May27
Explore the paths of CIIS students and alumni as they share how their education shapes meaningful work in the world.
Expressive Arts Therapy
Embracing the power of the arts for healing, growth, and social change.
The Expressive Arts Therapy program uses an innovative Scholar-Artist-Practitioner model that unites academic knowledge, clinical practice, and community engagement with the arts as the central focus. We embrace all artistic disciplines as means of positive transformation.
In Their Own Words
Hear what our faculty and students have to say
Our program emphasizes hands-on learning through experiential and collaborative coursework. We place a premium on co-learning between students and faculty by creating opportunities for rich, playful, and diverse conversations and experiences.
Expressive Arts Therapy is one of five master’s programs offered through CIIS’ Counseling Psychology department. The pedagogy provides an engaging online, hybrid curriculum that weaves multimodal expressive arts, such as visual and digital arts, music, dance and movement, poetry, spoken word, and drama into all courses.
The program works on the innovative Scholar-Artist-Practitioner model that focuses on uniting academic knowledge, clinical practice, and community engagement. Throughout the program students engage with peers and faculty in a collaborative, liberatory-focused, arts-based environment. We place a premium on co-learning between students and faculty by creating opportunities for rich, playful, and diverse conversations and experiences.
Explore our M.A. in Counseling Psychology Programs
Not sure which program is right for you? Browse our other four specializations to find your match.
Department of Counseling Psychology
Focus on healing through social justice and structural change
Department of Counseling Psychology
Utilize drama and theatre to promote psychological health
Department of Counseling Psychology
Incorporate the mind, body, and spirit into therapeutic practice
Department of Counseling Psychology
Bring an embodied approach to whole-person healing
Faculty in Conversation
Our faculty research a wide variety of subjects, including multicultural and social justice counseling, neuro-diverse populations, and the integration of the arts into spiritual practice.
Exploring Rumi to Make Sense of Ourselves
In this episode of the Public Programs Podcast, Expressive Arts Therapy Professor Shoshana Simons, talks with author Melody Mozeei about her life, her recent book The Rumi Prescription, and how the wisdom she found exploring Rumi can help us make sense of our modern lives.
On Family Constellations Therapy
Family Constellations begins with this premise—it did not start with me. Many of us become entangled with the unhappiness of those who came before us, unconsciously adopting destructive familial patterns of anxiety, depression, failure, and even illness and addiction.
CIIS faculty in Expressive Arts Therapy Mimi Savage joins Marine Sélénée for a conversational introduction to Family Constellations and how we can all harness this philosophy to take ownership of our lives.
The Science of Friendship
In this talk faculty Christine Brooks explores issues with friendship research, the phenomenon of loneliness, and making friends as adults. While the presentation might be from 2017, understanding the various ways nurturing our social networks increases our health and wellbeing is just as important and relevant today.
Our Upcoming Events
Jun05
Connect in person with CIIS students and admissions counselors over coffee and meaningful conversation.
Jun12
Come to the Summer Info Fair on June 12, 2025 to ask questions and learn more about CIIS' innovative online and in-person academic programs.
Our Program in Action
Faculty News
Expressive Arts Therapy congratulates professor and former program chair Shoshana Simons on her retirement.
Student News
Expressive Arts Therapy students offer weekly after-school programs for elementary school children
Campus News
Counseling Psychology students connect with 60+ agencies at the annual Practicum Fair