Expressive Arts Florida Institute has offered training in the field of intermodal expressive arts since 2011.
We provide Expressive Arts Training as well as professional development and continuing education for those interested in pursuing the Expressive Arts as a professional path, whether integrating it into an existing career, beginning a career in the expressive arts field, or simply exploring the potential of expressive arts.
Our training courses are designed to meet the core expressive arts training hours required by IEATA® (International Expressive Arts Therapy Association) for both REACE® (Registered Expressive Arts Consultant/Educator) and REAT® (Registered Expressive Arts Therapist). Please refer to the registration standards and guidelines at ieata.org for more information regarding additional requirements.
We have offered training in the field of Expressive Arts since 2011. Based in Sarasota, Florida we have graduates from all over the US and abroad.
Our core faculty are registered as either REAT® or REACE® (or both) and are experts in the field of expressive arts. All of our faculty are highly qualified professionals and leaders in the field.
We are committed to designing our training to align with the standards set by IEATA® (International Expressive Arts Therapy Association). If you are interested in pursuing professional registration you can learn more at www.ieata.org for the details of REAT® or REACE® professional registration.
From immersive four-day retreats to short, inspiring modules, our offerings are accessible in multiple formats including in-person, online via Zoom, and self-study on demand courses.
We have a small student-faculty ratio so you have personalized attention from instructors. We offer small class sizes so you have more opportunities to work together, exchange ideas, support one another and build a community.
Our faculty and staff will help provide guidance for you during your studies to support your own pathway and specialization within the expressive arts field. We offer guidance on course selection, helping you map out a training plan to meet your goals, and answering questions along the way. We can also help connect you with information regarding professional credentialing with IEATA® and with those offering supervision.
Beginning in 2026, EAFI is offering a flexible, à la carte training model rather than a single, prescribed certificate program.
This allows you to:
Each course stands alone and can be combined with others to create a cohesive training trajectory.
This model supports students who are:
All EAFI training courses are designed to meet the core expressive arts training hours required by IEATA® for both Registered Expressive Arts Therapist (REAT®) and Registered Expressive Arts Consultant/Educator (REACE®). There is no single required sequence of courses. Your path is shaped by your background, goals, and availability.
Each course is:
If you do not have any expressive arts experience we recommend starting with Creative Wisdom: An Introductory Training in Expressive Arts. This will give you a solid foundation and introduction to the field. The first 2 lessons in this course are recommended before taking any other courses. This is an 8 week online self-study course. Upon completion you will earn a certificate of completion for 16 hours of Expressive Arts training. If you are an LMHC, LCSW, or LMFT you will receive 16 CEU’s.
REACE® → 200 hours of intermodal expressive arts training – All EAFI courses qualify for REACE®
There is no fixed course list or sequence of courses for REACE® registration.
Instead, learners complete 200 hours of intermodal expressive arts training across a range of experiential formats.
All EAFI courses are designed to support these requirements.
Planning Tip: Review IEATA guidance on:
You may complete all hours with EAFI or combine institutes.
REAT® → Expressive arts training plus a clinical degree & supervised practice. We offer expressive arts training and supervision.
This pathway is appropriate if you are:
Training hours do not need to come from one institute.
Planning Tip: Confirm alignment using IEATA’s REAT® guidelines at IEATA.org when selecting courses. It is up to you to select courses that meet the REAT® requirements. If you have questions we recommend sending an email to reat@ieata.org.
You may complete your expressive arts training with EAFI and combine it with your clinical degree toward REAT® registration.
EAFI courses may be combined with other IEATA-approved providers.
*All courses provide certificates that can be applied toward REACE®/REAT® hours and CEU credits.
Creative Wisdom: Introductory Training in Expressive Arts (online self-study)
This is a self-paced, online foundational course for anyone drawn to the field of expressive arts. Designed as an accessible entry point, this experiential training introduces the core principles, history, and intermodal approach of expressive arts while guiding you through meaningful creative processes of your own.
Through video, audio, written teachings, and hands-on arts experiences, you will develop a personal practice, learn how to witness and respond to images, and explore ways to integrate expressive arts into your personal or professional work. This course is ideal for therapists, educators, coaches, healthcare professionals, artists, and others seeking a deeper relationship with creativity—whether as preparation for further training or as a standalone journey.
Expressive Arts as a Wisdom Path: A Journey of Creative Transformation (in person) with Kathleen Horne, MA, LMHC, REACE®, REAT®, Tamara Teeter Knapp, MA, NCC, LMHC, REACE® and Susan Paul Johnson, PHD, REACE®
April 14-17, 2026 | Sarasota, FL
Discover the transformative power of intermodal expressive arts as a wisdom path. This experiential, 25-hour training retreat guides you through our five-step model for connecting deeply with your creative wisdom, fostering meaningful shifts in your personal and professional life. Suitable for beginners and those seeking renewal or a new approach. Join us for a vibrant journey of collective creativity and insight.
25 hours + certificate of completion
This training is FULL! Please complete this form if you would like to be put on the waitlist.
Creative Parts Work: Integrating Expressive Arts Therapy & Internal Family Systems (live online)
May 15, 2026 | 2:00-5:00pm ET | Online via Zoom
This is an experiential training that brings together expressive arts and IFS to support insight, embodiment, and parts-based healing. Through guided creative processes—such as visual parts mapping, movement exploration, and IFS-informed collage work—participants learn how to make internal systems visible and engage them with curiosity, compassion, and imagination. This course is designed for therapists, facilitators, and expressive arts practitioners who want practical, embodied tools for working with individuals in ways that honor both inner experience and creative expression.
3 hours + certificate of completion
Removing Blocks, Creating New Paths (live online) with Anin Utigaard MFT, REAT®
May 30, 2026 | 12:00-5:30 pm ET | Online via Zoom
How do we remove obstacles and blocks that are getting in our way of progress? What if we could use creativity to free ourselves from blocks that get in our way? In this experiential training, we will explore how expressive arts practices can help reveal, understand, and transform the obstacles that keep us from moving forward. Through a compassionate, Person-Centered Approach, you will learn how to create a safe space so creative expression can open pathways toward clarity, agency, and new possibilities.
5 Expressive Arts Training hours
5 CEU’s
Guided Meditation in Expressive Arts Practice: Supporting Presence, Imagination, and Creative Flow with Kathleen Horne and Tamara Teeter Knapp
June 26, 2026 | 12:00-5:00 pm ET | Online via Zoom
What if guided meditation could become your most natural doorway into expressive arts—one you learn not by theory, but by experiencing it in your own body? How do you begin the creative process? Many expressive arts practitioners, therapists, and facilitators feel curious about how to weave guided meditation into their work—but aren’t quite sure how. This workshop is designed to answer those questions through both learning and lived experience.
5 Expressive Arts Training hours
5 CEU’s available for live training, 3 CEUs available for recorded training
Creative Presence: Facilitating Expressive Arts with Individuals (live online) with Kathleen Horne MA, LMHC, REACE®, REAT® and Tamara Knapp MA, NCC, LMHC, REACE®
September 24 & 25, 2026 | 11 am – 4:30 pm ET | Online via Zoom
Develop the skills to facilitate expressive arts in one-on-one sessions with confidence and clarity. This hands-on course guides you in engaging clients, structuring intermodal sessions, and maintaining presence while supporting creative exploration. Perfect for therapists, coaches, and facilitators seeking practical tools for individual client work.
10 hours + certificate of completion
Imagining the Sacred (live online) with Renee Bhatia MDIV and Tamara Knapp MA, NCC, LMHC, REACE®
June 17, July 15, August 19, 2026 | 6:00-9:00pm ET
The arts have long been a part of the exploration and expression of the mystery of life, and connection to the divine. Expressive arts can be a spiritual path, a way to deeply listen and respond to our most authentic longings. The expressive arts are a natural companion to the work of spiritual direction, paying attention and responding to the sacred in our daily lives. In this 3-part series you will experience, reflect, and discover ways to integrate expressive arts with spiritual direction or your own spiritual practice.
Guided Meditation in Expressive Arts Practice (live online) with Kathleen Horne MA, LMHC, REACE®, REAT® and Tamara Knapp MA, NCC, LMHC, REACE®
June 26, 2026 | 12:00-5:00pm ET | Online via Zoom
Through instruction, guided experiences, discussion, and hands-on practice. You will learn foundational principles for creating and facilitating guided meditations that support presence, imagination, and creative flow, and lead clients gently into art-making. This training is for both therapists and facilitators.
5 Expressive Arts Training hours for therapists and facilitators | 5 CEU’s
Love Letters, Poetry, and Art (live online) with Ericha Scott PhD, LPCC, ATR-BC, REAT,
ICAADC
July 27, 2026 | 4:00-9:30pm ET | Online via Zoom
Do you ever sense distance where there could be warmth—simply because the right words were never spoken? This creative, therapeutic experience blends poetry, art, and reflective writing to help you voice the love that too often remains unexpressed. A unique training and workshop devoted to crafting love letters that truly touch the heart. This training is for both therapists and facilitators and can also also be taken as a workshop for personal growth.
5 Expressive Arts Training hours for therapists and facilitators | 5 CEU’s
Stitching Together: Community Based Frameworks for Expressive Arts (live online) with Shabrae Jackson, MA, PhD (c)
August 6, 2026 | 6:00-8:30pm ET | Online via Zoom
With increased needs for mental health support, how might we stitch together communal responses that expand individual therapy? Join us to explore emerging frameworks for expressive arts community based interventions where the body can practice returning to safety and the imagination rehearses possibility. This training is for both therapists and facilitators and can also also be taken as a workshop for personal growth.
2.5 Expressive Arts Training hours | 2.5 CEU’s
Leading Through Crisis: Creative Practice and Adaptive Leadership in Complex Environments (live online) with Nathalie Timtchenko, LMHC, MPA, MA-ET
August 22, 2026 | 10:00am-1:30pm ET | Online via Zoom
Have you ever wondered what it means to lead and respond creatively in the midst of crisis and uncertainty? This workshop explores how expressive arts principles can support adaptive leadership, presence, and resilience in complex and rapidly shifting landscapes. This training is for both therapists and facilitators as well as anyone interested in applying creative and relational approaches to leadership and community support in complex environments.
3 Expressive Arts Training hours | 3 CEU’s
Rhythmic Attunement: An Expressive Arts Therapy Approach to Working with Individual and Collective Trauma (live online) with Mitchell Kossak, PhD, LMHC, REAT
September 9, 2026 | Online via Zoom
Are you curious how the arts can help with individual and collective trauma? Do you want to learn more about the role the arts play in nervous system regulation, healthy attachment and embodied empathy? This training is for both therapists and facilitators as well as students, artists and educators.
2.5 Expressive Arts Training hours for therapists and facilitators | 2.5 CEU’s
Deep Roots, Radiant Branches: Nurturing the Soil of Your Creative Calling (live online)
October 6-9, 2026 | Online via Zoom
Deep Roots, Radiant Branches is an immersive expressive arts intensive that invites you to explore the roots, pioneers, and evolving pathways of this vibrant field. Through intermodal practice—visual arts, movement, writing, drama, music, and more—you’ll discover your own foundations, illuminate your vision, and embody your unique path in the growing expressive arts community. For those with some prior Expressive Arts experience.
25 hours + certificate of completion
Facilitation Skills in Expressive Arts (live online)
6 Thursday evenings | 6:00-9:00pm ET | Beginning Oct. 29, 2026 and ending Dec. 10 (no class on Thanksgiving.) | Online via Zoom
This course provides students with the essentials of facilitating intermodal expressive arts process, with both groups and individuals. Attention is given to creating the container, defining your purpose, choosing modalities, and implementing EAFI’s 5 step process, Opportunities to practice facilitating are included in the course structure.
25 hours of Expressive Arts Training for Therapists and Facilitators
Poetic Medicine: Nourishing our Hearts in Turbulent Times (live online) with Susan O’Connell, REACE
October 19 & 26, 2026 | 1:00-3:00pm ET | Online via Zoom
Would you like to participate in the art of co-creating poetically nourishing sanctuaries? Engage in a creative and reflective process to nourish hope, build resilience and community. This training is for both therapists and facilitators as well as students, and all others. The applications of poetic medicine reach into all sectors of lived experience – across lifespan and culture. You can enroll in one or both sessions.
4 Expressive Arts Training hours for Facilitators
Why Metaphors Matter (live online) with H. Fay Wilkinson
November 9, 2026 | 11:00am-1:30pm ET | Online via Zoom
What comes to mind when you hear ‘Grief is an ocean…’? We will explore how metaphors can express the inexpressible providing an opportunity to fine tune and stretch listening skills, deepen understanding, shift perceptions and enrich connections. This training is for therapists, facilitators, expressive arts students, emerging practitioners, palliative care workers, those leading grief groups and individuals drawn by personal interest.
2.5 Expressive Arts Training hours for Facilitators
Please email admin@expressiveartsflorida.com with any questions you may have regarding any of the above courses.
EAFI courses are rooted in a transformational, practice‑centered learning model; meaning you learn by engaging in expressive arts yourself. A personal creative practice is at the heart of effective professional competence.
Trainings Include:
We believe effective professional practice grows from an embodied relationship with the arts—developed from the inside out.
Relevant integration fields: Coaching • Healthcare • Spiritual Direction • Education
Most courses have no prerequisites; select courses require prior expressive arts experience.
Continuing Education (CEU) Credits
Kathleen Horne, MA, LMHC, REACE®, REAT®
Tamara Teeter Knapp, MA, NCC, LMHC, REACE®
Dr. Heidi Heft LaPorte, DSW, MSW
Julie Collura, MM, MSW, LCSW, REAT®
Susan Paul Johnson, PHD, REACE®
Renee Bhatia, MDIV
Do you still have a full Certificate Training Program?
For 2026, we have shifted to an a la carte model, allowing each student to tailor their selected courses to their individualized needs.
Can I take more than one course?
Yes.
Are there prerequisites to each course?
It depends on the course. Please send us an inquiry at admin@expressiveartsflorida.com
How do I know if I qualify to take a course?
Please send us an inquiry and/or apply for the course you are interested in taking.
Is your full menu of courses for 2026 currently published?
Not yet! We are currently building a calendar for the full year, and when we finalize dates of each offering we will add to the schedule here. Please reach out to us at admin@expressiveartsflorida.com with your specific questions. We look forward to helping you meet your goals in 2026.
Do I need to apply for courses?
Yes. Please use the button below to apply for the course you would like to take.
Is there tuition or a course fee for each course?
Yes. There is a course fee with each course. Click on the course and it will take you to the course page with the fee.
Can I get full REAT® or REACE® training from you?
Both the REAT® and REACE® applications include several components, one of which is specific training in expressive arts. We do our best to provide each student with course options that will meet the expressive arts training requirements of either the REAT® or REACE® pathway. For any questions about how our training might meet your specific needs, please reach out to us admin@expressivesflorida.com. For additional information about the REAT or REACE requirements, please email either reace@ieata.org or reat@ieata.org. Our a la carte training menu offers flexible options for each student to tailor their coursework to meet their specific training needs.
