Expressive Arts | www.saybrook.edu

Certificate Program Directors: Natalie Rogers, Ph.D. and Christine Evans, Ph.D.

Art can uncover fears, anxiety, frustration, anger, and inner conflict - and help resolve all of these issues. Explore the creation of art as a therapeutic path to self-discovery with an emphasis on healing personal and social wounds in the people around you.

The certificate design combines theory, experiential learning, and practice in the client-centered (or person-centered) philosophy of Carl Rogers and the expressive arts of movement, sound, visual arts, creative writing and psychodrama. The program is designed for anyone in the mental health field wishing to use person-centered expressive arts in his or her practice. This includes psychotherapists, social workers, pastoral counselors, nurses and educators. It is also appropriate for those wishing to re-awaken their authentic creativity as a way to enliven their work and personal lives. The course is open to Saybrook students and non-degree candidates.

Class time will include developing communication skills in using the arts as part of counseling and psychotherapy practice. Some of the questions we will be exploring include:

How do the expressive arts help us connect to our body, psyche, soul, and the world?
How does the creative process bridge inner and outer healing?
How do we use the arts in our counseling and psychotherapy practice?
How do we use the person-centered expressive arts in groups such as Hospice, in bereavement and recovery centers?
How does inner peace connect to world peace?
How do we create research to document what we are learning?

In the words of Howard Thurmond, "Ask not what the world needs; rather, ask what makes you come alive and go do that, for what the world needs is people who have come alive."

Art is a language! The expressive arts are a pathway to self-discovery. They can be links to the expression of our essential nature. The integration of the various arts is the integration of mind, body, emotions and spirit. As we explore the inner self, the soul and spirit, we open to joy and love and our highest nature. As Matthew Fox puts it, "Creativity is so satisfying. That is why it is so important, not because it produces something, but because the process is cosmological, spiritual, centering and satisfying."

Certificate Description

The certificate in Expressive Arts for Healing and Social Change: A Person- Centered Approach is a 16-unit program. The program includes 6 weeks of residential work (6 one-week residencies) spread out over 2 years. Experiential work in the expressive arts will be offered in a person-centered environment. Theoretical presentations and discussion will follow those experiences. Using the expressive arts within the counseling framework will be taught through counseling demonstrations as well as through skills development in communication triads. Readings, discussions, papers, and a creative project will ground the experience in theory and concepts. Applications with various client populations will be discussed. Required Courses: HTP 6600, 6601, 6602, 6603, 6004, 6605. Two certificate residentials may be used to meet the requirements for two January residential conferences for degree students.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this certificate each student will:

Understand and articulate the philosophy and methods of the creative connection process
Discover new or renewed aspects of personal creativity through the arts
Be familiar with the uses of personcentered expressive arts with various populations
Be able to fully consider the connection between creativity, inner peace, and world peace
Be knowledgeable about research methods that could be used to record shifts and changes in individuals engaged in creative processes.

Core competencies developed in this certificate are

Counseling and/or a communications style that encompasses some of the aspects of the person-centered approach to expressive arts
Ability to demonstrate individual skills in client-centered communication in relationship to one other person and within a group process, that is, to be able to relate to another person in an empathic, non-judgmental, congruent manner in a one-to-one relationship and within a group
Ability to facilitate an expressive arts process within a counseling session and/or within a group process
Development of a personal practice for self-healing and spiritual growth through visual art, journal writing, music or some combination of creative activities
Experience an understanding of some aspects of the connection of inner peace to world peace
Ability to do research in the area of personal growth through creative processes