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Welcome to the
Expressive Therapies
Institute of Australia |
 
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Hello. My name is Mark Pearson and this is Helen Wilson. click here for Mark and Helen's backgrounds, biographical notes and publications)
Please note our NEW phone number in Perth: 08 9418 8104
We started The Expressive Therapies Institute over 14 years ago and since then we have trained over 900 graduates from many parts of the world in the various modalities of Expressive Therapies (ET). We have been based in Brisbane, and now live near Fremantle, Western Australia. The Expressive Therapies Institute programs are taught all around Australia, and in Asia, and in 2009, in the UK.
(Please note, you can now translate this site into different languages using the BabelFish icon below the menu. Languages include Chinese (simp) Chinese (trad), Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portugese, Russian and Spanish)
In 2009 we welcome a new group of senior trainers, who will take over most of the teaching load, while Mark focusses on PhD research. These trainers have all had extensive training in their fields, as well as extensive ET training, and long-term supervision with us - the course creators.
The Expressive Therapies Institute Australia has created and provides specialised extension training courses for counsellors, guidance officers, psychologists, psychiatrists, teachers, social workers and child-care workers.
Our latest article on ET has just been published on line in the Counselling, Psychotherapy & Heath Journal: Using Expressive Counselling Tools to Enhance Emotional Literacy, Emotional Wellbeing and Resilience: Improving Therapeutic Outcomes with Expressive Therapies - go to:
Also, click here to read the full research study, "Guidance Officer and Counsellor Perspectives on Using Expressive Therapies to Support Students" published in the Australian Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 2003.)
(A special note to the thousands of people who are visiting us on this new website, especially the very many of you from China and the USA. If you would like to see ET courses offered in your country, either through us directly or through a suitable training organisation, please email us. To you and all our other visitors we would also sincerely welcome your email feedback on this site. What else would you like to see? Is there any more information you would like to read? Do you have any other suggestions? Please email us at info@expressivetherapies.com.au)
Expressive Therapies are new tools for working with people. They are easily used because of the way they allow the individual to access the sub-conscious at their own pace and level compared with conventional cognitive and linguistic methods. They are self-balancing, self-regulating and non-intrusive.
Obviously they will not be applicable in every case, but their effectiveness in a growing number of counselling situations across all age groups has brought them into serious prominence.
The Expressive Therapies are: Sandplay Therapy, Symbol Work, Dreamwork, Process Drawing, Mandala Artwork, Emotional Release Processes, Bioenergetics, Body Focus, Movement and Dance, Visualisation, Expressive Writing - process, reflection and completion.
Expressive Therapy techniques are applicable to children, adolescents and adults alike. Our book, Sandplay & Symbol Work (2001) is still Australia’s only text on the subject of Sandplay Therapy and our own creation of Symbol Work, and is in use as a text in a number of countries.
We have worked with a number of world experts including Stan Grof (Grof's Holotropic Paradigm) and Ruth Amman (Sandplay Therapy pioneer and President of the International Society for Sandplay Therapy).
Thank you for coming here.
This website will tell you in detail what we do and how this might be applicable and of value to you both personally and professionally.
This is our introductory page so please read to the end and then choose the other areas you wish to visit from the menus.
Among professionals, many counsellors and psychologists find that ET training gives them valuable, practical counselling skills. Our ET courses have Australian Counselling Association Recognition.
Counsellors and Guidance Officers in schools, government and in private practice find them useful, beneficial tools in day-to-day work. (click here to see the summary of the Australian Research Study below)
Teachers have found ET techniques can help children self-manage problems and improve behaviours.
'The child does the work itself, coming to realisations easily and intuitively with marked improvements in personality, application and learning skills. In the case of one 8 year-old girl , if she arrived at school in a distressed state she would ask to use the sand-play area and, usually within half to three-quarters of an hour, she would return to the class and announce she was now ready to go to work - a huge transformation'
AV
Teacher,
Sunshine Coast, Queensland
And, in the words of an already highly qualified Art Therapist:
'My confidence has grown. I am happy now to try new activities and to make changes to suit the needs of children. ET is infectious, and I want to know so much more. This feels the right thing to be doing. It marries with Art Therapy well.'
Liz Kinnane - Art Therapist / Counsellor, Melbourne
(see also our new, pro-active groupwork programme for use in schools The Innerspace Programs.
Because of their inherent safety, Expressive Therapies can also be highly applicable to Trauma Victims. (see 'Sandplay in Trauma Healing' the second article within the Sandplay Therapy section)
We offer Introductory to Graduate Level Courses in all ET the modalities: Sandplay Therapy, Symbol Work, Dreamwork, Process Drawing, Mandala Artwork, Emotional Release Processes, Bioenergetics, Body Focus, Movement and Dance, Visualisation Expressive Journal Writing - process, reflection and completion.
'(the) course was experiential, transformative and creative. ET for children and adolescents is one the most authentic and effective healing tools that I have experienced'
Primrose White, Psychologist,
Convener of APS Interest Group on Child Psychology, Melbourne
Where possible we provide links to the home website of the author/s of papers we use or quote from, or to other websites that may offer more information related to it.
AUSTRALIAN RESEARCH STUDY - QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY (BRISBANE)
In a research study conducted among graduate-level, ET trained Guidance Officers and Counsellors in primary and secondary schools in Australia, there was a reported 71% increase in the effectiveness of positive emotional and behavioural outcomes compared with the counselling methods used prior to (ET) training. click here for full document
Summary:
The outcomes included;
positive improvement in client/counsellor relationships (100%)
improved client motivation to attend and participate in counselling sessions (mean average 65%)
Clients were;
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less troubled by incidences
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more in control of feelings
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less depressed
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less defensive
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more open to change
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participated more fully in sessions
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had improved self-esteem
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accepted reality more easily
In addition, there were outcomes beyond the counselling room including;
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an exhibited emotional well-being and a calm state at school and at home
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reduced aggression and a positive improvement in behaviour
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improved relationships and positive feedback from school staff
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increased self-acceptance
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confidence in engaging in school activities
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improved participation in school work
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self and peer-referral to counselling
Sandplay and Symbol Work were found to be the most helpful ET modalities and the modalities most favoured by clients. Sandplay uses more of the multiple intelligences than other counselling modalities (O'Brien & Burnett, 2000) and therefore offers more choices in emotional processing for clients.
Expressive Art was the second most widely used and favoured modality in ET and the second most effective counselling tool in the opinion of these Guidance Officers and school Counsellors. (see also: Art and Process Drawing and Mandala Artwork.
Our training programs have been operating around Australia for eighteen years and we consult and train internationally. The Expressive Therapies Institute courses are currently available outside Australia in Malaysia. In 2009 also in the UK.
We offer professional Certificate courses and training workshops – one-day, two-day and 15-day - throughout the year in Brisbane, Cairns, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, and in Kuala Lumpur.
All these are detailed in the Calendar section of the site and can be searched by course and by location.
Please contact us direct on info@expressivetherapies.com.au or contact the individual trainers for bookings and registration forms through their email addresses in the calendar section.
Whatever course you select, throughout the process and afterwards we are wholely supportive of you. We and our trainers offer a high level of care and supervision for all our students.
To the many social workers, teachers, counsellors, therapists, psychologists and others whom we have already trained in these areas, thank you for your acceptance and enthusiasm for ET.
Based on the initial experience of two teachers in one Queensland school with sandtray work, all the teachers in that school are now being trained in the programme by one of our graduates – a child behavioural specialist.
May we suggest that you start your exploration of Expressive Therapies with Sandplay Therapy
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