Continuing Education Trainings:

Practical, Creative, & Fun

UPCOMING CLINICAL TRAINING: APRIL 11-12th, NYC

Join us, for a special two-day in-person training, to learn and practice the fundamentals of Role Method, an experiential and theoretical component of Drama Therapy. From role sorts to role repertoire, as well as the elements of Psychodramatic scene-making, clinicians will learn creative and practical interventions to deepen and enrich their clinical practice. No previous drama therapy experience necessary. Learn more about the course activities and learning objectives here.

8 CEs AVAILABLE FOR NY STATE LMHC, LMFT, LMSW, LCSW, LCAT, & PSYCHOLOGISTS

EARLY BIRD PRICING THROUGH 3/21! Save $50 and an additional 10-15% for every colleague you bring!

As Drama Therapists (Licensed Creative Arts Therapists NYS), our trainings and Continuing Education (CE) workshops are designed to provide you with immediately applicable creative interventions for your clinical practice. We use an experiential, embodied approach in our trainings supported by theory and discussion. Walk away with practical interventions to revitalize your practices whether you work with adults, children, couples, individuals, or groups.

(CEs for Creative Women Retreats trainings are provided by New York Creative Arts Therapists PLLC which is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0275, and is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed creative arts therapists #CAT-0026, licensed mental health counselors. #MHC-0065, and licensed marriage and family therapists #MFT-0099. And is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0141. New York Creative Arts Therapists PLLC may offer NYSED approved clock hours for events or educational programs that have been approved by the department.)

Meet your instructors

Hollis Witherspoon, RDT, LCAT Licensed Creative Arts Therapist, Drama Therapist, educator, improv artist, psychodramatist, breathwork specialist

With over two decades of combined experience teaching, facilitating, performing and practicing therapy, Hollis & Isabel find great joy in introducing the creative elements of their field to other mental health practitioners. Our trainings are fun, informative, and geared toward the needs and interests of each group.

Isabel Shanahan, RDT, LCAT Licensed Creative Arts Therapist, Drama Therapist, educator, therapeutic theater maker, yoga instructor

Creative, connected, experiential learning

  • Role theory purports that individuals hold numerous internal and external roles cultivated throughout the lifespan and presented according to social and experiential demands. The ability to fluidly shift between roles to align with a new context helps build feelings of competence and achievement. Role method in drama therapy helps clients access and train roles to better serve a relationship with the self and with the world.

  • Drama Therapists are keenly attuned to the depth of knowledge and wisdom the physical body holds. Cuing the body in therapy to express it’s experience through creating sculpts and other embodied invitations allows one to bypass the familiar defenses of language and access novel and meaningful avenues of communication and insight.

  • Winnicott suggested that play was a necessary component of therapy for both children and adults, and Drama Therapists agree! Using improvisation, we access the playful element of spontaneity, allowing novel responses to emerge from familiar issues, and with role play, we invite the possibility of trying on a new way of being, offering hope, exercising flexibility and perspective-taking, and increasing a sense of playfulness in the self and with others.

Continuing Education FAQs

  • Licensed Creative Arts Therapists in New York State include Art , Music , Dance, and Drama Therapists.

  • NYS LCATS, LMSW, LCSW, LMHC, Licensed Psychologists. CEs for Creative Women Retreats trainings are provided by New York Creative Arts Therapists PLLC which is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0275, and is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed creative arts therapists #CAT-0026, licensed mental health counselors. #MHC-0065, and licensed marriage and family therapists #MFT-0099. And is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0141. New York Creative Arts Therapists PLLC may offer NYSED approved clock hours for events or educational programs that have been approved by the department.

  • Yes! Although you will not leave any of our courses being able to call yourself a creative arts therapist, we will support your creative clinical self in a way that allows you to implement creative and embodied interventions into your practice.

  • No way! As creative arts therapists, we work with children, adolescents, couples, adults, groups, and individuals. Creativity and embodiment can bypass the well-worn grooves and defenses of talking and infuse invigoration and depth into the therapeutic process.