October 22, 2024
9:00am – 5:00pm
IN PERSON University of Washington

Expressive Arts Psychotherapy, grounded in a decolonized perspective, honors the arts not just as clinical tools but as intrinsic healing practices of many indigenous cultures. This training workshop merges cultural wisdom in expression with therapeutic Expressive Arts Therapy techniques, illuminating experiences that foster holistic healing and nurture parent-child relationships within family systems. Through a re-embrace of the healing arts, identification and application of clinical EXA principles, and experiential dialogue, participants will grasp the essence of a culturally responsive and intermodal expressive arts approach. This experiential workshop will provide all art materials for each participant.

Objectives
Understand Expressive Arts Therapy through a decolonized lens and apply arts interventions through a culturally connected, relevant, and meaningful approach;
Define at least 3 principles of Expressive Arts Therapy;
Apply at least 5 Expressive Arts Therapy interventions to work with children and their families;
Define the Expressive Therapies Continuum and apply EXA interventions through the framework
Experience and learn through the arts from a somatosensory, perceptive, affective and cognitive context.

Abigail Bocanegra, LMFT, is a second-generation Mexican-American/Chicana, rooted in her Nahua, Huastec, and Spanish heritage. As the founder of Creative Heart Therapies, Abigail integrates her roles as a bilingual Expressive Arts Psychotherapist, an Early Relational Mental Health Consultant, and a fervent advocate for culturally-centered healing arts across diverse communities. She is the co-author and co-developer of the Integrative Cultural Healing Model, a healing approach grounded in Tribal Traditional Knowledge for Indigenous families and their young children (0-7). At the Barnard Center within the University of Washington, Abigail holds a Leadership Fellow position, specializing in expressive arts psychotherapy for young children and providing Reflective Practice for bilingual IECMH professionals. In her private practice, Abigail centers her services on the rejuvenation of Latine and Indigenous health and healing traditions, partnering with families impacted by intergenerational-colonial and racial trauma. Her therapeutic stance is underpinned by the Nahuatl philosophy of In Ixtli In Yolotl, signifying wisdom of the heart, consciousness, and a purposeful life journey.

$440