The Creative Connection: Expressive Arts as Healing

Dr. Natalie Rogers has developed a process called the Creative Connection RM that interweaves all the expressive arts -- movement, sound, drawing, painting, writing, and guided imagery -- to tap into the deep wellspring of creativity within each of us. The aim is to reclaim ourselves and then help others reclaim themselves as actively playful, spirited, and conscious individuals. Rogers emphasizes the importance of psychological safety and freedom while using the creative arts. This reflects her extensive work with her father, Carl Rogers, and a deep belief in his person-centered approach to counseling.Photos and art help demystify this process, and various exercises range from the simple to the complex. Natalie's practical suggestions aid counselors who want to add expressive arts to their regular sessions.

Natalie Rogers, Ph.D., REAT, is the groundbreaking originator of the Creative Connection ®, a transformational person-centered expressive arts therapeutic process that is embraced by psychotherapists, teachers, healers, leaders and diverse groups around the world. Author of The Creative Connection: Expressive Arts as Healing (1993) and Emerging Woman: A Decade of Midlife Transitions (1980), Natalie s mission for personal and planetary healing has led her to cross-cultural work in Europe, Russia, Latin America, Japan, South Korea and Israel, where she has lectured and facilitated groups seeking greater harmony and individual growth. Her work integrates the values, methods and core conditions of her father, Carl Rogers, who developed the person-centered therapeutic approach, and her passion for expressive arts and creativity. She helped found the International Expressive Art Therapy Association (IEATA) and was awarded its first Lifetime Achievement Award. She also founded and was senior faculty at the Person-Centered Expressive Therapy Institute, Santa Rosa, California,(1984-2004). Presently she is a Distinguished Consulting Faculty at Saybrook University, San Francisco. She and her co-faculty members have assisted graduates of these certificate programs in creating trainings in Argentina, Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong.