Course Description

Welcome to Resilience, Posttraumatic Growth and Trauma-Informed Expressive Arts Therapy (Part One)! This is the first course in a two-part sequence for understanding the key concepts of resilience and posttraumatic growth i(PTG) n trauma-informed practice how art therapy and other arts-based approaches complement resiliency and PTG in children, teens, adults and families. This course emphasizes 1) the concepts of resiliency and PTG; 2) attachment as a factor in resiliency; 3) empathy and its role in resiliency; and 4) mindfulness as an emerging component in enhancing resiliency. This course is also part of the Trauma-Informed Art Therapy Level One Certificate Program [distance learning version].


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

    • About This Course | Syllabus, Course Objectives and Goals

    • Walkthrough Your Course and Its Features

    • Reference List for this Course

    • Special Note About Art Materials and Expressive Arts Assignments!

    • About Trauma-Informed Practice...

  2. 2
    • Resilience

    • Road to Resilience

    • Reading: Road to Resilience Article

    • Adaptive Coping and Resiliency

    • Test Your Knowledge: Resilience

    • Review: Posttraumatic Growth

    • Posttraumatic Growth: Finding Meaning and Creativity in Adversity

    • Test Your Knowledge: Posttraumatic Growth

  3. 3
    • Ten Resilience Factors

    • On Trauma and Resilience After Disaster

    • A Positive Psychology Model for Well-Being

    • Feedback: What do you think about this model?

    • A Resilience Perspective to Consider

    • Thinking About Resilience through Cultural and Social Justice Lens

    • Can Art Be Medicine? A Film Presentation

  4. 4
    • A Hands-On Expressive Arts Experience

    • Upload Your Visual Assignment Here

    • Feedback: Reflections on Your Expressive Arts Experience

  5. 5
    • Creative Interventions, Resilience and Children

    • Creative Interventions, Posttraumatic Growth and Children

    • Test Your Knowledge: Resilience and Posttraumatic Growth in Children and Adolescents

    • Posttraumatic Growth and Military & Operation Homecoming-- Creative Writing as Healing

  6. 6
    • Attachment and Resilience

    • A Story of Resilience and Film Presentation

    • Feedback: What Do You Think?

    • After Your Feedback

    • Activity: Expressive Arts and Social Connections

    • Upload Your Expressive Arts Assignment

  7. 7
    • Empathy Basics

    • Sensory-Based Approaches to Developing Empathy in Children

    • Film: Denmark's Educational System-- Where Teaching Empathy is Part of the Curriculum

    • Feedback: What Did You Think About the Danish Curriculum for Teaching Empathy?

    • For Fun: Film on Empathy for Children

    • Empathy: An Education Program on Empathy and Recommended Expressive Activities

    • For Deep Thought: Film Presentation on Empathy and Evolutionary Biology

  8. 8
    • Interpersonal Neurobiology

    • An Expressive Arts Activity Exploring Empathy

    • Upload Your Expressive Arts Assignment Here

    • Another Expressive Arts Activity Exploring Empathy

    • Upload Your Expressive Arts Assignment Here

    • Feedback on Activities

    • After Your Feedback

    • Art Therapy, the Third Hand and Empathy

  9. 9
    • A Film Introduction to Mindfulness

    • Mindfulness Practices with Children

    • Mindfulness as a Resiliency Practice with Adults

    • Feedback: Mindfulness and Art-Based Approaches to Trauma-Informed Practice

    • After Your Feedback

    • The Concept of Mindsight

    • How the Expressive Arts Enhance Mindfulness

    • An Indigenous Perspective on Mindfulness: Eight Healing Practices

  10. 10
    • Final Exam: Required for Completion of this Course!

  11. 11
    • You are almost finished!

    • Course Evaluation

    • Certificate of Completion Qualification

    • Certificate of Completion