What Uncertainty Teaches

By Polly Young-Eisendrath Originally published on March 30, 2020 Republished with permission from the author Living in the time of COVID-19 gives all of us a strong and clear taste of uncertainty. Our welfare is on the line and we are trapped at home with our questions, our vulnerabilities, and the vulnerabilities of others. Even… Continue reading What Uncertainty Teaches

“The Human Compass” – An Expressive Arts Practice by Casey Jakubowski

VIDEO: Casey Jakubowski’s Multimodal Expressive Arts Process, “The Human Compass.” Casey created a new Multimodal Expressive Process as a component of her coursework this semester in the Expressive Arts Therapy Concentration at Goddard College that incorporates movement, music, and drawing. The individually designed course is called “Crisis Intervention: Expressive Arts Crisis Intervention With Adolescents.” Her… Continue reading “The Human Compass” – An Expressive Arts Practice by Casey Jakubowski

Alum John Eichenberger Uses Boal’s Theater of the Oppressed in Counseling Practice

A young man shook his head in shame and embarrassment. An offhand remark to a client had resulted in a rift in the therapeutic relationship. He wanted with all his being to repair it. Now, among peers, he explored the event. Not a single person said, “Well, this is what you should do.” No need.… Continue reading Alum John Eichenberger Uses Boal’s Theater of the Oppressed in Counseling Practice

The Expressive Arts Are Abundant at the Psychology and Counseling Residency

The Expressive Arts abound during Residency in the Psychology and Counseling Program. There are Expressive Arts workshops, the sharing of students’ Creative Theses and Capstone work at our Poster Session, student led open studio times, and informal jam sessions. Our Expressive Arts Opening is a very important event. In our Haybarn Art Gallery, students present… Continue reading The Expressive Arts Are Abundant at the Psychology and Counseling Residency

The DSM-5 Reconstructed by Expressive Arts Therapy Student Brit Davis

While reading the DSM-5, I experienced many different emotions and contemplated why so many complex processes were all neatly organized into one publication. As an Expressive Arts Therapy response, I decided to reconstruct the DSM-5. After considering multiple meanings of the words “manual” and “disorder” (see definitions below), I was inspired to physically alter the… Continue reading The DSM-5 Reconstructed by Expressive Arts Therapy Student Brit Davis

Alumna Priscilla Backman to receive Goddard Presidential Award

PLAINFIELD, Vt. — Goddard College President Robert Kenny will posthumously present Priscilla Ruth Davis Backman with the Presidential Award for Activism during the Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony on Sunday, August 21, at 4:00 p.m. in the Haybarn Theatre on Goddard’s Plainfield campus. The Goddard Presidential Award for Activism recognizes alumni who have made significant contributions in the field of social… Continue reading Alumna Priscilla Backman to receive Goddard Presidential Award

Jacob Brennan talks about his Internship Experience

In this video, Psychology & Counseling student Jake Brennan shares a musical composition he made as he processed what learned in his Goddard internship. Read his statement below: “As an artist I am always reflecting on what is going on within and around me through my art. Last year, I started interning as a full-time clinician… Continue reading Jacob Brennan talks about his Internship Experience

Personal Process in Multimodal Expressive Arts

In Multimodal Expressive Arts, “Personal Process” describes the counselor or psychotherapist’s Expressive Arts work done in relation to her own lived experiences. By participating in Multimodal Expressive Arts the counselor works through and is healed related to experiences in day to day life. Through “Personal Process” work, the psychotherapist experiences what the client will experience… Continue reading Personal Process in Multimodal Expressive Arts

A Collaborative Multimodal Expressive Arts Workshop at Residency

At our fall residency, Expressive Arts Therapy Concentration student Natalie Hogge and faculty member Wendy Phillips collaborated in the creation of a six-hour Multimodal Expressive Arts workshop held in segments over three days. Our goal was to offer students and colleagues an opportunity to experience Multimodal Processes and to reflect on these experiences in preparation… Continue reading A Collaborative Multimodal Expressive Arts Workshop at Residency

Student Melissa Sivvy Shares Her Expressive Arts Work

In my experience as a child from a middle class white family with a psychologist as a father, assessment testing was a game for me. I was my dad’s guinea pig, solving WISC puzzles and word problems as his students gathered around to watch. It was a kind of performance, really. This semester, I have… Continue reading Student Melissa Sivvy Shares Her Expressive Arts Work

Jonathan Katz receives honorary doctorate; 15 earn master’s in psychology and counseling

PLAINFIELD, Vt. — Comedian and actor Jonathan Katz received an honorary doctorate and 15 graduates earned master’s degrees in psychology and clinical mental health counseling at Goddard College’s Sept. 6 commencement ceremony. Goddard President Robert P. Kenny presented Katz with the Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, given to individuals who have distinguished themselves in… Continue reading Jonathan Katz receives honorary doctorate; 15 earn master’s in psychology and counseling

The Mediocre Meditator Turns toward Fear and Includes a Lesson in the History of Psychology

When I was coming up, professionally, in the middle of the 1970s, my colleagues and I at The Women’s Mental Health Collective in Somerville, Massachusetts had this idea (or maybe we didn’t have this idea ourselves but rather there was an idea around, part of the zeitgeist, the cultural atmosphere). The idea was that in… Continue reading The Mediocre Meditator Turns toward Fear and Includes a Lesson in the History of Psychology

Student Sharon Hughes’ Expressive Arts Mandala Project

Below, Sharon discusses the mandala she made as part of her course in Psychopathology in Goddard College’s Psychology and Counseling’s Expressive Arts Therapy Emphasis Program. Artist Statement For psychologist, Carl Jung, a mandala symbolizes “a safe refuge of inner reconciliation and wholeness” (Robertson, 1992).  It is a fusion of distinctive elements in a unified scheme representing… Continue reading Student Sharon Hughes’ Expressive Arts Mandala Project

The Mediocre Meditator Shares Stories From Mother and Daughter Goddard Students

Leslie Whitcomb, a graduate student in the Counseling and Psychology Program, sent me this story about her daughter Thora’s meditation practice.  Leslie is the mother of eight children and is currently doing her counseling internship in a community mental health clinic, where she has already been asked by two different staff to apply for a… Continue reading The Mediocre Meditator Shares Stories From Mother and Daughter Goddard Students

The Mediocre Meditator Tries To Disappear Into Her Suffering

Some of the meditation teachers I admire write or say things I have never heard before. Often these sentences simmer a long time on the back burner of my mind before I understand what they mean either in the abstract or to me. In his book Ending The Pursuit of Happiness  Barry Magid, the New York… Continue reading The Mediocre Meditator Tries To Disappear Into Her Suffering

Multimodal Expressive Arts Seminars

At the fall 2014 residency, we explored Deborah Koff-Chapin’s practice, Touch Drawing.  We improvised and repurposed available surfaces (cafeteria trays, and cardboard covered with sheets of adhesive vinyl) as well as sheets of plexiglass. The surfaces were coated with oil paint, covered with newsprint and then we drew – from the unconscious using our hands… Continue reading Multimodal Expressive Arts Seminars

The Mediocre Meditator: A Tale of Two Experiences

A friend and I went to a Meditation Workshop for Beginners. This was some time ago.  The workshop started at ten in the morning and ended at four. It consisted of  alternating periods of sitting or walking meditation, and then talks by the guiding teacher, followed by questions and answers. On the long drive home… Continue reading The Mediocre Meditator: A Tale of Two Experiences

The Mediocre Meditator Deconstructs An Early Morning Moment Using Buddhist Psychology and Other Points of View

What can I say?  Every morning that I loll in bed past six a.m., which is to say most mornings, I am condemned. By whom?  Myself, of course. The judge within. This is how it goes: I’ve slept well. Outside the birds are trilling their light morning tunes.  Cotton sheets rub against my skin. It… Continue reading The Mediocre Meditator Deconstructs An Early Morning Moment Using Buddhist Psychology and Other Points of View

Sharing Expressive Arts Work in Academic and Professional Settings

In the Psychology and Counseling Program at Goddard, we have many opportunities to share the personal Expressive Arts works that we have made. We also share, in experiences with clients, what we learn about the principles of Expressive Arts Therapy theory. We share work in our Expressive Arts Exhibit and Opening at residencies, in our dialogues… Continue reading Sharing Expressive Arts Work in Academic and Professional Settings