I really liked the session and learned a lot about myself throughout this experience. I learned a lot of practical skills and strategies that I can use for myself or even for my clients in between and during sessions.
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This program is designed for helping professionals and anyone who is passionate about incorporating creative modalities into their therapeutic practices, particularly in the context of grief and loss. It seeks to equip learners with a profound understanding of the symbiotic relationship between art and the grieving process.
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Note: All the above components can be taken in either online or Onsite versions, in any combination and any sequence the learner desires.
Note: Completion of all the required components leads to Certification in Art-Assisted Grief Therapy (AAGT). All licensed or registered counselors or therapists completing AAGT Certification will be listed on the Portland Institute website as part of our Global Provider Network.
The Orientation to Art-Assisted Grief Therapy equips learners with a theoretical and conceptual scaffold for incorporating the expressive arts into meaning reconstruction grief work with individuals, groups, or communities. The principles and practices of the expressive arts, the architecture of an expressive arts session, and benefits of using multimodal expressive approaches in grief work will be examined in relation to the meaning making process. Consideration will be given to various factors in selecting a particular medium, including but not limited to the expressive qualities of various materials and categorical distinctions in the arts disciplines, developmental considerations, evidence for their use in practice, as well as the orientation and preferences of the therapist. Case examples will be used to examine the use of the expressive arts with various types of loss and populations, as well as various settings.
These Orientation Modules cover the following essential areas:
Principles and Practices of the expressive arts
Architecture of an expressive arts therapy
Materials and methods for meaning making
Expressive art therapy, trauma and neuroscience
Each module is focused on a specific AAGT technique. Learners pursuing AAGT Certification are required to learn at least six Techniques through live webinars or online recordings, or Onsite workshops at any location in the world in which such training is offered. The following are examples of AAGT Techniques Module offerings:
Altered Books
Art Therapy for Children and Teens
Collage: two and three dimensional
Creative Writing
Dance and Movement
Doll Making
Drama Therapy, Performative Work
Dreamscaping
Kintsukoroi: Golden Repair
Mask Making
Medicine / Prayer / Talking Sticks
Memory Boxes
Music and Song
Photography
Shrine Making
Watercolor Books and Restorative Retelling
The AAGT case study sessions will be divided into faculty presenting cases and learners’ case presentations. Faculty case presentations will consist of a case conceptualization exercise or videotaped session with close attention to the therapist’s clinical reasoning process and reading of the client’s need and readiness to engage in art-assisted meaning reconstruction activities. Learners’ case presentations will engage group participants in reflective analysis, with coaching from Portland Institute Faculty. Learners pursuing AAGT Certification are required to complete at least two Case Studies through live webinars or online recordings, or Onsite workshops at any location in the world where such training is offered.
Learners work individually or in small groups in order to examine the meaning making process using different artistic modalities, with Portland Institute faculty serving as coaches. Art materials will be provided in the Onsite AAGT Practicum Studio to facilitate creative engagement with the materials, both familiar and unfamiliar, in an environment that prompts experimentation and deep personal process work to widen learning. In the online learning setting, instructions related to material preparation will be given to the learners prior to the Studio sessions. A variety of losses, including traumatic loss, will be examined. Learners are required to complete at least four Studio sessions for AAGT Certification.
Learners are required to fulfill at least three 1-hour individual Mentoring sessions in Art-Assisted Grief Therapy for grief and loss with one of the Portland Institute faculty in a shared language. These sessions may be conducted in face-to-face mode, or via phone or videoconference.
Following the completion of all the above Components, learners need to submit a portfolio of their work, including a case analysis demonstrating use of AAGT in meaning reconstruction in the aftermath of a significant loss. Learners are encouraged to incorporate various forms of representation, such as photographs, audio or video recordings of AAGT for meaning reconstruction. The Portfolio is then evaluated for demonstration of competency in working with grieving clients from an art assisted, meaning reconstruction perspective. It also provides students with an opportunity for a creative representation and reflection on their learning.
By no means. Although PI organizes major training events in its home city, it also sponsors training in every major world region, and you can choose workshops in the location or locations that work for you. And of course online training modules are available anywhere, at any time.
Absolutely. You can participate in any component of PI training simply as a professional continuing education experience, without pursuing certification.
Yes. Payment of the Enrollment Fee is required to establish you as a Certification learner, and to set up a personal Progress Tracker to help you monitor completed requirements toward certification. If you decide to pursue multiple Certification tracks sequentially or simultaneously, Enrollment is required separately for each.
No. You can take nearly any course or module you wish, in any order, with the exception of a few Practicum Studio modules that presume completion of a specified Techniques Module as a prerequisite. Although many learners find the Core Courses a logical and helpful place to begin regardless of the Certification Track they are pursuing, others prefer a different path through the curriculum.
That depends on the specific training event of interest, as well as your professional discipline. Just see pages devoted to the specific events on the PI site for the relevant details.
Not at the present time. All of our Onsite events routinely carry APA CE approval, but APA does not directly certify programs that it does not own or co-own. So, you would need to check with your state board about its CE status, as many states have Category 2 credits or a similar designation that readily confer credit for high quality training even when it does not carry the APA imprimatur.
I really liked the session and learned a lot about myself throughout this experience. I learned a lot of practical skills and strategies that I can use for myself or even for my clients in between and during sessions.
It was great learning and reinforcement of the value of making meaning for one’s posttraumatic growth. I really like the way you model validation and reframing in your case studies. Meeting a client where they are and then facilitating with one of interventions you’ve given, in their moment of readiness. Teaching and modeling this is very helpful to watch unfold.
I appreciate so much how Dr. Neimeyer and Dr. Ng explain, present and model the use of the techniques throughout the workshop. Both Drs. Neimeyer and Ng are top in their field. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting so many other faculty at the retreat–all of whom are experts in this field. I look forward to participating in the certificate program.
I enjoyed the whole seminar – very informative and well organized.
Deeply moving, well-supported with theory and research, extremely useful and inspiring. The slides were beautiful and engrossing. I’m sure we were all looking closely and deeply, in a parallel process with the screen and within ourselves.
I was very moved by the instructor sharing her personal experience as well as her art. Having her client present to share her loss and her art was also powerful and impactful. The learning from this class was deep and sustaining.
I truly loved everything. I particularly enjoyed the combinations of lecture and experientials.
The entire retreat was amazing. It was perfectly paced for learning and creating. It was both personally powerful and professionally. I loved the Lunch and Learn.
I am extremely impressed by this conference. The topics, the presenters. It was well worth the time and money.
Thank you for a beautiful retreat. I was moved to tears several times and it has set me on a course of deeper discovery. The presenters were all top notch, knowlegeable, and engaging. The activities allowed us to discover many things about ourselves and sharing the experience with others was invaluable. Those interactions will stay with me for a long time.
Honored & grateful for the PI team. Such a wealth of knowledge, expertise & compassion for humanity & healing suffering. I cannot wait to engage further with the PI trainings!
This is my first experience with PI and now I have found my go-to place for ongoing learning, mentoring & connection! I’m so excited for more!
Well done! Appropriate breadth & nice depth of skills covered. Appreciate the experiential approach. Knowledgeable & supportive faculty. Looking forward to doing more with PI in the future.
PI’s Grief Therapy Learning Retreat offered a safe holding space for grief professionals to gather in a beautiful setting & learn with prominent leaders in the field of thanatology. Professional yet warm, rigorous yet invigorating — I’m leaving with a sense of renewal to meeting clients where they are.
The retreat, the attendees, the faculty, the leaders and the offerings (learning opportunities) were really off-the-charts amazing. Thank you for creating an event that has been transformational for me.
If you have questions about Portland Institute or some of our offerings, please click the button below to visit our Frequently Asked Questions section – where many common questions are answered!