Beyond Words: Creative and Expressive Arts Interventions for Children, Adolescents, and Families
Friday, November 20, 2026
8:30 AM - 4:00 PM
South Central Service Cooperative
Cost: $150 (cost includes morning coffee and lunch)
Location: South Central Service Cooperative (2075 Lookout Drive, N. Mankato, MN 56003)
Check-in begins at 8:30 & training beings at 9:00 with a 30-min lunch break at noon and two 15-min breaks
- This training has been approved for 6 CEU's by the Minnesota Board of Social Work, the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC), and is seeking approval from the MN Board of Marriage & Family Therapy.
- Counseling and Student Personnel has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 4558
Training Summary:
Sometimes words are not enough—especially when working with children, adolescents, and families. Expressive arts offer engaging, developmentally responsive ways for clients to communicate experiences, explore emotions, strengthen relationships, make meaning, and practice new coping and regulation skills.
This interactive, six-hour workshop introduces foundational principles of expressive arts therapy and explores how creative interventions can be thoughtfully incorporated into behavioral health, school, healthcare, and community settings. Participants will examine several theoretical perspectives that inform expressive arts practice and consider how theory guides the selection and facilitation of creative interventions.
The workshop emphasizes learning by doing. Participants will experience practical activities incorporating visual art, movement, music, imagery, storytelling, metaphor, and other creative modalities. Special attention will be given to adapting activities for children, adolescents, couples, and families, including those living in rural communities.
Beyond building professional skills, this workshop offers participants an opportunity to slow down, reconnect with their own creativity, and have some fun! Experiential activities will encourage self-awareness, reflection, connection, and personal renewal. Participants will explore how expressive arts can support their own self-care and resilience while also expanding their ability to engage clients in meaningful ways.
No artistic ability is needed—curiosity and a willingness to participate are far more important. Participants will leave with adaptable activities, practical resources, increased personal insight, and renewed confidence in helping clients communicate and connect beyond words.
This workshop is designed for mental health counselors, school counselors, social workers, marriage and family therapists, psychiatric nurses, case managers, psychologists, substance-use professionals, family-service providers, and other professionals who support children, adolescents, and families.
Learning Objectives:
- Describe foundational principles, theoretical perspectives, and therapeutic mechanisms associated with expressive arts interventions.
- Apply foundational principles from varied counseling theories to design and facilitate expressive arts interventions, translating theory into purposeful practice
- Select and adapt expressive arts interventions to meet the developmental, cultural, relational, and sensory needs of children, adolescents, and families, including those living in rural communities where access to specialized behavioral health resources may be limited.
- Apply at least three experiential interventions that support emotional expression, regulation, communication, connection, and meaning-making.
- Use expressive arts activities to increase professional self-awareness, encourage reflective practice, and support self-care, resilience, and personal renewal.
Meet Your Presenter:
Darcie Davis-Gage, PhD, LMHC, is a professor in the Department of Counseling and Student Personnel and director of the Blue Cross® and Blue Shield® of Minnesota Center for Rural Behavioral Health at Minnesota State University, Mankato. A counselor educator and licensed mental health counselor, she brings extensive experience in behavioral health, professional training, and community-based practice.
Dr. Davis-Gage is trained in expressive arts therapy and incorporates creative, experiential, and activity-based approaches into clinical practice, professional training, and community programming. Her work emphasizes practical strategies that build connection, encourage exploration, and support coping and resilience beyond traditional talk-based methods.
She also brings expertise in occupational stress, compassion fatigue, secondary trauma, first-responder wellness, and organizational resilience. Across her work, Dr. Davis-Gage combines clinical knowledge, creativity, and experiential learning to help helping professionals strengthen connection, regulation, and wellbeing.
Registration Questions: Email workforce@mnsu.edu or call 507-389-1094
Training Questions: Email elizabeth.harstad.3@mnsu.edu
Center for Workforce Professional Education
workforce@mnsu.edu
