Expressive Arts Therapy and Sensory Integration to “Reset” Our Nervous Systems

Cathy Malchiodi, PhD, LPCC, LPAT, REAT is a psychologist and an expressive arts therapist specializing in the treatment of traumatic stress. For the last several decades Cathy has worked with traumatized children, adolescents, adults, and families, expanding the range of understanding of non-verbal, sensory-based concepts and methods. She is the executive director of the Trauma-Informed Practices and Expressive Arts Therapy Institute which has provided online and live training in expressive and soma-to-sensory approaches to over 30,000 practitioners around the world [see www.cathymalchiodi.com ]. Cathy is currently part of a grant with the US Department of Education, integrating expressive arts therapy into classrooms. A popular presenter and workshop leader, she has given over 750 invited keynotes and workshops throughout the US, Canada, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Australia. She has authored 20 books, including the bestselling Trauma and ExpressiveArtsTherapy: Brain, Body, and Imagination in the Healing Process, Handbook of Expressive ArtsTherapy, and Understanding Children’s Drawings. Her publications have been translated into over 20 languages.

Dr. Malchiodi has extensive experience in the areas of trauma, attachment, disaster relief, and adversity. She has assisted more than 500 agencies, organizations, and institutions in developing trauma-informed, expressive, and responsive programming including the World Health Organization, United Nations, Department of Defense, Kennedy Center, Harvard, MIT, Johns Hopkins, and numerous universities, mental health, community, and healthcare agencies in the US and throughout the world. Widely interviewed by a variety of news outlets, she has been featured in Time Magazine, CNN, Slate, Cosmopolitan, NAMI, EMDRIA Magazine, Natural Living, Marie Clare, Australia Childhood Foundation, US News and World Report, and VICE, among others. She is a contributing writer for Psychology Today and has a readership of approximately 6.5 million on topics relevant to trauma recovery and restoration of the self, arts in healthcare and mental health, and self-care.

Content Description: 

Expressive arts therapy and sensory processing are part of the current forefront of emerging methods that incorporate both neuroscience (brain-wise) research and somatosensory (body-wise and sensory-oriented) findings within the contemporary treatment of stress and traumatic stress. Expressive arts therapy integrates the arts-movement, music/sound, drawing, storytelling, improvisation, dramatic enactment, play, and creative writing – within the practice of psychotherapy and counseling. Material presented in these sessions draw not only from the healing components of the arts themselves, but also from Polyvagal theory, autonomic nervous system, bilateral work and sensory integration, mindfulness practices, and narrative therapy approaches.

In each session, participants will explore and experience why expressive and sensory-based practices go beyond what language and traditional talk therapy capture to access implicit, sensory-based experiences. These approaches not only “reset the nervous system” to reduce stress, distress, and traumatic stress reactions, but also enhance and increase our capacities for joy, enlivenment, playfulness, curiosity, and resilience. It is this reparative nature found in expressive arts and the senses that help individuals “re-sensitize” both body and mind to positive sensations rather than simply learning to expand tolerance for distressful reactions. It also helps individuals to begin to live in the present, rather than remaining stuck in the distressful sensations of past events.

Course Agenda

Expressive Arts Therapy and Sensory Integration to “Reset” Our Nervous Systems

with Cathy Malchiodi

Live Online Zoom Session 1: Foundations of Expressive Arts Therapy and Sensory Processing – Friday, January 10th – 9-10:30am PST/12pm-1:30pm EST/5-6:30pm GMT – 1.5 CEs 

• Session Content: Foundations of Expressive Arts Therapy as a form of psychotherapy (30 minutes)
• The role of sensory processing in stress, distress, and traumatic stress (15 minutes)
• Circle of Capacity-a complement to the Window of Tolerance (5 minutes)
• Thinking Autonomically-Applying an Autonomic Nervous System Wheel: Fight-Flight-Freeze-Flow-Fun (10 minutes)
• Engaging the Body and Mind in an integrative, evidence-based expressive practice based on breath, movement, sound, image, and narrative (15 minutes)
• Creating Autonomic Ladders to track client’s nervous system “resets” (15 minutes).
  

Live Online Zoom Session 2: From Implicit to Explicit: Working with the Sense of Distress – Friday, Janaury 17th, 2024 – 9-10:30am PST/12pm-1:30pm EST/5-6:30pm GMT – 1.5 CEs 

• Setting a foundation of safety for the expression of somatosensory experiences through expressive approaches (10 minutes)
• Bottom-up or top-down? Deciding where to start with expression and sensory-based strategies (10 minutes)
• Interoception as a foundation for connecting the senses to affect and cognition (10 minutes)
• The importance of connecting interoception and exteroception in repairing traumatic stress (10 minutes)
• Interoceptive expressive arts approaches to support capacity and self-agency (10 minutes)
• Touch as a form of haptic communication and regulation (5 minutes)
• Holding onto the glimmers, letting go of the activation: A final reset of the nervous system through expression and the senses (25 minutes)
• Review of the integrative practices to reset the nervous system (10 minutes)

Expressive Arts Therapy and Sensory Integration to “Reset” Our Nervous Systems

with Cathy Malchiodi, PhD, LPCC, REAT

Learning Objectives

Session 1: Foundations of Expressive Arts Therapy and Sensory Processing

1. Describe expressive arts therapy and sensory processing;
2. Apply at least five expressive and sensory processing practices to enhance clients’ abilities to “reset the nervous system;
3. Identify the default mode network, somatosensory cortex, and primary regulatory network as they relate to expressive and sensory-based psychotherapeutic approaches to stress and trauma;
4. Name the four components of the MSSS Model (movement, sound, storytelling, silence) as an integrative framework for resetting the nervous system;

Session 2: From Implicit to Explicit: Working with the Sense of Distress

1. Distinguish at least three differences between the Window of Tolerance and Circle of Capacity Models;
2. Name at least three expressive arts therapy and sensory processing approaches as “bottom up” and “top down” interventions;
3. Identify three reasons why exteroception and interoception are key concepts in restoring capacity in individuals with traumatic stress;
4. Apply at least two expressive arts therapy approaches to support interoceptive awareness in individuals with traumatic stress;
5.  Name at least four major components of the Expressive Arts Therapy Autonomic Wheel.

For intermediate mental health professionals including Psychologists, Social Workers, LPCs, and LMFTs.

Continuing Education

This program offers limited Live CEs/Contact Hours.

Continuing education credit/Contact hours are awarded on a per-session basis, with full attendance required for the entire 90-minute duration.  There is no additional charge for the CEs.  Application forms and other required CE materials will be available to participants by the Academy of Therapy Wisdom.

NOTE:  To receive continuing education credit, applicants must complete all CE materials, comply with attendance regulations, and submit an evaluation form for the session attended.  It is the responsibility of the attendee to determine if CE credit/contact hours offered by Academy of Therapy Wisdom meet the regulations of their state licensing/certification board.  

Psychology:  This course does NOT provide CEs for Psychologists.

Counseling:

Academy of Therapy Wisdom has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7370. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Academy of Therapy Wisdom is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.  This program is approved for 1.5 CE Credit Hours for each live session for a possible total of 3 CE Credit Hours.

Marriage/Family Therapy: See below for CAMFT information.

This course is $97 per month or $997/year. You can purchase it here.