FAQs

Expressive arts therapy is a therapy/counseling modality that integrates theories of development, personality, counseling skills and the use of the arts and its processes into an integrated treatment modality.  We work with a range of arts modalities (such as movement, sound, visual art, photography, play, poetic expression, storytelling etc.) and emphasize the natural movement between these art expressions during a session. Expressive arts therapists are clinicians trained to work with a range of client populations and clinical issues.  Expressive arts therapists work with children, adolescents, adults, couples, families, and groups and treat clients individually or as part of a treatment team. They work in a range of settings and contexts, including counseling agencies, hospital settings, schools, treatment programs and private practice.  Like other mental health clinicians, expressive arts therapists are trained to be familiar with a range of theoretical approaches, and over the course of training and professional practice typically develop an integrated style congruent with their training, personality, and specific interests.

The “creative act” and its imaginative processes, play a central role in expressive arts therapy. Expressive arts therapists view the creative, artistic process within the therapy setting and the relationship that evolves between the participant, expressive arts therapist, the arts engagement, and the arts creation, as an opportunity to actively engage with the issues brought to therapy. By working with the sensory properties of materials, and various modalities, by taking action and literally forming responses to life circumstances, clients are invited to self-reflect, make choices, navigate limitations and frustrations, express and explore solutions.

Expressive arts therapists often begin a session with a short discussion of the difficulty from the perspective of the client. Once this has been established the expressive arts therapist initiates a movement toward the arts. This central movement may take many forms. The basic idea is to allow clients to access under-utilized resources, which often present surprising information. There will be times when the expressive arts therapist and client, will engage and speak with each other throughout a session. Other times, there may be a natural silence that emerges in the arts process. The ratio of verbal and non-verbal interaction is largely determined by the context, the client population and the individual needs of the client. Talking in expressive arts therapy takes a different route than that of a counseling session. The expressive arts therapist moves away from the difficulty through the use of the arts. Later, when the client has completed their work, there is a discussion of what happened in the session and the expressive arts therapist will support the client in taking notice of the ways in which their work and their process in the arts relates to the difficulty that they presented when they came in.

It is not necessary to have a professional training in the arts to enter the expressive arts therapy program. Students are expected to demonstrate a willingness to engage the arts as a part of their learning.

The Expressive Arts Therapy program (EXAT) at VATI is accredited and meets the standards of the associations found here.

The expressive arts therapy program is not eligible for government student loans. Eligible students may apply for student bank loans.

Most students are able to work either part time or full time depending upon the flexibility of their work. Students are required to adjust their work /life schedule to meet the mandatory requirement of student fieldwork placements. Since the majority of fieldwork placements take place during a nine to five schedule during weekdays, it is suggested that students plan for a schedule that allows for participation in placement work for up to ten hours each week. Many of our students are able to continue to work with changes in their scheduling.

• A working computer
• A camera (digital/phone camera)
• Notebook

Upon successful completion of the training program, it is recommended that graduates obtain membership in a professional association. Qualified graduates may obtain work within the helping profession and/or enter private practice as an expressive arts therapist. Learn more.

Please click here for details regarding the fieldwork/practicum requirements.

The program supports students in obtaining and organizing placements. Students that reside outside the lower mainland of Vancouver are required to engage in a collaborative process with the school in order to obtain suitable practicum.

Students are in a variety of practicum settings, some of which include schools, support settings for neurodiverse children and adolescents, day treatment programs for adults, homes for elders, facilities for women in transition, hospice settings, and specialized groupwork settings. Our students are also given the opportunity to participate in an online clinic for adult clients.

The Expressive Arts Therapy program provides supervision with an accredited supervisor during the training.

The basic materials required for your placement are provided by the practicum site.