Expressive Therapy: Re-sensitizing the Traumatized Mind and Body to Resilience with Cathy Malchiodi

Led by Cathy Malchiodi, PhD, REAT

This is a 1 hour On Demand Webinar. Access information, resources and CEU information will be available shortly after registration and registrants will be given unlimited access to the recording for a full year.

This webinar was broadcasted live on October 22, 2022 as part of the Collective Trauma Conference

Working with traumatic stress and supporting the restoration of the self often requires more than language-based psychotherapy. Survivors of complex trauma, interpersonal violence, and multiple adverse events often benefit from non-verbal approaches that include implicit communication to experience a deeper, more long-lasting healing process.

Expressive therapy—an implicit, non-verbal, and action-oriented form of communication and recovery—is emerging as an effective approach to addressing individual and collective trauma. In contrast to talk therapies, expressive therapy focuses on somatosensory experiences that address both mind and body. It integrates best practices from three major approaches used to treat trauma—somatic therapy, sensory integration, and expressive arts therapy—to re-sensitize the individual to experiences of curiosity, play, imagination, mastery, and self-compassion.

This presentation introduces this approach through a focus on expanding the “circle of capacity” in trauma survivors to enhance self-efficacy and strategies to address activation and dissociation to support resilience.

At the conclusion of the workshop, attendees will be better able to —

• Explore the importance of psychological interventions during the acute phase of traumatization—especially in collective emergencies—to reduce stress reactions and prevent the accumulation of traumatic stress
• Explore tools for psychological intervention that reduce risk factors for mental and emotional disorders.
• Examine how to intervene with groups and communities to strengthen resources and protection factors.
• Establish how to proceed before, during, and after a humanitarian emergency.
• Identify the various levels of exposure to collective trauma and populations to be addressed, including front-line workers.

This training offers 1 hours of direct contact (not counting breaks or lunch). It is the participant’s responsibility to check with their individual state boards/regulatory body to verify CE requirements for their license to practice.

For Attendees of On Demand/Recorded Version

If you cannot verify 100% attendance of the Live Broadcast or if you are watching the On Demand/recorded version of this webinar, you will need to complete a Post-Webinar Quiz with a pass of at least 80% in order to verify your attendance. 

For Canadian and International participants

Upon fulfillment of the above requirements, Canadian and international participants will be issued a Certificate of Participation which features:

• Name of Participant
• Title of Training
• Name of Presenter plus their credentials
• Number of hours of training
• Date of training
• Confirmation that you have passed a quiz with at least 80% grade to verify your attendance

Please check carefully with your regulating body/organization that this certificate is sufficient proof for you to claim CEUs.

For general information about Continuing Education for Canadians and International participants, please click here.  

This training is aimed at all mental health professionals including:

• Marriage and Family Therapists
• Clinical and Counselling Psychologists
• Psychiatric Social Workers
• Pastoral Counsellors
• Psychotherapists
• Psychiatrists
• Physicians
• Nurse Practitioners
• Occupational Therapists
• Counsellors
• Graduate Students in Accredited Programs in the Above Fields
• case managers
• licensed professional counsellors
• all other professionals who would like to develop, update or expand their skills and knowledge in mental health practices

What level of knowledge the attendee should have in this topic?
– Intermediate/Advanced