Expressive Therapies Summit

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Expressive Therapies Summit Expressive Therapies Summit
www.expressivetherapiessummit.com Together, we are stronger. We are all of these, and more.

Featuring Varied Approaches and Multidisciplinary Collaborations

A distinguished faculty of clinicians, educators, researchers, and others
offer an inspiring program of papers, panels, half-day workshops,
and full-day classes; many emphasize hands-on, active participation. STRONGER TOGETHER
That has been our guiding principle in creating the Expressive Therapies Summit. After a half century of working in parallel process, it's time for us to gather and learn from each other, and work collaboratively toward the long term success of the expressive arts therapies. CREATIVE and EXPRESSIVE
We refer to ourselves variously: Creative Arts Therapists, Arts Psychotherapists, Expressive Therapists. Not only do we help others, we do so creatively, using one or more of the fine and performing arts. Not limiting ourselves to a single muse or treatment model, we enable others to express their innermost selves, regardless of age, language, or ability.

A good ethics course sharpens your judgment and exposes a blind spot you didn't know was costing you clarity. Ethical Co...
10/13/2026

A good ethics course sharpens your judgment and exposes a blind spot you didn't know was costing you clarity.

Ethical Considerations in Art Therapy meets the ethics requirement for the Art Therapy Credentials Board (ATCB) while honoring how creative clinicians actually learn and helping you transform your practice.

Across 6 hours, you will:
▪️Examine the ATCB Code of Ethics, Conduct, and Disciplinary Procedures as it applies to daily practice and personal life
▪️Participate in a living directive, responding to verbal material continuously through mixed media
▪️Engage spatial, auditory, verbal, and kinesthetic learning throughout

Join us at the Fall Virtual Summit. Full agenda and registration at expressivetherapiessummit.com/fallvirtual

Qualitative research analyzing trauma survivors' actual therapy sessions found they deliberately use humor when discussi...
10/12/2026

Qualitative research analyzing trauma survivors' actual therapy sessions found they deliberately use humor when discussing their most serious, difficult material, not as avoidance, but as a real coping strategy already in motion.

Holding something as both horrific and hilarious requires the same mental flexibility that coping with ongoing trauma demands. Laughing Parts & Expressive Arts: Humor Styles in the Treatment of Severe Trauma & Dissociation builds on that parallel.

This 3-hour virtual workshop offers:
▪️Dissociation understood through a parts perspective rather than a psychopathological model
▪️Rod A. Martin's research-backed Humor Styles Questionnaire as an assessment entry point
▪️Visual art, movement, and comedic writing as expressive tools within parts work

Professionals at all experience levels working with traumatized or dissociative clients are welcome.

Register for the Fall Virtual Summit at expressivetherapiessummit.com/fallvirtual

Medical settings are often fast-paced, highly clinical environments where patients, families, and healthcare professiona...
10/11/2026

Medical settings are often fast-paced, highly clinical environments where patients, families, and healthcare professionals experience significant emotional stress.

Facility Dogs & Art Therapy in Medical Settings: Regulation, Relationship & Resilience explores what happens when animal-assisted therapy and art therapy work together in high-acuity environments.

This 3-hour presentation draws on the Child Life and Creative Arts Therapies Department at Mount Sinai Health System to cover:
▪️AAT as a goal-directed intervention that brings the animal into the treatment process
▪️Clinical examples from pediatric intensive care, oncology, and staff support programming
▪️Art therapy interventions paired with AAT to support expression, meaning-making, and connection

Register for this workshop and see the full Fall Virtual Summit lineup at expressivetherapiessummit.com/fallvirtual

10/10/2026

This World Mental Health Day, we celebrate your dedication to nurturing resilience and cultivating deep healing. By honoring lived experiences, you foster connection and transform lives within your clinical practice.
Take a moment today to pause, reflect, and acknowledge the profound care you provide.

Ready to level up your technique? Join us this October for the Fall Virtual Summit kickoff, featuring specialized training designed for expressive arts therapists and general trauma practitioners:

✨ Ritual Abuse and Complex Dissociative Symptoms

✨ Somatic Collage & Poetry for Q***r Bodily Autonomy

✨ Spontaneous Painting for Neurobiologically-Informed Trauma Recovery

✨ SoulCollage® for Deep Reflection & Clinical Practice

✨ Expressive Approaches for Working with Feminine Rage

✨ Dissociative Systems, Supervision Models & more

Earn CEs, learn actionable methods, and reconnect with your creative spark.

Click the link in our bio to register!

Common accessibility barriers can cause confusion or frustration that distract from therapeutic content and can often le...
10/09/2026

Common accessibility barriers can cause confusion or frustration that distract from therapeutic content and can often lead to disengagement or even premature termination.

Creative Adaptations: Making Artmaking Possible for Clients with Disabilities removes the barriers that might prevent a client from bringing their artistic vision to life.

This session covers:
▪️Adaptive scissors, grips, and modifications for drawing and painting tools
▪️Sensory considerations that shape which materials work and which frustrate
▪️Accommodations for clients with physical, sensory, developmental, and other challenges

Sign up to explore this topic and view the full Fall Virtual Summit agenda at expressivetherapiessummit.com/fallvirtual

Nearly 9 out of 10 people with FASD are misdiagnosed or never diagnosed at all. They cycle through ADHD, autism, and opp...
10/07/2026

Nearly 9 out of 10 people with FASD are misdiagnosed or never diagnosed at all. They cycle through ADHD, autism, and oppositional defiant disorder labels, each one bringing new medications, new therapies, and new frustration when nothing quite works.

Art Therapy With Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders: Clinical Work Beyond "The Wall in My Brain" provides a roadmap built across 37 years of research, clinical practice, and community intervention throughout North America.

This 4-hour workshop equips you to:
▪️Apply a systematic diathesis-stress approach suited to the unique neuroprint of each person with prenatal neurotoxin exposure
▪️Pace and guide neuro-informed art therapy that adapts CBT and trauma-focused treatment
▪️Build a strengths roadmap that scaffolds adaptive coping at home, in school, and in vocational settings

Join us at the Fall Virtual Summit. Full agenda at expressivetherapiessummit.com/fallvirtual

A client arrives with a suitcase full of symptoms and no itinerary. They know something hurts. They can't yet say whethe...
10/06/2026

A client arrives with a suitcase full of symptoms and no itinerary. They know something hurts. They can't yet say whether they want relief, clarity, confidence, or an entirely different way of living.

The Do, Know, Be Tree: A Creative Tool for Goal-Setting & Behavioral Activation is a guided art-based process for clients with reflective capacity who feel uncertain about direction.

Over 3 virtual hours, you will:
▪️Map your own Do, Know, and Be through personal aptitudes, metaphor, imagery, and symbolism
▪️Connect strengths, values, and lived experience to aspirations for growth
▪️Integrate cognitive insight with embodied knowing through guided reflection and visual exploration

Register for the Fall Virtual Summit at expressivetherapiessummit.com/fallvirtual

On November 12th, join Jennifer Zarin, LCAT, RDT, for Addressing Creative Anxiety With Clients Using Expressive Writing,...
10/06/2026

On November 12th, join Jennifer Zarin, LCAT, RDT, for Addressing Creative Anxiety With Clients Using Expressive Writing, Metaphor & Action Techniques. This workshop treats creative anxiety as something with intentions worth understanding rather than a block to push through.

▪️Explore what creative anxiety is and the varied ways it surfaces in clients
▪️Work with metaphor and guided imagery to meet creative anxiety as a character
▪️Gain tools you can use with clients and in your own creative life

Learn how to encourage your clients to find movement from stuckness toward aligned, intentional action.

Join us at the Fall Virtual Summit. Full agenda and registration at expressivetherapiessummit.com/fallvirtual

10/05/2026

Today, we honor the more than 120 teachers who have generously shared their expertise at our events in 2026.

Your dedication nurtures our community, strengthens our clinical toolboxes, and reconnects us with the profound purpose of this work. Thank you for continually inspiring us.

Join us in celebrating these remarkable clinicians, and explore our upcoming workshops to experience their wisdom firsthand.

The call for 2027 proposals is now open! Head over to our website to apply to teach next year.
expressivetherapiessummit.com

The voice that says "you're not doing enough" isn't malicious. It's scared, protective, and using the only strategies it...
10/04/2026

The voice that says "you're not doing enough" isn't malicious. It's scared, protective, and using the only strategies it ever learned to keep you safe.

Taming Your Gremlins: A Creative Journey Toward Emotional Wellness meets that voice with curiosity instead of another round of criticism.

This 3-hour virtual workshop combines:
▪️Journaling and guided reflection to identify what has been running quietly underneath
▪️Creative exploration that externalizes emotions difficult to describe in words alone
▪️Hand-sewn felt gremlins as a tangible form for internal challenges

Participants will gain practical tools for emotional regulation that they can use in daily work with their clients.

See the full lineup of the Fall Virtual Summit at expressivetherapiessummit.com/fallvirtual

Address

Alexandria, VA
22312

Opening Hours

Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 12pm

Telephone

+17403384595

Website

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