Workshop Through the Pages: Using Children’s Books and Expressive Arts to Deepen Clinical Work

Dates:
📆 Tuesday January 27, 2026
📆 Tuesday July 14, 2026

Time: 8:00am–11:00am Pacific Time
Location: Online
Available CEs: 3
Facilitator: Courtney Oliver, PhD, LMHC, SUDP
Cost: $119.00 

Registration Deadline: Friday prior to training date.

Children’s literature distills universal truths—love, loss, courage, belonging—into imagery and story that transcends age. For adult clients, these books can bypass defenses and awaken emotional truths that words alone cannot reach. When paired with expressive arts, they offer a powerful bridge between intellect and emotion, insight and play.

This 3-hour experiential workshop invites clinicians to explore the use of children’s picture books as therapeutic tools in adult clinical work. Participants will engage in hands-on artmaking, reflective dialogue, and session design, learning how story, symbol, and metaphor can deepen insight, empathy, and healing.

Learning objectives

1. Describe the therapeutic rationale for incorporating children’s literature in adult psychotherapy.
2. Apply expressive arts techniques to explore themes of resilience, grief, identity, and self-compassion.
3. Integrate story and image into session planning to foster emotional processing and narrative reconstruction.
4. Design a customized expressive arts activity using a children’s book for their clinical population.

Required Materials

• Colored pencils, markers, watercolor paints, or collage supplies
• Scissors, glue, paper, or art journal
• Pen or pencil for notes and reflections
• Optional: A children’s book they connect with or would like to explore

Northwest Creative & Expressive Arts Institute Cancellation & Refund Policy

Earning Continuing Education Credits

To receive a CE Certificate for completion of this workshop, you must officially register, attend the workshop/program in its entirety and complete an evaluation form after the workshop/program. The evaluation form is emailed from NWCEAI. After completing & submitting the evaluation form, a CE Certificate will be emailed to you within 5-7 business days.

Who is eligible to receive CEs?

• Nationally: Approved NBCC Provider for Mental Health Counselors, Marriage and Family Therapists, and Licensed Social Workers (you are responsible for confirming that your organization/state will accept NBCC credits.)
• New York Licensed Creative Arts Therapists (LCATs)
• Washington State School Counselor/Teacher (OSPI) Approved by the Washington State Office of Public Instruction as a “Washington State approved clock hour offering workshop.”
• If you are outside of Washington State, we advise that you check with your state licensing board to confirm that they accept NBCC Approved CEs. 

Northwest Creative and Expressive Arts Institute is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed creative arts therapists. #CAT-0123.

Northwest Creative & Expressive Arts Institute (NWCEAI) has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7104. Programs that do no qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Northwest Creative & Expressive Arts Institute (NWCEAI) is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.