Expressive Arts Therapy

Day One: Foundations of Bilateral Stimulation (BLS) and Expressive Arts Therapy. Because trauma requires a multi-sensory, body-based, and implicit approach, the first session sets the foundation for the core treatment principles. Participants will deepen their understanding of three major areas – restorative embodiment, sensory integration, and expressive arts therapy. Best practices in each area are explained with an emphasis on emerging research on how these frameworks support the connections between implicit recovery [the body’s sense of well-being] and explicit restoration [new narratives that support healing of both the body and mind]. Emphasis is on learning and applying strategies in Bilateral Stimulation (BLS) through various senses (movement, sound, rhythm, synchrony, attunement, reflexive convergence, image making) and demonstrating how these approaches complement the bilateral work of EMD and EMDR.

Day Two: Grounding, Resourcing, and Orienting. These approaches are particularly important to developing successful and effective Phase 2 experiences in Eye Movement Desensitization (EMD) and Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) and they are key strategies for all therapists who work with individuals of all ages when trauma or distress is a focus. Most trauma survivors, particularly those with chronic or complex trauma, struggle with a sense of safety. Trauma specialists frequently hear individuals say, “I feel off balance,” “I feel unstable when I am in a large space,” “I cannot tolerate certain sounds (smells, touch, or tastes),” or “I cannot feel anything in my body,” among other sensory observations. These are key sensory integration experiences that practitioners can address through a variety of movement, sound, image-making, and body awareness approaches to enhance a sense of safety. This session focuses on strategies to help individuals connect external sensations (exteroception) with the internal felt sense (interoception) to address trauma reactions; sensory processing and trauma through proprioception and vestibular function; and the role of proxemics (comfort level in relation to others).

Day Three: Grounding, Resourcing, and Orienting and Applications to EMDR Reprocessing. This final session introduces several “user friendly” ways to creatively and integratively install grounding, resourcing, and orienting when working with traumatic stress. These strategies capitalize on best practices found in Polyvagal Theory (PVT), Deep Brain Orienting (DBO), and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (SP) and underscore how expressive arts are a “value-added” component of intervention. Emphasis is on learning how to develop both “bottom-up” approaches that are body-oriented and grounded in rhythm, movement, and sound and “top-down” approaches that are brain-wise and focus on narrative-based strategies. Participants will learn several strategies that incorporate PVT, DBO, and SP within the framework of the Expressive Arts Therapy Continuum to enhance neuroception of safety, recognition of sympathetic and parasympathetic responses, and develop a solid foundation for reprocessing traumatic stress.