Art-Based Approaches to Dissociative Identity Treatment Disorders

This course explores the powerful intersection of expressive arts therapy and trauma-informed care for individuals experiencing dissociation, including those with dissociative identity structures.

Participants will gain a deeper understanding of dissociation—what it is, how it relates to trauma, and how it presents in clinical settings. You’ll trace the roots of expressive arts therapy from indigenous practices to modern modalities like Jungian analysis, Gestalt, and person-centered psychotherapy.

Through hands-on guidance, you’ll learn how to implement expressive arts processes to support grounding and anchoring in both individual and group settings—utilizing at least three creative modalities such as movement, visual art, and sound. The course also explores how creative practices can assist with parts mapping, enhancing therapeutic connection and integration in dissociation-specific care.

Whether you're a clinician, creative arts therapist, or mental health professional, this course offers tools to help clients reclaim connection and coherence through creative expression.

Key Learning Objectives:

1. Define the various meanings of dissociation, explaining its connections to trauma, and identifying how it can show up in clinical settings

2. Describe the origins of expressive arts therapy (e.g., indigenous traditions, historical threads in Jungian analysis, person-centered psychotherapy, and Gestalt psychotherapy)

3. Implement an expressive arts process to teach grounding/anchoring in a clinical setting (individual or group), using at least three creative art forms

4. Discuss the various ways that expressive arts practices can be used to assist with parts mapping and other aspects of dissociation-specific care