Hello Creative Friend,

In 2010, the 'original' four of us - Kathleen, Tamara, Victoria, Elizabeth, - sat down to do an art process that led us to the discovery of the 'next step' in our business - the creation of a certificate training program (CTP). We followed the wisdom of our collaborative art-making and set out to design the program, welcoming our first group of students in January 2011. Since that date, we have been accepting students, teaching and accompanying them (many of you) on a deep, transformative, personal and professional journey. As of 2024, we have 74 alumni, many of whom have gone on to get registered with IEATA as REACE's or REATs. Elizabeth stepped away from the business in 2013, Victoria left in 2021, and sadly, subsequently passed away in 2022. Our Certificate Training Program has continued. The pandemic forced us online, which worked surprisingly well, and eventually the program became a synthesis of online and in-person. 

At present, we (Tamara and Kathleen) are owners and core faculty, and we have an incredible team of four graduate mentors: Renee, Susan, Heidi, Julie - and a dynamite administrative team - Cat and Rebecca. In addition to the CTP, the scope of EAFI services includes a menu of self-study workshops and courses, live online professional development, guest presenter workshops including SoulCollage® and expressive writing, both in-person and online open studios, community trainings with organizations such as Empath (Tidewell) Hospice, and Expressive Arts Therapy.

As we complete 2024 and move into 2025, we are taking stock and making some changes. We are engaging in arts processes to pause, reflect, and evaluate our next steps. Tamara has, over the last seven years, completed her M.A. in Mental Health Counseling, finished her supervision, and recently obtained her LMHC license! Now the mom of a 12 year old who was only dreamed of when EAFI began, she has a busy home life while also building a thriving therapy practice. Kathleen, who is well into her elder years, is actively engaged in a process of sifting and sorting, as she discerns how to best focus her time and energy toward the beautiful expressive arts work she loves, and balance this with family, writing, art-making and personal reflection. She is currently working on developing some programming around expressive arts and aging. We have an incredible team of mentors who are integral to our program, and who have amazing skills and passions to share, in even more ways than they already are.

All of this informs some upcoming changes! 

Here is what we know, as of now.

• 2025 will be the last year that our Certificate Training Program will be offered in its current form. New students can still begin in either January or April, and complete the program by January 2026. 
• 2025 will be the last year that Kathleen teaches full time, and the last year that Tamara and Kathleen teach together full time. 
• EAFI will continue to be involved in training EXA students - we just have to press the 'pause' button, and use our arts process and deep reflection to help us shape the next iteration of how this will manifest. 
• EAFI will continue as a business, likely expanding into new areas, and offering online and in person programming, community work, and expressive arts therapy. 
• We are excited to discover and shape exactly what this will look like beyond 2025!

For this upcoming year, we are:

*Welcoming new, and current students, into a full curriculum of our training courses, which you can view here. 
*Planning an in-person alumni reunion in Tampa, FL in the spring.
*Presenting two workshops at the upcoming IEATA conference in Boston, in June. 
*Hosting some wonderful guest presenters, which we will be announcing very soon. 
*Creating training for therapists - both in person and online - is in the works.

(And this is just what we know so far.) 

We are embedded in the cycles of the natural world, and we honor the changing seasons in our individual and collective lives, and in the life of our business. Things must fall away for fresh growth to be born. There is a beauty in the falling away and in the space of not-knowing. We are ever-evolving, as is our practice and our work. We look forward to what will emerge as we attend deeply to the greater wisdom as it reveals itself. We invite you to come along on the journey of discovery with us! 

With love and gratitude,

Kathleen, Tamara, and the Expressive Arts Florida team
 

Highlights

If you haven't joined us for any of our Open Studios we encourage you to do so. They are a wonderful opportunity to creatively 'be with' whatever emotions you are carrying, and what creative impulses are awakening in you, and to witness one another. They are donation based and a great way to connect with others. You can see the schedule for upcoming Open Studio sessions here.  There are both online an in-person options.

If you're interested in our Certificate Training Program the next start date is in January, and we'll be having a Live Q&A session on December 7th. In this session we'll cover everything you need to know about the program, including the pathway to help you complete the program by early 2026.  As we said above, this is the last year the CTP will be offered in its present form.

To close out the year, we also have 1 more Expressive Arts Discovery session on December 12th. These differ from Open Studios in that they are guided workshops. We start with a short guided meditation, move into artmaking, maybe a little movement and then some writing. We close with witnessing and sharing. 

Our last SoulCollage® workshop of the year will celebrate the Winter Solstice. This workshop will be in person and will take place after our final In Person Open Studio of the year! Join us for one session or both and give yourself a full day of creative self-care in Sarasota.

Our final workshop in the Imagining the Sacred series, "The Spiritual Director: Presence and Role" is December 6th.  This workshop will explore our role as spiritual directors through the arts, ways of attending to our practice, and noticing how we are growing and changing in response to this work. 

And last, but definitely not least, we bring you our annual Intention Setting sessions again this year. The in-person option is on December 19 and the online version is January 2. Registration will open this week, so watch the website. 

To see a schedule of all upcoming events, courses and workshops visit our calendar of events here.

Therapy Services

Tamara is accepting new clients in Florida seeking therapy services and support using expressive arts to heal and grow. Using her years of creative practice and a compassionate approach, she is able to help clients access their inner strengths and create the change they most want in their lives. To inquire about services, you can go HERE, call/text 941-444-9585 

or email tknappcounseling@gmail.com

Tamara Teeter Knapp

MA, NCC, LMHC, REACE®

Kathleen Horne

MA, LMHC(S), REACE®, REAT®

www.expressiveartsflorida.com