Overview:
Expressive arts therapy is an approach to psychotherapy with roots in indigenous cultures and a rich history of evolution within modalities such as Jungian, person-centered, and Gestalt psychotherapy. Defined by its emphasis on the multimodal process of healing (not relying on just one art form, rather, exploring many combinations for creativity), the strategies of expressive arts psychotherapy can prove useful to trauma therapists practicing in a variety of modalities.
In this workshop, participants are oriented to the fundamentals of expressive arts therapy history and approach. They are then instructed on how to facilitate an expressive arts process to teach the clinical concept of grounding/anchoring.
Participants will leave with an enhanced respect for how to foster client creativity when working with these concepts and their clinical intricacies. The role of creativity and the practice of making art are also discussed as mechanisms of action in processing traumatic experiences and promoting post-traumatic growth.
Objectives:
- Describe the origins of expressive arts therapy (e.g., indigenous traditions, historical threads in Jungian analysis, person-centered psychotherapy, and Gestalt psychotherapy).
- Define expressive arts therapy and explain its nature as a multimodal, multi-art process.
- Explain the concept of grounding/anchoring and why teaching it to clients is relevant in trauma-focused care.
- Implement an expressive arts process to teach grounding in a clinical setting (individual or group), using at least three (3) creative art forms.
Scope and Limitations
This course introduces foundational principles of expressive arts therapy and its clinical applications for trauma-focused care. While participants will learn to implement creative strategies such as grounding through multimodal art processes, this course is not a certification in expressive arts therapy and does not provide training in any specific modality (e.g., EMDR, yoga, or mindfulness). Content is designed to support licensed mental health professionals in applying expressive tools within their existing clinical scope of practice and in accordance with relevant ethical and licensing standards.
Commercial Support Disclosure
Dr. Jamie Marich is the author of several books and the founder of the Institute for Creative Mindfulness. Relevant concepts from her work may be referenced during the presentation. However, there is no requirement to purchase any additional products, or services in order to complete this course. Dr. Marich has no other relevant financial relationships to disclose.
Course materials are only available to enrolled students.
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Dr. Jamie Marich, LPCC-S
Dr. Jamie Marich (she/they) describes herself as a facilitator of transformative experiences. A clinical trauma specialist, expressive artist, writer, performer, short filmmaker, Reiki master, TEDx speaker, and recovery advocate, she unites all of these elements in her mission to inspire healing in others. She is a woman in long-term recovery from an addictive disorder and is living loudly and proudly as a woman with a dissociative disorder with the goal of smashing the stigma about dissociation in the mental health field and in society at large. Jamie began her career as a humanitarian aid worker in Bosnia-Hercegovina from 2000-2003, primarily teaching English and music. Jamie travels internationally, teaching on topics related to trauma, EMDR therapy, expressive arts, mindfulness, and yoga while maintaining a private practice and online education operations in her home base of Akron, OH. Marich is the founder of the Institute for Creative Mindfulness and the developer of the Dancing Mindfulness approach to expressive arts therapy. She is the developer of Yoga for Clinicians. Marich is the author of EMDR Made Simple: 4 Approaches for Using EMDR with Every Client (2011), Trauma and the Twelve Steps: A Complete Guide for Recovery Enhancement (2012), Creative Mindfulness (2013), Trauma Made Simple: Competencies in Assessment, Treatment, and Working with Survivors, Dancing Mindfulness: A Creative Path to Healing and Transformation (2015), and Process Not Perfection: Expressive Arts Solutions for Trauma Recovery (2019). Marich co-authored EMDR Therapy & Mindfulness for Trauma-Focused Care along with colleague Dr. Stephen Dansiger in 2018 and their new book with Springer Publishing Healing Addiction with EMDR Therapy: A Trauma-Focused Guide released in 2021. North Atlantic Books published a revised and expanded edition of Trauma and the 12 Steps in the Summer of 2020, and they released The Healing Power of Jiu-Jitsu: A Guide to Transforming Trauma and Facilitating Recovery in 2022. Her latest release with North Atlantic Book, Dissociation Made Simple: A Stigma-Free Guide to Embracing Your Dissociative Mind and Navigating Life, came out in January 2023. She has several more projects in the works with North Atlantic Books, including a memoir about her own spiritual abuse recovery journey growing up with one Catholic and one Evangelical parent. The New York Times featured Marich’s writing and work on Dancing Mindfulness in 2017 and 2020. HuffPost published a version of her story focusing on being a clinical professional with a dissociative disorder in 2023. NALGAP: The Association of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Addiction Professionals, and Their Allies awarded Jamie with their esteemed President’s Award in 2015 for her work as an LGBT advocate. The EMDR International Association (EMDRIA) granted Jamie the 2019 Advocacy in EMDR Award for her using her public platform in media and in the addiction field to advance awareness about EMDR therapy and to reduce stigma around mental health. Marich formerly sat on the clinical workgroup of EMDRIA’s Council of Scholars and currently sits on the editorial board of the Journal of EMDR Practice and Research.
National Approvals
eCare BHI, as the accredited and approved sponsor, maintains responsibility for all the programs and must abide by each board’s continuing education guidelines.

Professional Counselors — The National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC)
E Care Behavioral Health Institute has been approved by NBCC as an approved Continuing Education Provider. ACEP No. 6703. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC are clearly identified. E care Behavioral Health Institute is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.

Addiction Professionals — NAADAC, the Association for Addiction Professionals (NAADAC)
E Care Behavioral Health Institute is officially on file with NAADAC, the Association for Addiction Professionals (NAADAC) as an Approved Education Provider. They are formally known as NAADAC Provider #139138. Please note that E care Behavioral Health Institute is solely responsible for all aspects of the program.

Social Workers — Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB)
E Care Behavioral Health Institute, #1706, is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved as ACE providers. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. E Care Behavioral Health Institute maintains responsibility for this course.  ACE provider approval period: 06-03-2020 – 06-03-2026.Â

CE Broker
CE Broker is a continuing education tracking system in which licensees track their compliance and report their completed CE hours credit (CE Broker Tracking #50-33336)
State Approvals
States that Accept ASWB-ACE Approved Providers |
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Alabama | Alaska | Arizona | Arkansas | California | Colorado | Connecticut |
Delaware | District Of Columbia | Florida | Georgia | Hawaii | Idaho | Illinois |
Indiana | Iowa | Kansas | Kentucky | Louisiana | Maine | Maryland |
Massachusetts | Michigan | Minnesota | Mississippi | Missouri | Montana | Nebraska |
Nevada | New Hampshire | New Jersey | New Mexico | North Carolina | North Dakota | Ohio |
Oklahoma | Oregon | Pennsylvania | Rhode Island | South Carolina | South Dakota | Tennessee |
Texas | Utah | Vermont | Virginia | Washington | West Virginia | Wisconsin |
Wyoming |
States that Accepts NBCC Approved Courses:Â |
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Alabama | Alaska | Arizona | Arkansas | California | Colorado | Connecticut |
Delaware | District Of Columbia | Florida | Georgia | Hawaii | Idaho | Indiana |
Iowa | Maine | Maryland | Massachusetts | Missouri | New Hampshire | New Jersey |
New Mexico | Ohio | Oregon | Pennsylvania | Rhode Island | South Carolina | South Dakota |
Tennessee | Texas | Vermont | Virginia | Washington | Wisconsin |
- Nevada CPC’s and MFT’s accept ASWB-approved training
- North Dakota Board Of Counselor Examiners LAPC and LAPCS accept ASWB approved training
- Rhode Island Board of Mental Health Counselors and Marriage & Family Therapists MHC’s accept ASWB approved training
- Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council LPC and LPCS accept ASWB approved training
- Utah Division of Professional Licensing – CMHC’s accept ASWB approved training
- Washington State Department of Mental Health MHC’s accept ASWB approved training
- Wisconsin Council on Mental Health LPCS accepts ASWB-approved training
States that Accept NAADAC Approved Providers |
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Alabama | Alaska | Arizona | Arkansas | Delaware | Hawaii | Indiana |
Kentucky | Maine | Massachusetts | Minnesota | Montana | Nevada | New Jersey |
New Jersey | New Mexico | North Carolina | North Dakota | Oregon | Rhode Island | Tennessee |
Vermont | Virginia | Washington | West Virginia | Wisconsin | Wisconsin | Wyoming |
States that Accept APA Approved Providers |
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Alabama | Alaska | Arizona | Arkansas | California | Delaware | District Of Columbia |
Florida | Georgia | Idaho | Illinois | Indiana | Iowa | Kansas |
Kentucky | Louisiana | Maryland | Massachusetts | Minnesota | Mississippi | Missouri |
Montana | Nebraska | New Jersey | New Mexico | North Dakota | Ohio | Oklahoma |
Pennsylvania | Rhode Island | South Carolina | Tennessee | Utah | Vermont | Virginia |
Washington | West Virginia | Wisconsin | Wyoming |