Expressive Arts Therapy

What happens when art, therapy, and justice meet in one program? Explore how CIIS is shaping the next generation of expressive arts therapists.

At the 2026 Scholarship Dinner, CIIS students and donors gathered to celebrate the journeys that generous giving makes possible.

Find your path to an expressive arts coaching career at CIIS.

Professor Phil Weglarz leads CIIS' Expressive Arts Therapy program, preparing students to integrate creative modalities into mental health services and community transformation.

Discover your fit among CIIS' five counseling psychology concentrations, each offering a unique path to becoming a transformative healer.

Professor Emerita Shoshana Simons, who retired from Expressive Arts Therapy this year, delivered the address to graduating students at CIIS’ 57th Commencement.

Expressive Arts Therapy congratulates professor and former program chair Shoshana Simons on her retirement.

How can we cultivate the traits of a vibrant community in our own lives and what would it look like to prioritize caring and acceptance in our interactions with others? How can we, collectively, create a climate of true inclusivity, one where our differences both challenge and strengthen us?

After having meetings with different communities in the United States over the course of two years, psychologist Lisa Kentgen identified some key traits of vibrant, healthy communities that we can all apply to our own lives and networks. She compiled and expanded upon what she learned in her book, The Practice of Belonging: Six Lessons from Vibrant Communities to Combat Loneliness, Foster Diversity, and Cultivate Caring Relationships.

In this episode Dr. Kentgen is joined by CIIS professor in Counseling Psychology, Shoshana Simons, for a conversation about how we can transform our social relationships and build communities that appreciate difference, encourage authentic expression, and foster an environment of belonging and mutual care.

This episode was recorded during a live online event on May 2nd, 2023. A transcript is available below.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

The planet is burning and flooding, divisions and conflicts between people are on the rise, and we’re are all processing the collective trauma of a global pandemic. Among therapists and healers, burnout is rampant; hopelessness and despair as well. As a healing practitioner, how can you practice good therapy when you feel like the world is ending?

In this episode, psychotherapists Larisa Garski and Justine Mastin are joined in a conversation with CIIS professor Christine Brooks on the difficulties of therapizing in today's world. Informed by narrative, Internal Family Systems, fanfic, and trauma sensitive therapy, Justine and Larisa share insights from their latest book, The Grieving Therapist, and offer a grief-informed framework for taking care of yourself as you take care of others.

This episode was recorded during a live online event on September 28th, 2023. A transcript is below.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

Kai Cheng Thom grew up a Chinese Canadian transgender girl in a hostile world. As an activist, psychotherapist, conflict mediator, and spiritual healer, she's always pursued the same deeply personal mission: to embrace the revolutionary belief that every human being, no matter how hateful or horrible, is intrinsically sacred.

Her latest book, Falling Back in Love with Being Human, is a transformative collection of intimate and lyrical love letters that offer a path toward compassion, forgiveness, and self-acceptance. Whether prayers or spells or poems—and whether there’s a difference—she writes to affirm the outcasts and runaways she calls her kin.

In this episode, Kai Cheng is joined by qwoc expressive arts therapist and CIIS Counseling Psychology programs professor Jenna Robinson in a conversation about love and what it means to truly embrace the beauty of being human.

This episode was recorded during a live online event on October 19th, 2023. A transcript is available below.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

The seasons and cycles of nature have incredible power to affect everything in our lives—including our creativity. Author and poet Jacqueline Suskin’s latest book, A Year in Practice, is a seasonal guide for creative seekers offering holistic practices to find clarity, activate hope, and honor nature all year long.

In this episode, Jacqueline is joined by expressive arts therapist and CIIS Counseling Psychology program professor Jenna Robinson in a conversation about how to explore and fortify your creative practice by accessing guidance provided by the rhythms of nature.

This episode was recorded during a live online event on January 31, 2024. A transcript is available below.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

Five years ago, author and journalist Lauren Martin had a good job in New York, an apartment in Brooklyn, and a boyfriend she loved, but she was wrestling with feelings of inferiority, anxiety, and irritability.

She began to figure out why she was having these negative emotions and how to control them by posting her thoughts and questions online, a project which soon became the popular online platform Words of Women, a space for women to share their experiences and advice. Ultimately Lauren discovered how to take all her moods, the highs and lows, and regain control. Her research into these negative emotions culminated in her latest book, The Book of Moods.

In this episode CIIS faculty Christine Brooks talks with Lauren about learning to move through negative emotions and embrace all moods, good and bad.

This episode was recorded during a live online event on December 8, 2020. A transcript is available below.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

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.

Family Constellations therapist Marine Sélénée uses her unique approach to this philosophy to help her clients get to the root of their pain.

In this episode, CIIS faculty in Expressive Arts Therapy Mimi Savage joins Marine for a conversational introduction to Family Constellations and how we can all harness this philosophy to take ownership of our lives.

This episode contains explicit language. It was recorded during a live online event on October 14th, 2021.A transcript is available below.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

Whether you consider yourself an artist or not, viewing art is a creative act that can be a catalyst for inquiries into our world.

In this episode, writer, artist, and curator Cindy Shearer explains how viewing artworks from the vantage point of its makers allows us to experience art-making from the inside out—drawing from what undergirds art in all forms as information and inspiration.

This episode was recorded live in person in the Desai | Matta Gallery at CIIS on November 15, 2018.

As social distancing becomes a new way of life, connecting with friends, family, co-workers, and neighbors can be difficult and stressful. Suddenly we find ourselves in a new social landscape at a time when we need our communities most. Many are experiencing feelings of isolation and depression. All over the world, from balcony sing-alongs to Zoom graduation parties, people are finding new ways to connect to each other. What does this new normal mean for our mental health? How can we cultivate, maintain, and grow our relationships in these difficult times?

In this episode, Professor of Expressive Arts Therapy and Expressive Arts Coaching and Community Building and therapist Christine Brooks and author of Millenneagram Hannah Paasch explore human connection in COVID-19 and beyond. They talk about connection at this time, drawing upon knowledge of the enneagram and other tools for understanding yourself and those around you.

This episode was recorded during a live online event on June 11, 2020. You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

“Quit being a drop. Make yourself an ocean.” Rumi’s inspiring and deceptively simple poems have been called ecstatic, mystical, and devotional. For writer and activist Melody Moezzi, they became her lifeline.

Melody’s latest book, The Rumi Prescription, follows her path of discovery as she translates Rumi’s works for herself, gaining wisdom and insight in the face of a creative and spiritual roadblock.

In this episode, Professor and Co-Chair of CIIS’ Expressive Arts Therapy program Shoshana Simons talks with Melody about her life and how the wisdom she found exploring Rumi can help us make sense of our modern lives.

This episode contains explicit language. It was recorded during a live online event on May 20, 2020. You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

Mari Andrew is an author and illustrator who shares her work daily on Instagram with over 1 million devoted fans around the world. Her first book, Am I There Yet? debuted on The New York Times Best Seller list.

In this episode, Mari is joined by fellow author and illustrator Nicole J. Georges for a conversation about finding personal healing by creating work that shines a light on feelings we all have, but don’t always reveal.

This episode was recorded during an event on October 31, 2019 in front of a live audience in San Francisco, California. 

This episode features Bay Area performers and writers including a BART train operator, a recent Pride Parade Grand Marshall, and more. Presented in collaboration with San Francisco’s Porchlight storytelling series and The Contemporary Jewish Museum, each storyteller explores their understanding of self and the fluidity of identity.

This episode was recorded during an event on August 22, 2019 in front of a live audience in San Francisco, California. 

In this conversation, psychologist Christine Brooks talks with author and social critic Erica Williams Simon about how she got “story smart” to challenge the narratives about fear, work, identity, success, love, and life that we have all been taught.

This episode was recorded during an event on August 15, 2019 in front of a live audience in San Francisco, California. 

In this episode, therapist Ivy Tiegel talks with cartoonist Rachel Lindsay about Rx, her graphic memoir, and her experiences working as an artist with bipolar disorder.

This episode was recorded during an event on June 20, 2019 in front of a live audience in San Francisco, California. 

In this conversation with psychologist Jyoti Rao, poet Jessica Semaan discusses her latest work, Child of the Moon, and how creating poetry has helped her heal from her traumatic childhood during the Lebanese Civil War.

This episode was recorded during an event on June 12, 2019 in front of a live audience in San Francisco, California. 

In this episode, improviser and writer Marlee Grace talks with Julia Plevin, the creator of Forest Bathing Club about Marlee’s book: How To Not Always Be Working.

This episode was recorded during an event on October 25, 2018 in front of a live audience in San Francisco, California.

In this episode, Elizabeth Gilbert, author of nine books, including the blockbuster Eat, Pray, Love, is in conversation with author and illustrator Lisa Congdon, about creativity, magic, fear, and grief.

This episode was recorded during an event on December 1, 2018 in front of a live audience in San Francisco, California.

CIIS faculty member and Expressive Arts Therapist Danielle Drake examines how communities who engage in creative processes can inspire social change. This talk was part of the Big Ideas at CIIS series.

This episode was recorded during an event on April 5, 2017 in front of a live audience in San Francisco, California.

In this episode, CIIS faculty Christine Brooks examines how nurturing our social networks increases our health and wellbeing. This talk was part of the Big Ideas at CIIS series.

This episode was recorded during an event on June 7, 2017 in front of a live audience in San Francisco, California.

Join San Francisco poet Brynn Saito for a conversation with Layli Long Soldier about her journey creating her latest collection of poetry WHEREAS, which she wrote as a response to the congressional resolution “Apology to Native Peoples.”

This episode was recorded during a live online event on November 30, 2017.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

In this episode, journalist and poet Minal Hajratwala draws from the realms of creativity and politicized somatics to talk about migration and the body. This event was part of the Haresh and Joan Shah Lecture and Performance Series.

This episode was recorded during a live online event on February 21, 2018.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

Activist, author, and former Black Panther Party member Angela Davis talks with CIIS Professor Danielle Drake about her life and work.

This episode was recorded during an event on April 13, 2018 in front of a live audience in San Francisco, California.

Expressive Arts Therapy students offer weekly after-school programs for elementary school children

Counseling Psychology students connect with 60+ agencies at the annual Practicum Fair

Stage Ai's Summer Blossom festival brought CIIS values to life in China through arts, healing, and cross-cultural connection.

Spotlighting on the 6 degree programs in CIIS' School of Professional Psychology and Health

A visual, nonlinear timeline of nine critical psychological frameworks at CIIS

In the Bay Area, our need for increased and better quality mental health services is urgent

Expressive Arts Therapy Alum Suraya Keating directed a production of Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice" starring male inmates at San Quentin State Prison

A social and emotional art-based research study will be supported

Expressive Arts Therapy Professor Denise Boston taught in Hangzhou, China in the summer of 2014

Experts from multiple backgrounds in the Symposium explored solutions to the rising tide of violence facing our country.

Alum Karin von Daler co-developed the Dialectical Behavior Therapy oriented method for working with people struggling with intense emotional dysregulation

Enriched perspectives on the transformative potential of theatre arts

Expressive Arts Therapy Students Archive for ArtsChange