“Now I see creative arts and the healing process as inextricably linked. I see them as symbiotically connected and truly strengthened by one another.”
This quote from therapist, Chris Porter, a former graduate of Northwest Creative and Expressive Art’s own Professional Training Program, illustrates the primary purpose of the Professional Certificate Clinical Path Program: highlighting the profoundly therapeutic nature of the expressive arts. Whether you’re a student counselor in training or a seasoned mental health professional with years of experience in the field, incorporating the restorative power of creative expression as a vehicle for change can offer alternative accessible pathways for processing, expressing, and healing.
Northwest Creative and Expressive Art’s Professional Training Program offers participants a professional certificate in Expressive Arts Therapy, which meets the educational requirements to become an internationally-recognized Registered Expressive Arts Therapist. Whether or not you decide to pursue the full Registered Expressive Arts Therapist certification after completing NWCEAI’s Professional Training Program, you can claim Expressive Arts Therapy as one of your specialized therapeutic approaches in addition to receiving the certificate denoting extensive training from Northwest Creative and Expressive Arts Institute.
The Professional Certificate Clinical Path program has two options: one approach is a hybrid of in-person and remote and the other is completely online. Therefore, you can access the multimodal courses, supportive community, and experiential education opportunities no matter where you are physically located. Learning is both asynchronous and synchronous, allowing for both learning in a collaborative community environment as well as on your own schedule.While engaging in the Expressive Arts Therapy training program, you are also acquiring continuing education credits you can utilize towards the renewal of your licensure.
In terms of professional development and growth, therapist, Arty Allen, a past Professional Training Program student, asserts, “Having the structure of the training program’s requirements and the support of my cohort made it easier to stay focused on my professional growth during that time, when I might have otherwise been satisfied with maintaining where I was in my career and practice.” Another Northwest Creative and Expressive Arts Institute Professional Training Program alum, Meadow Amster, observes, “I was surprised by the deeper inner work the curriculum inspired in me throughout the process. As someone who’s been on her own healing journey for over a decade, I am truly amazed at how much more connected to myself and the creative process I feel from the experiential components and deep learning we did within our community…I’m so excited to bring the offerings I’ve learned to the community and build a therapeutic space for healing to those in an acute state.”
Regardless of circumstances, needs, or background, the expressive arts are for everyone and can be applicable to all levels of care. Since the beginning of time and throughout cultures, humans have turned to creative expression as a way to communicate integral information, learn about ourselves and the world around us, and entertain through visual art, music, writing, dramatic enactment and storytelling, and somatic or movement-based mediums. Since one of our most natural inclinations as children is to process and play through creation, art-making is something humans inherently have a desire and capability to engage in with openness and curiosity. Allen remarks, “I wish more people knew how accessible EXA was…I’ve learned you really need to let the process go where it’s going to go.”
Not only are the expressive arts healing for clients, they’re also beneficial for clinicians who can integrate creative methods into their own healing, personal growth, and professional development. Amster notes, “I am truly amazed at how much more connected to myself and the creative process I feel from the experiential components and deep learning we did within our community…my EXA training has shifted my worldview and left me with a heart that is more sensitive and open and a deepened commitment to holding the sacred space for healing.”
Porter affirms, “NWCEAI’s EXA training has made me more compassionate – not just with myself, but with my clients as well. I’m able to facilitate their exploration of the content of their struggles and successes more readily and therefore see their humanity more fully, in a way that’s more functional in the therapy office at the end of the day. It’s usefulness is two-fold: first, I’m now more capable as a clinician working with, opening up, and working through so much more competently than before my training. Second: any of the skills I’ve learned can be modified for my own self-care needs and/or left as-is and be perfectly useful for my own purposes – to prevent burnout, solidify my grounding efforts, and connect me to healthy emotionality.”
If you are interested in learning more about integrating expressive arts modalities into your clinical practice and applying for the Professional Training Program Clinical Path at Northwest Creative and Expressive Arts Institute, watch this info video! If you have additional questions about the Clinical Path or want to learn about the Expressive Arts Facilitator’s Track instead, feel free to reach out to Northwest Creative and Expressive Arts Institute directly at info@seattlearttherapy.org.
Applications are available now! We look forward to connecting with you soon!
