Course Meeting Dates and Course Description

Course Meeting Dates:

September 12 

September 19

September 26

*Note: not meeting week of October 3rd due to holiday

October 10

October 17th

Course meets each date from 12 noon -- 3 pm Eastern Daylight Time Zone. You can join us LIVE each time schedule and/or catch the replays on the course site if unable to make the live zoom session! There will be recordings of the lectures and slide presentations posted to the course site for weekly. However, we do not post films of participants' discussions or experiential work to respect our learners' privacy.

Each session includes presentations on theory, practice, and research [generally the first hour]. The second hour is usually a hands-on expressive arts experience to help you understand the concepts and also to provide you will one or more practical approaches to using expressive methods. The final hour we encourage and facilitate discussion of what was experienced, have time for questions and answers, and summarize the session's key points and concepts.


 

This five session live webinar series highlights how two expressive arts therapy strategies are essential in the practice of EMDR-- Bilateral Stimulation (BLS) and Sensorimotor Expressive Arts Therapy.

Bilateral Stimulation (BLS) is a widely used approach in many current strategies to address trauma. It is found in practices like Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and various forms of tapping and sensory integration methods. Sensorimotor Expressive Arts Therapy (SEAT)  complements BLS and incorporates developmental, brain-wise, and body-based concepts from contemporary and innovative trauma treatments. In contrast to protocols like Sensorimotor Psychotherapy® (SP) that focuses on talking about body awareness, SEAT values implicit communication -- the nonverbal expressions that reflect the body's experience of threat as well as safety.

The applications of these methods support the "Four Functions" of expressive arts therapy--- self-regulation, co-regulation, exploration, and restoration when it comes to trauma resolution (Malchiodi, 2020). This course  using expressive arts, bilateral stimulation and EMDR approaches, and sensorimotor expressive arts therapy. The well-researched concepts of Embodied Cognition, the Primary Regulatory Network for regulation, and cultural practices that use bilateral stimulation are central to this course. It is also a course option for those of you completing the Nature-Based Expressive Arts Practitioner Certificate or the Restorative Embodiment Practitioner Certificate and of course, EXAT or EXA-CE designations.


This course provides an introduction to the concepts of BLS and SEAT. It also provides strategies for combining and complementing methods found in EMDR, sensory integration, and tapping as part of overall trauma-informed intervention. This is not part of formal EMDR training, but we will be making reference to the principles and theories of EMDR throughout the course as well as other methods that focus on bilateral movement and stimulation. Because BLS and sensorimotor approaches are used by many EMDR practitioners and psychotherapists and counselors, particularly for traumatic stress, these strategies and principles are essential to effective applications with people of all ages.

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. 

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. 

International Expressive Arts Therapy Association [IEATA]. Many participants go on to apply for the REAT or REACE credential with IEATA and use our expressive arts therapy coursework to do so. Please check with IEATA to make sure you are meeting their current requirements for registration and let us know if you need additional information to help you qualify.

Psychotherapy and Counseling Fedration of Australia [PACFA]. Many of our Australian participants indicate that these hours are accepted by PACFA---Psychotherapy and Counseling Federation of Australia. Please check with PACFA to verify this and let us know if you require any additional information for this organization to qualify your professional development hours.

Canadian Counseling and Psychotherapy Association [CCPA]. Many of our Canadian participants indicate that these hours are accepted by CCPA for certain professional development requirements. Please check with CCPA to verify this and let us know if you require any additional information for this organization to qualify your professional development hours.

CPD hours [Professional Development] are currently in the application stage. We also welcome teachers to this course; please contact us for additional information.

Credentialing boards in Canada, Europe, and Australia accept our courses for professional development. Please check with them to verify that this course applies to your goals for credentialing or renewal of registration, certification, or licensing.

Course Objectives

All objectives are supplemented with the extensive course site containing numerous resources, downloadable documents, infographics, and summaries

Participants in this five session live webinar series will:

1. be able to define at least 5 principles of bilateral stimulation as it relates to the practice of EMDR;

2. be able to define grounding, resourcing, and orienting approaches central to EMDR;

3. be able to define neuroception as a key principle in establishing safety in psychotherapy;

4. be able to apply at least 8 trauma-informed expressive arts therapy interventions to work with children and adults through EMDR, sensorimotor expressive arts therapy and bilateral stimulation approaches;

5. be able to define the bottom up and top down expressive interventions as they relate to the practice of EMDR and BLS;

6. be able to define the Expressive Therapies Continuum in relation to EMDR, BLS and sensorimotor expressive arts therapy;

7. be able to sensorimotor responses within the context of trauma stress ;

8. be able to define bilateral work in trauma-informed expressive arts therapy, counseling, and psychotherapy;

9. be able to define 3 major concepts in sensorimotor expressive arts therapy;

10. be able to define why movement, sound, storytelling, and silence are key elements in the MSSS model of expressive arts therapy;

11. be able to define why EMDR is a form of body-based therapy;

12. be able to define why proprioception is a form of sensory integration relevant to trauma repair and restoration of the self.

13. be able to define the integration of expressive arts therapy and EMDR phase 2 resourcing approaches.

Course curriculum

Open for Participation on August 8th!

  1. 1

    • Walkthrough this Live Webinar Site and Its Features

    • Syllabus, Goals and Objectives of this Course

    • ▶️ ZOOM LIVE Format: Notes and Tips!

    • Special Note About Materials and Expressive Arts Assignments

    • What is Expressive Arts Therapy?

    • Bilateral Stimulation vs. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

    • Disclaimer
  2. 2

    • ▶️ ZOOM Link

    • Need Help Getting Through Course?

    • Bilateral Work and Self-Regulation--An Introduction to a Key Concept

    • Bottom Up or Top Down? An Expressive Arts Therapy Perspective

    • Florence Cane and "Body Liberating" Bilateral Work-- Early Foundations of BLS and Sensorimotor Expressive Arts Therapy

    • Crossing the Midline and Why It Is Important

    • Unilateral and Bilateral Movement

    • Bilateral OT Toolbox

    • Gravitational Insecurity

    • Evidence-Based Research--Vestibular System and Posttraumatic Stress

    • Four Types of Music Used in Bilateral WorK

    • Key Slides on Sensorimotor Expressive Arts Therapy

    • Replay Session One Part One

    • Replay Session One Part Two

    • Please UPLOAD* and POST to Discussion! ---*Required

    • Warson PPT | Session 1 | Sept 12, 2024
  3. 3

    • ▶️ ZOOM Link and Supplies for Session #2

    • Just What Is Interoception?

    • The Science of Interoception: Film Presentation

    • Evidence-Based Examination of Self-Regulation and Trauma through Music and Rhythm

    • Sensory Integration and Attachment

    • A Review for Psychotherapists: From the EMDR Institute--A Basic Description and Explanation

    • A Review for Psychotherapists: EMDR Theory and Brief History

    • A Little More on EMDR and the Science Behind It

    • Experiences with Bilateral Art

    • Bilateral Art and Self Regulation

    • Butterfly Bilateral Stimulation

    • Bilateral Artmaking

    • Just for Fun: Five Universal Shapes in Movement and Image

    • Interview with Florence Cane 1951

    • Bilateral Movement & Artmaking: Hemispheric Integration Across the Midline

    • A Fifth of Beethoven-- The Distinctive Rhythm of Interoception

    • Drawing Dance Project

    • Back of the head scale

    • PANAS
  4. 4

    • Proprioception: Our Bodies In Space, Our Bodies Within Relationships

    • What is Co-Regulation? A Definition and Review

    • Expressive Arts Therapy Regulatory and Co-Regulatory Strategies: The Basics With Children and Youth

    • Evidence: Qigong and Tai Chi for Mood Regulation-- and Co-Regulation

    • Theraplay® and Bilateral Stimulation for Children and Caregivers | Co-Regulation through Bilateral Playful Approaches

    • Co-Regulation Through Bilateral Movement, Sound, Synchrony, and Rhythm

    • Drumming as Rhythm and Co-Regulation, Drumming as Knowledge

    • The Evidence: Synchrony and Co-Regulation Through Novel Drumming Task

    • Physiological and Behavioral Synchrony Predict Group Cohesion and Performance: Open Access Research Download

    • Packing Tape Drum for Percussion and Bilateral Stimulation

    • EMDR and Drumming

    • Bilateral Music | Biolateral Sound

    • EMDR Music | Soothing Harmonies

    • Bilateral Stimulation Music

    • The Evidence: Bilateral Auditory Stimulation and Fear Reduction

    • The Salmon | A Regulating Drumming Rhythm

    • For an Enlivened Rhythm | Jerusalema

    • Louisville Leopards Percussion Group

    • Key Slides on Drumming and Sensory Integration
  5. 5

    • Evidence-Based Research: Do We Experience Emotions Bilaterally? It's Complicated

    • What is Sensorimotor Expressive Arts Therapy? An Integrative Approach to Trauma and Restoration of the Self via Psychology Today

    • Exploration Equals Imagination

    • Film Presentation: Foundations of Sensorimotor Expressive Arts Therapy with Dr. Cathy Malchiodi

    • Neuroscience of Sensorimotor Learning

    • Mirror Neurons and Neuroception

    • Literature Review (body-based interventions)

    • Sensorimotor psychotherapy (SP)

    • 4 Elements (original copy)

    • Adapted 4 Elements and 5 Senses

    • Earth/Ground/Touch Practice (script)

    • Arts-Informed EMDR

    • 5 Senses and 4 Elements Circle Journal: A Nature-Based Practice

    • 53 Senses
  6. 6

    • Resensitizing the Body Through Expressive Arts

    • Bilateral Stimulation and Positive Cognition

    • Bilateral Artmaking

    • EMDR and Resourcing

    • Bilateral Art and Integration

    • Bilateral Art and Integrating Therapy and Neuroscience

    • Art Therapy and EMDR

    • Art Therapy and Bilateral Stimulation

    • Expressive Therapies Continuum

    • Experiential and "Interview" Process

    • Bilateral Film

  7. 7

    • Sensorimotor Art Therapy

    • Warming up the whole brain

    • Bilateral Drawing from an Artist's Perspective

    • The power of the other hand

    • Drawing on the right side
  8. 8

    • Final Steps to Your Certificate

    • Course Evaluation

    • Regarding the Use of Material in this Course

    • Final Questions

Institute Faculty

Cathy Malchiodi PhD

Cathy Malchiodi, PhD, LPCC, LPAT, ATR-BC, REAT is a research psychologist, a Registered Expressive Arts Therapist, and a licensed mental health counselor. She is the executive director of the Trauma-Informed Practices and Expressive Arts Therapy Institute and is an investigator with the US Department of Education, integrating trauma-informed expressive arts into classrooms. She has also worked with the Department of Defense since 2008 to bring expressive arts therapy programming and psychotherapy to combat military and their families and Veterans with posttraumatic stress and traumatic brain injury. Dr. Malchiodi studied with Francine Shapiro and is qualified in EMDR Level I and Level II. Cathy has assisted more than 500 agencies, organizations, and institutions in developing trauma-informed programming including the United Nations, Department of Defense, Kennedy Center, Harvard, MIT, and Johns Hopkins University. An international presenter and workshop leader, she given over 750 invited keynotes and workshops throughout the US, Canada, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Australia. She has authored 21 books, including the bestselling Trauma and Expressive Arts Therapy: Brain, Body, and Imagination in the Healing Process and Handbook of Expressive Arts Therapy. Her books have been translated in over 20 languages. A life-long learner, Dr. Malchiodi's latest research and practice includes sensory processing and neurodiversity affirming models of psychotherapy to address trauma through expressive approaches to intervention.

Institute Faculty | Supervisor

Elizabeth Warson, PhD

Elizabeth Warson, PhD, ATR-BC, LPC, NCC, EMDR III, EXAT, EAP II, Certified EMDR Therapist, Advanced EMDR Consultant, is the founder of American Indian Art Therapy, based on her faculty research associated with the Graduate Art Therapy Programs at George Washington University and Eastern Virginia Medical School (2004-2013). Elizabeth currently resides in northern Colorado where she maintains an equine-assisted and arts-informed private practice, Healing Pathways LLC. As a faculty member for the Trauma-Informed Practices & Expressive Arts Therapy Institute, she teaches in person and online poly-informed, equine-assisted, and bilateral stimulation/sensorimotor-informed expressive arts therapy courses. Since 2003, her research interests comprise stress and pain reduction interventions for American Indian cancer survivors and their family members, culturally responsive stress reduction and visual journaling, and trauma-informed interventions. Elizabeth is a recipient of a 2010 National Endowment for the Arts (folk and traditional art) for a community-driven Coharie Heritage Empowerment Project, focusing on cultural preservation. Elizabeth received her BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1989 and an M.A. in Art Therapy from Vermont College of Norwich University in 1993. She completed her Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies, with a specialization in research, from the School of Education at Colorado State University in 2008. Elizabeth has presented at regional and national American Indian and Alaska Native conferences on topics related to medical art therapy, stress and pain reduction interventions, culturally-responsive art therapy, visual journaling interventions, and narrative-based art therapy. Her publications comprise over 20 peer-reviewed journal articles and chapters in books. As a professional artist, she has exhibited her sculptural work nationally and internationally and is a recipient of an Ohio Arts Council fellowship award.