Internal Family Systems

This module will explore the integration of Art Therapy principles, Neimeyer’s Meaning Reconstruction approach to grief and Schwartz’s Internal Family System therapy model (IFS).  The goal of IFS is to build internal cooperation and increase “Self-Leadership” using the eight “C’s” of internal resources, such as curiosity, compassion, courage, and creativity.  An introductory video will illustrate […]

Drama Therapy Techniques

How can we as professionals work deeply with the grief of our clients when words are not enough?  This experiential module offers one novel answer in the form of drama therapy techniques adapted for individual and group bereavement interventions.  Dramatic actions in therapy help bring to life invisible dimensions of the experience that cannot be […]

Collage: Reassembling Life

This training is intended for professionals who are seeking creative and imaginative skill development in their bereavement interventions with suicide loss survivors.  As no artistic talent is presumed on the part of the client or therapist, this course will be helpful for a broad range of mental health professionals, pastoral counselors and nurses, as well […]

Soothing the Torn Edges of Grief and Loss with Expressive Arts

‘So you mustn’t be frightened…If a sadness arises in front of you larger than any you have ever seen…You must realise that something is happening to you,that life has not forgotten you,that it holds you in its hand and will not let you fall.”~ Rainer Maria Rilke ~ Embodying the principles and practices of the […]

Materials & Methods

Materials and Methods are foundational elements of the expressive arts and a requirement for the Art-Assisted Grief Therapy Certification (AAGT).  This orientation module is designed to acquaint learners with the language of the arts as it pertains to the properties of art materials and their applied use in a variety of settings with specific clients.  […]

Create, Destroy & Transform

This “user friendly” didactic and experiential module highlights the neurobiology of trauma as well as neurodevelopmental theories that inform expressive art therapy for complex trauma and prolonged grief disorder (PGD). Learners interested in art-based modalities are supported in best practices while planning empathetic and ethical treatment goals for clients suffering life-altering loss. Art therapy modalities […]

Grief and the Expressive Arts: Activating the Creative Imagination

Significant loss, including but not limited to bereavement, can disrupt our practical identities, dislodge relationships with others, and alter our experience of belonging in place and time.  Adaptive grieving involves reconstructing a world of meaning that is enacted in the physical and social environment and shaped by cultural scripts.  Aesthetic activities are embodied and help […]