Course Description


This 6 continuing education [CE] hour course provides an advanced foundation for understanding the theory and practice of expressive arts therapy in mental health, counseling, psychosocial intervention and overall wellness. It also serves as part of the foundational learning for those accumulating credit hours toward Registered Expressive Arts Therapist credential with the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association. Learners will complete a series of short written assignments, quizzes, and hands-on activities to learn more about specific approaches (person-centered, focusing-oriented, trauma-informed) in expressive arts therapy and the essential concepts involved in applying approaches to counseling, psychotherapy and arts-based facilitation with children, adolescents, and adults.


If you are taking this course as part of the curriculum for the EXAT [Expressive Arts Therapist, Trauma-Informed] and EXA-CE [Expressive Arts Coach Educator] designations, please also obtain a copy of Trauma and Expressive Arts Therapy: Brain, Body, and Imagination in the Healing Process. The core concepts presented in this course and in all of our courses are based on this book and if you are working toward the EXAT or EXA-CE, you are required to understand these concepts and approaches. 

You can purchase this book from Guilford Publications or Amazon and other booksellers in print and e-book versions.



Continuing Education Information

Counselors/National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC). Trauma-Informed Practices and Expressive Arts Therapy Institute has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 6557. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC are clearly identified. Trauma-Informed Practices and Expressive Arts Therapy Institute is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs. 

Texas State Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors. Trauma-Informed Practices and Expressive Arts Therapy Institute is an Approved Continuing Education Provider by the Texas State Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors. Our Texas Provider Number is 2318.

Art Therapy Credentials Board [ATCB]. The ATCB recognizes a variety of CEC activities, including those in the areas of professional and mental health counseling. These activities are clearly outlined in their recertification standards provided to all ATR-BCs in their recertification year and on their website. A minimum of six CECs must be earned in the area of ethics each cycle. If you are licensed as an art therapist in your state, please check with your state board to verify what types of CEC activities are acceptable for license renewal.

California Marriage and Family Therapists, Social Workers and Professional Counselors. As of July 1, 2015, the State of California /Board of Behavioral Sciences [BBS] amended its regulations for continuing education providers to include National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) as a "board-recognized approval agency." If you are licensed as a marriage and family therapist, social worker, educational psychologist or professional clinical counselor in California, NBCC Approved Continuing Education Providers are recognized by the BBS to fulfill continuing education requirements. As of July 1, 2015, required CE hours can be accumulated through self-study and distance learning.

Institute Faculty

Cathy Malchiodi, PhD

Cathy Malchiodi, PhD, LPCC, LPAT, ATR-BC, REAT holds a doctorate in psychology and is a licensed and board-certified art therapist and mental health counselor and has published numerous books, chapters, and articles in the field of art therapy including, Trauma and Expressive Arts Therapy: Brain, Body, and Imagination in the Healing Process, Creative Interventions with Traumatized Children, Breaking the Silence: Working With Traumatized Children, and Understanding Children's Drawings, which are standards in the field. She has trained counselors, therapists, and teachers throughout the United States, Canada, Asia, and Europe. In 2011, Cathy founded the Trauma-Informed Practices Institute to meet the need for professional education in the use of arts therapies, expressive therapies, mind-body approaches and resilience-building in trauma integration and recovery for children, adults and families. You can learn more about Dr. Malchiodi at her website https://www.cathymalchiodi.com/

Course curriculum

  1. 1
    • About Your Instructor

    • Syllabus, Goals and Objectives of this Course

    • Walkthrough Your Course and Its Features

    • Special Note About Art Materials and Expressive Arts Assignments!

  2. 2
    • Review: What is Expressive Arts Therapy?

    • Expressive Therapies Overview

    • Expressive Therapies | History, Theory, and Practice

    • Professionalism and Expressive Arts Therapy

    • Expressive Arts Therapy Code of Ethics: A PDF For Your Files

    • Expressive Arts Therapy | Background

    • Short Written Response to Reading

  3. 3
    • Creative Art Therapy: Brain-Wise Approaches

    • Expressive Therapies Continuum

    • Response: What Do You Think?

    • A Review: Intermodal Language and Expressive Arts Therapy | Dr. Paolo Knill

    • Intermodal Language of Imagination

  4. 4
    • Karen Estrella on Intermodal Approaches to Expressive Arts Therapy

    • Response: What Do You Think?

    • Tapping the Therapeutic Powers of Expressive Arts

    • Crafting Expressive Arts Therapy Experiences

    • Response to Reading

    • An Expressive Arts Response to the Reading

  5. 5
    • Introduction to Person-Centered Expressive Arts Therapy

    • Required Reading | Natalie Rogers Person Centered Expressive Arts Therapy

    • Person-Centered Expressive Arts Therapy | Natalie Rogers Film Presentation

    • Response: What Do You Think?

    • An Expressive Arts Therapy Approach by Natalie Rogers

  6. 6
    • Focusing-Oriented Expressive Arts Therapy Approaches

    • Focusing-Oriented Approach to Expressive Arts

    • Response: What Do You Think About Focusing-Oriented Approach?

    • A Focusing-Oriented Expressive Arts Experience

    • Assigment: Exploring "Your All Fine Place"

  7. 7
    • What is Trauma-Informed Art Therapy/ Trauma-Informed Expressive Arts Therapy? Cathy Malchiodi, PhD

    • Why Art Expression is Important to Trauma Intervention

    • A Reparative Sensory-Based Experience

    • Trauma-Informed and Non-Trauma-Informed

    • Personal Reflections on Empowering and Disempowering Communications

    • The Body Keeps the Score...Especially When It Comes to Traumatic Experiences

    • Interview with Cathy Malchiodi on Expressive Arts as a Trauma-Informed, Embodied Approach

  8. 8
    • Reviewing Your Understanding of the Expressive Therapies Continuum

    • Time to Draw! Part One

    • Body Outline for Part Two of Three-Part Expressive Arts Assignment

    • Time to Draw! Part Two

    • Time to Write! Part Three

    • Respond to Your Three-Part Assignment

    • After Your Three-Part Assignment

    • Kindling the Spark | An Expressive Arts Therapy Case Example

  9. 9
    • Social Activism within Expressive Arts Therapy

    • Expressive Arts Therapy and Social Action | Shaun McNiff

    • Ikigai: What Gets You Up in the Morning | An Expressive Arts Response

    • Ikagai Templates

    • What Does Your Expressive Arts Ikigai Look Like?

    • Respond to Your Ikigai Experience

  10. 10
    • Final Response Paper

    • Thank You For Your Final Response to Expressive Arts Therapy as a Contemporary Practice

    • Final Quiz

  11. 11
    • You are almost finished!

    • Course Evaluation

    • Certificate of Completion

  • $95.00

    $95.00Introduction to Expressive Arts Therapy | History and Foundational Practices

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  • $120.00

    $120.00Body Based Approaches and Expressive Arts Therapy

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  • $190.00

    $190.00Trauma-Informed Expressive Arts Therapy: Foundation Course*

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