NYS CE Trainings

20 CEs for LCSW,  LMSW,  LMFT,  LCAT,  LMHC, and Licensed Psychologists.
Course is now open to educators, occupational therapists, and other allied professionals.
Starts June 6, 2025 (no class July 4th)
Fridays 11:30-1:00 ONLINE

A 10-week online course to learn and practice how to deepen the therapeutic use of art and creativity for yourself and your clients. Be part of a community of therapists, teachers, and other allied professionals. This is a class you will look forward to every week.

This is a revamped version of our popular Best Practices in Creative Arts in Psychotherapy course.  The course content is essentially the same, but the format will be structured to encourage more interaction between participants and time to process and reflect on your own artmaking. This change is based on feedback from previous participants.

Each week you can expect:

1. Opening warm-up (10 mins)

2. Reflections and reactions to previous class session (5 mins)

3. Introduction of an art project to demonstrate a specific learning point (20-40 minutes of art-making).

4. Discussion and processing of artwork to reinforce learning objectives of the task and how it can be used with different populations and treatment issues. (30-45 mins)

Small class size. Max 10 students.
Instructor: Drena Fagen, LCSW-R, LCAT
Tuition: $650 (+ $50 expense to purchase required art supplies)
NYS CE certificate provided on completion of course.

Prerequisite: MA or PhD in social work, mental health counseling, psychology, marriage and family therapy, creative arts therapy, or related field with approval of instructor.  Professional experience in an allied field such as education, nursing, psychiatry, occupational therapy, and child welfare. Second year students currently enrolled in a Masters program in these fields can also participate.

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“I really liked the style of the course; the diversity of the projects and how they connected to the clinical material AND the small size of the class.” —LCSW participant in 2022 Best Practices for Creative Arts in Psychotherapy course

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“[this class was] absolutely brilliant and the best CE course by far! As a kinestetic learner I very much appreciated the experiential aspect of this course providing each participant the opportunity to gain knowledge through experiencing making art and learning how it feels to complete the steps of the intervention themselves. ” —V.S., LMHC participant in the October 2024 “Art & Creativity for Therapeutic Benefit” course.

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Description of course activity content: This 10 week (20 CE) course will provide participants in the psychotherapy field and in allied professions, with a deeper understanding of the practical and expansive use of the creative arts therapies in our interactions with our clients.  This course will examine how to effectively and thoughtfully incorporate visual arts and creative flexible thinking to highlight the therapeutic benefit of these approaches.  Participants will be introduced to responsible techniques for how to understand the artwork by co-constructing meaning and discussing the here-and-now process with clients. We will pay close attention to the relational dynamics of a helping professional offering “assignments” during sessions and the transferential activation for the client and worker.

Topics covered in this intensive, hands-on course include how to facilitate different facets of creative arts intervention such as process oriented, depth-oriented, problem-solving, and esteem-building. Learn how to plan projects that achieve your therapeutic objectives in the clinical moment. Discussion will include an overview of art therapy practice including New York State licensing, national certification and scope of practice guidelines. Course will review the advantages of art and nonverbal interventions including an understanding of basic media along the expressive continuum of control vs. regression.

A description of the teaching methods to be used:

We will MAKE ART every week!

• Hands-on art making to deepen understanding of the therapeutic value of the process.
• Role-play breakout rooms to practice ‘therapist-client’ engagement and demonstrate the application of theory.
• Group discussion of role-play experiences and impressions of activities to enhance learning and to gain perspective on the varied subjective experiences of group participants and to identify resistances that clients may experience when asked to complete tasks offered to them by their therapist.
• Weekly course readings (optional)
• Assessment of understanding of course content to meet requirements for NYS Continuing Education Credit 20.0 learning clock hours. This course is a slightly condensed version (10 instead of 15 weeks) of a masters level clinical course.

The learning objectives of the course as required by the NYS Office of Professions available upon request.