Professional Training Program: Frequently Asked Questions

EXA is short for Expressive Arts.

No, but you can say that you have a professional certificate in Expressive Arts Therapy or Facilitation, depending on the path you’re on.

There is no expressive arts ‘certification’. The professional credential that you can work towards is with the IEATA for either REAT or REACE. Our training programs offer the required education you need for either credential, however, after completing either of our Programs, you will need to accrue experience hours and supervision hours. More information is at the IEATA website.

Yes, you can. If you are on the EXA Therapy path and in grad school to become a therapist, counselor, or social worker, we recommend that you apply to attend when you are doing your internship or have a worksite that will be open to you offering EXA, so you can also accrue hours for the 200-hour practicum at the same time. 

For either path, that would be fantastic!  In some cases, it may be important to check with your supervisor to make sure everyone is on board. It’s also possible to find other places to accrue hours. This can be discussed in your mentor group, or with the director.

Yes, but please note that our classes are scheduled by the U.S. Pacific Time Zone. 

Not in any formal sense! You do not have to have any experience in any of the arts modalities. Part of becoming an Expressive Arts Therapist is embracing the arts, imagination, creativity, and play as part of our learning. Becoming comfortable with the modalities is essential, but high skill is not. Our program encourages ongoing involvement in creative practice, which can include learning various art forms and techniques.

Everywhere. EXA is used in any environment, with any age, background, and ability. One of the beautiful things about EXA is the ability to modify approaches to meet people where they are, no matter where they are. 

Within the program, we offer small mentoring groups for consultation, as well as ongoing consultation within the learning of the program. Faculty can also be available for questions that come up outside of class time, if necessary.

Post-graduation Supervision is available if you are seeking your expressive arts registration (REAT or REACE) for a cost.

We love offering scholarships! Each year we have to assess how much we can offer to our training students. As soon as we know, you will know and the website will be updated accordingly.

There are TWO paths: Therapy and Facilitation.
There are TWO tracks for Therapy: Therapy Online and Therapy Hybrid.
There are TWO levels: Level One offers the same program content for both paths. Level Two offers different requirements and content for each path.
Level Two Therapy can be done completely online, though some electives can be taken in-person.
Level Two Facilitator includes  a 35-hour in-person intensive.

The 200-hour practicum is what is required by the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association (IEATA) to be completed during institute training. This is a pre-requisite to accruing experience hours, post-graduation from our program. 

 You will need 1000 hours internship/work experience, 100 hours group supervision or 50 hours individual supervision, or a combination of the two. Every effort is made to use your worksite to complete your hours, and you have up to 48 months to complete this requirement.

There is an option to stay with NWCEAI to complete the supervision requirements for  Registration with the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association (IEATA). This is a recognized international credential. 

Practicum officially begins in Level Two of the program. Since the amount of time to finish the practicum varies, Level Two offers flexibility to complete this requirement.

Not quite. After successful completion of this program, you will receive a certificate of completion which allows you to claim that you use expressive arts therapy as a therapeutic approach and have received extensive training and a certificate from NWCEAI. It does not allow you to refer to yourself, or advertise yourself, as a Registered or Certified Expressive Arts Therapist, Registered Drama Therapist, Registered Art Therapist, or any other Creative Arts Therapy discipline with a credential, or use the suffixes: REAT, ATR, DMT, DTR, etc. 

This program provides only the training requirements needed to apply for registration with the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association (IEATA). Additional hours of supervision and internship will be required for registration with IEATA after the training has been completed. It does not prepare you for registration with the American Art Therapy Association, or another creative arts therapy discipline credential.  

Please see Registration with the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association for more information about the application process.

Yes, but NWCEAI only offers supervision for REAT.

You can still participate in our program! If you are certain that this is not the path you will be on, the practicum hours may be waived. This is decided on an individual basis.

You can still participate in our program! There are many ways to utilize our training as an EXA Facilitator out in the world. We welcome anyone who has an interest in our training regardless of pursuing the REACE.

Yes, a 25-hour internship is required for Level Two. Internships can be at your workplace or another location.

We build that into the program so that you have all the training requirements to pursue the REACE completed by the end of our program. Please see the requirements for the REACE here:
https://www.ieata.org/apply-reace