe at how these individuals enthusiastically embraced the new terrain for teletherapy to their existing clients. They also extended their services to those who were now told to “shelter at home,” faced with the disorienting experience of social isolation. I have also been impressed that webinars demonstrating how to conduct online sessions on Doxy.me and Zoom popped up on social media and in my e-mail box like so many spring weeds. Among my expressive arts and play therapy colleagues, literally hundreds of activities to offer children, adults, and families via computer proliferated on Facebook and Instagram. Read more here:
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Expressive arts therapy is increasingly calling upon neuroscience to explain just how arts-based approaches work. But in studying how expressive arts therapy may mediate the impact of trauma, there is an equally compelling area of explanation—cultural anthropology and ethnology.
In fact, the healing practices that form the foundation for contemporary expressive arts therapy originally emerged and evolved within various cultural groups in service of health and well-being over millennia. In most cases, these practices materialized in the form of rituals, conventions, procedures, and ceremonies in response to individual and collective experiences of trauma and loss. Ethnologists like Dissanayake (1995) define the arts and related activities as processes that have helped humans return to psychological and social equilibrium. She observes, “Art is a normal and necessary behavior of human beings like other common and universal occupations such as talking, working, exercising, playing, socializing, learning, loving, and caring…” Read more here...