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During this training you will:
This training is for psychologists, therapists, social workers, counselors, life coaches, healers, activists, teaching artists, group facilitators, and other mental health professionals.
No previous art experience required!
This program welcomes those just beginning their journey in Expressive Arts as well as experienced mental health professionals looking to refresh their practice with new tools, perspectives, and creative inspiration.
WHEN:
15 Weeks ~ 45 Hours
Fridays, 10am – 1pm PST (3 hours)
February 6th – May 15th, 2025
WHERE:
Live Online via Zoom
FEE:
$875 if registered by 12/26/26
$995 Full Course Fee
Payment Plans & Student Discounts Available
Expressive Arts (EXA) Therapy is an approach to counseling and group work that utilizes visual art, movement, music, writing, drama, and other forms of creative expression as a way to deepen self exploration and understanding. This therapeutic approach places emphasis on the creative process rather than the product. The Expressive Arts can help us reignite our creative spirit, see our lives in new ways, and tap into powerful new resources for confronting life challenges.
Teresa Trout is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) with a specialization in Expressive Arts Therapy. She is the Founder of The Expressive Way, a center for expressive arts therapy, professional development, and creative connection. Teresa has devoted her career to weaving together psychology and the arts as tools for healing, growth, and connection. Teresa holds an M.A. in Counseling Psychology with a concentration in Expressive Arts Therapy from the California Institute of Integral Studies, and a B.A. in Visual Arts from UC San Diego. Her work is rooted in the belief that creativity is a powerful force for transformation abd that healing happens in connection. She seeks to co-create spaces where creativity becomes a bridge to self-discovery and resilience. Her work integrates intermodal practices to support both personal exploration and professional development. Alongside her clinical practice, she designs and leads trainings and workshops that nurture facilitators, therapists, and community leaders in bringing expressive arts into their work. Her practice is affirming, trauma-informed, and inclusive, with particular expertise in supporting LGBTQ+ individuals, those in BDSM/Kink and Non-Traditional Relationship communities, and people navigating diverse life experiences. When she is not working, she likes to spend time with family, play board games, be in nature, go on random adventures, and watch a good cult or crime documentary.
This training group fulfills 3-units (45 Hours) of the core educational requirements for Creative Arts Therapies or Advanced Elective in Drama Therapy in the Alternative Training Program with the North American Drama Therapy Association when combined with additional required coursework. An additional $50 administrative fee will be added to your course fees due. See below for an outline of course learning objectives. Contact Teresa Trout (teresa@expressiveway.org) for more information.
• 36 Continuing Education (CE) Credits are available for Psychologists, MFTs, LPCCs and LCSWs for an additional $75 fee.
• CE credits for psychologists are provided by the Spiritual Competency Academy (SCA) which is co-sponsoring this program. The Spiritual Competency Academy is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Spiritual Competency Academy maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
• The California Board of Behavioral Sciences accepts CE credits for LCSW, LPCC, LEP, and LMFT license renewal for programs offered by approved sponsors of CE by the American Psychological Association.
• LCSW, LPCC, LEP, and LMFTs, and other mental health professionals from states other than California need to check with their state licensing board as to whether or not they accept programs offered by approved sponsors of CE by the American Psychological Association.
• SCA is approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing (BRN Provider CEP16887) for licensed nurses in California. RNs must retain their certificate of attendance for 4 years after the course concludes.
For questions about receiving your Certificate of Attendance, contact Teresa Trout at teresa@expressiveway.org
For questions about CE Program, contact Spiritual Competency Academy at info@spiritualcompetencyacademy.com
At the end of the group, participants will be better able to…
• Develop an introductory grasp of expressive arts therapy by actively engaging in both individual and group-based creative practices.
• Explore the history of the expressive arts field and examine how diverse creative practices have informed its evolution.
• Articulate your own working definition of EXA Therapy and explain the benefits of an intermodal art process.
• Design a clinical EXA therapy toolbox by identifying and documenting interventions you can apply in clinical or community settings.
• Describe ways expressive arts can be used across a range of communities, client needs, and professional contexts.
• Learn to seek out and evaluate interventions that are grounded in current EXA scholarship and suited to diverse client needs.
• Describe which expressive arts modalities best fit within your theoretical orientation and individual approach to psychotherapy.
• Research and facilitate one appropriate arts-based intervention.
• Define the difference between the art process and product and the therapist’s role in the process.
• Demonstrate understanding of how to adapt the art process when using telehealth platforms.
• Discuss ethical limitations, practical challenges, and contraindications in using creative interventions with specific populations and settings.
• Analyze and think critically and theoretically about EXA approaches.
• Demonstrate the ability to identify EXA interventions used in different stages of the therapeutic process from intake to termination.
• Discuss how to use EXA interventions to conduct initial evaluations and screenings.
• Explain how the expressive arts can be utilized in establishing treatment goals.
• Identify specific EXA interventions to support clients in goal setting.
• Apply expressive arts methods to address self-regulation, relationship, and emotional literacy skills.
• Describe how to use the expressive arts to access unconscious material.
• Discuss and recognize appropriate scope for the ethical use of EXA activities.
• Analyze and assess the expressive arts from a trauma-informed, culturally sensitive, and anti-racist lens.
• Define 3 key aspects of providing trauma-informed care in the EXA field.
• Describe the concept of therapist as witness in the expressive arts therapy process.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the theoretical framework and the basic concepts of an intermodal expressive arts approach.
• Explain how the expressive arts can be used by the therapist for self-care and case conceptualization.
• Explore how cultural, social, and individual identities shape creative expression and the therapeutic process
• Utilize and engage in a range of expressive arts forms from all five primary EXA modalities: visual art, drama, dance movement, literary, and music.
• Utilize the expressive arts to engage in an on-going individual arts practice to deepen and explore your relationship to your own creative process.
• Compare and critique how to integrate EXA modalities with other clinical approaches.
• Apply the EXA processes to your individual life, work, and communities.
• Develop and clarify your professional style, including an awareness of personal gifts, strengths, biases and limitations.
Teresa Trout, MA, LMFT
Pronouns: she/her/hers
LMFT#137191 (CA) & 14191913-3902 (UT)
teresa@expressiveway.org
www.expressiveway.org
www.teresatrout.com
(510) 394-2965
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