Work in Process

Abstract

Expressive arts therapy is a multi-modal approach where all available expressive forms, including yet not limited to dance/movement, visual arts, writing, drama, and music, are utilized to help clients be in process and facilitate the processing of experience. The intermodal quality of expressive arts empowers therapists and clients alike to explore possibilities for fusion that can prove useful in working through therapeutic blocks. Indigenous in its origins, expressive arts therapy offers resources and applications for EMDR therapists seeking to work with complex trauma and dissociation in a more embodied way. This chapter, written by two registered expressive arts therapists who are also EMDR trainers committed to the standard protocol, presents an overview of expressive arts therapy as an approach to psychotherapy and education, then explores the natural integration between expressive arts therapy and EMDR therapy. In both forms, there is a common emphasis on the power of process in the healing journey. Four case studies are presented, integrated with a series of practical skills that EMDR therapists can implement, even without specialized training in expressive arts therapy. Culturally adaptive possibilities are also presented, especially with Spanish-speaking populations. In trauma-focused care, adaptations and modifications are essential, and blending expressive arts practice into the already powerful modality that is EMDR therapy broadens therapists’ capacity to make such adaptation.