CBPT Tools: Expressive Arts in Clinical Practice — by Maria A. Geraci
Expressive arts give children the security and freedom they need to express themselves, giving shape to difficult or embarrassing emotions they would otherwise refuse to talk about — integrated with cognitive-behavioral technique.
What you will be able to do
Children somatize what they can't verbalize. A traumatized child asked about their feelings will shut down — the same child asked to draw where they feel fear in their body will draw you a map. This course gives you the expressive arts toolkit for CBPT: how to choose materials as clinical decisions, how to read the creative process as assessment data, and how to use structured techniques — body-feelings drawing, the Cargo Train, the Garbage Bin — to access the emotional material that talk therapy can't reach.
Reach what talk therapy alone can't — with tools you can use this week.
About this course
Expressive arts — including drawing, painting, and creative visual expression — provide children with non-verbal channels to communicate, process, and integrate difficult experiences. In CBPT, expressive arts are used as structured clinical tools to facilitate emotional expression and support cognitive restructuring.
This course provides the theoretical rationale and practical techniques for using expressive arts within CBPT sessions, with concrete examples of how art-based activities can be integrated into structured treatment plans.
Course objectives
- Apply expressive arts as evidence-based tools in CBPT sessions
- Use art-based activities for emotional expression and cognitive restructuring
- Adapt expressive arts techniques to different presentations and developmental levels
- Integrate arts-based methods within the CBPT theoretical framework
Course requirements
- Psychiatrists
- Psychologists
- Clinical Social Workers
- Licensed Professional Counselors
- Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists
- Licensed Mental Health Clinical Nurse Practitioners
The delivery of the certificate of attestation at the conclusion of the course will be tied to the evaluation of participants' requirements. In the absence of the requirements, the course hours will not be certified.
Curriculum · 8 lessons + Learning Test · 2h 30min
Instructor
Frequently asked questions
What are expressive arts in CBPT?
Expressive arts — including drawing, painting and creative visual expression — provide children with non-verbal channels to communicate, process and integrate difficult experiences within a structured CBPT framework.
How are expressive arts used clinically in CBPT?
In CBPT, expressive arts are used as structured clinical tools to facilitate emotional expression and support cognitive restructuring, rather than as unstructured free art.
Who is this course for?
Child psychologists, psychotherapists and mental health professionals who want to add expressive arts as a structured clinical tool within a CBPT framework.
Who teaches this course and how long does it take?
The course is taught by Maria A. Geraci, CBPT Tools Specialist at the CBPT Research Center. It includes 8 lessons plus a learning test, for a total of about 2 hours and 30 minutes, and is self-paced online with a certificate of completion.
Who this course is for
Psychologists and psychotherapists · Psychiatrists · Clinical and licensed independent social workers · Licensed professional counselors · Marriage and family therapists · Mental health clinical nurse practitioners.
A certificate of attendance is issued on completion, tied to the final learning test.