Signature Programs Catalog

Our online signature training programs are designed to maximize the social, emotional, physical, and cognitive benefits of the arts. These professional development and self-care programs can create a sustainable environment of support because they can be delivered by anyone—educators, health and mental health professionals, non-profit personnel, visual and performing artists, caregivers, and parents.

Certificate Program in Social Emotional Arts (SEA) empowers educators, community arts professionals, mental health practitioners, and others in maximizing the social-emotional benefits of arts experiences, and minimizing self-judgment, anxiety, and unintentional re-triggering of trauma that can impede learning. This interactive and experiential 40-hour online certificate training not only teaches structured and scripted activities that can be used in the community, but also teaches trainees how to develop and evaluate their own effective curricula. The training features the use of sound, rhythm, movement, and other creative approaches for group behavior management, verbal and nonverbal communication, managing special needs, traumatic responses and self-care, personal presentation, program evaluation, and best practices in six art forms. The teaching faculty consists of board-certified creative arts therapists or individuals/teams with equivalent expertise, who are leaders in their respective professions. Click here for more information.

Social Emotional Arts Toolkit Training (SEA-T) includes a menu of activities that can be sustainably delivered immediately, with guidelines on social emotional arts practices, such as communication techniques for creating rapport and facilitating dialogue, and containment techniques for managing stress responses. Assessments of this training have shown that this curriculum achieves its intended goals of helping to build connection, evoke positive emotions, bolster resilience, decrease stress and pain, facilitate verbal and nonverbal communication, strengthen the creative vs. illness narrative, and manage grief and loss. The two-day training, in which an extensive curriculum manual is also available, enables sustainable delivery by care providers and educators in settings with limited resources, including hospitals, nursing homes, schools, shelters, and community clinics.

Beat the Odds® (BTO): Social & Emotional Skill Building Delivered in a Framework of Drumming integrates activities from contemporary drum circles and group counseling to build core assets such as focusing and listening, team building, leadership, expressing feelings, managing anger/stress, empathy, and gratitude. UCLA researchers have shown that Beat the Odds® can significantly improve a spectrum of behavior problems in children, such as those related to inattention, withdrawn/depression, post-traumatic stress, anxiety, attention deficit/hyperactivity, oppositional defiance, and sluggish cognitive tempo. Beat the Odds® was co-developed by an licensed clinical social worker who specializes in underserved populations, a public health educator, and a drum circle facilitator. This evidence-based and trauma-informed curriculum is scripted and does not require musical experience for delivery or participation. Click here for more information about the one-day online training program, and to find publications, a documentary film trailer, testimonials, and an informational document for administrators. This program is adaptable to all age groups and does not require facilitators to have a music background.

Dance for All (DFA): Social & Emotional Learning through Creative Movement is a dance-and-yoga-informed creative movement curriculum for social emotional learning that is easily adaptable for all ages and abilities. Originally designed for teens and adults with developmental disabilities, Dance For All (DFA) has been successfully delivered to children in traditional Pre-K and elementary schools as well as to older adults. While regularly-scheduled classes are offered throughout various communities all over the country, we have co-developed a highly experiential one-day online training that highlights the importance of self-care and personal development for the facilitator, with an emphasis on participant connection and collaboration.

FAQ

General

Policies

Participant Expectation Policy

In accordance with our mission and cultural, equity and inclusion practices, our aim is to foster a supportive, healing, and collaborative learning environment, whether in an online or in-person setting.

With this goal in mind, we ask our program participants and staff to acknowledge, and abide by, the following community agreements:

Practice loving kindness, nonjudgment, and listening to understand
Acknowledge your feelings and the feelings of others
Practice cultural humility, acknowledging the lived experience of others and our own privilege and biases
Hold in confidence what is shared here personally
When speaking, be mindful of time for others to be heard
Practice self-care and seek support as needed
Keep cameras on, if/when possible, to maintain your presence

In order to protect participant and staff safety as well as the integrity of our programming, we have adopted and maintain a zero tolerance policy for inappropriate and/or triggering behavior, whether accidental or intentional. Such behavior includes offensive or discriminatory actions related to sex, gender, gender identity or expression, race, color, ancestry, religious creed, national origin, age, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, marital status, military or veteran status, medical condition, genetic information, or any other characteristic.

Digital Media Release Policy

By registering, you give Arts & Healing Initiative approval to record this event, still and/or moving images from which may appear in printed materials or digital channels for archival, educational, or promotional purposes. Note that Zoom breakout rooms are not recorded.

Refund Policy

In order to keep our programs affordable yet self-sustaining, we regret that we are unable to offer refunds for cancellation; however, we are happy to provide you with credit good for one year from the date of the program toward the next offering of the same program or a different one. Credit applied toward a program with higher registration fees will require payment of the balance. In addition, credit may be applied toward purchase of curriculum materials for any program. Unused fees after one year would then be tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law because no goods or services would have been received for them.

Exceptions to our no-refund policy may be considered in cases of personal emergencies. Please contact us at info@artsandhealinginitiative.org if any questions.

Click here for our Certificate Program in Social Emotional Arts refund policy.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are my professional options in the field of arts and healing?

Enroll in a PhD, PsyD, or master's degree program in clinical or counseling psychology, social work, or marriage and family therapy, and then supplement your training with creative arts therapy training in your art form(s) of interest.
Enroll in a graduate program in one of the creative arts therapies. Most of the credentials offered in these fields, which teach integration of specific art forms with mental health practices, are at the master’s level.
Enroll in a two-year training program in Expressive Arts Therapies. These programs offer credentialing in the integrated use of a variety of art forms for therapeutic purposes.
Enroll in our Certificate Program in Social Emotional Arts. This comprehensive program is for anyone who wishes to learn how to design, deliver, and evaluate their own effective programs. It offers practical training that addresses what professionals may encounter in the community. Creative arts therapists who have taken the program have reported that it is invaluable and offers training in areas not addressed by their previous academic curricula. Many of our trainees come from the arts, education, mental health, and complementary health care. Some are fresh out of college and exploring career options, others are mid-career and wanting to add a therapeutic element to their work, and still others are making career transitions after many years in other professions.
Enroll in our online Social Emotional Arts Toolkit training. This training offers scripted activities in four different art forms that are adaptable to any population, setting, ability level, time frame, or budget. It can be used with groups or individuals. It teaches the key principles of social emotional arts work.
Additionally, volunteering is a great way to familiarize yourself with the field and what it is like to work with different populations. Here are several possibilities:
- We often seek translators/interpreters to volunteer their services at our workshops.
- There are two programs that partner with Arts & Healing Initiative, which often actively seek volunteers: ALMA (Addressing Loneliness through Movement and Art) and the Creative Minds Project (although Creative Minds Project may require more extensive training in order to be involved).
- Some of our organizational partners often seek volunteers as well: Safe Place for Youth, Able Arts Work, and The Miracle Project are a few examples.
- We also partner with a Therapeutic Arts Group for UCLA medical and undergraduate students.

What volunteer opportunities, internships, fellowships, or paid positions do you have?

We train people to deliver their own programs and don't have a center where we provide direct services. If you take some of our training programs, we may be able to notify you of volunteer or paid opportunities to deliver them to community organizations that request services. While we do not offer formal internship or fellowship opportunities, we welcome professional volunteers in the domains of marketing, videography and computer technology. We also sometimes need extra assistance at specific events or for special projects. We don’t typically have paid positions available; however, we periodically need to hire research or administrative assistants. You are welcome to submit a resume to info@artsandhealinginitiative.org and we will keep your resume on file in case an opportunity comes up. Some organizations that we partner with regularly seek volunteers, such as Able Arts Work, The Miracle Project, and Theatre of Hearts. Inside Out Community Arts, for example, offers a series of training sessions followed by paid working opportunities in after-school middle and high school settings.

How can I become a Arts & Healing Initiative instructor?

We typically recruits instructors that fall into one of these categories:

Professionals who have completed a formal degree program in the creative arts therapies, typically involving masters level integrated training in mental health and the arts with supervised internship hours and a certification option.
Mental health practitioners who have created a social-emotional arts curriculum for a specific population that is well documented and tested.
Graduates of our Certificate Program in Social Emotional Arts who have demonstrated mastery of their training in the design and delivery of programs that maximize the social-emotional benefits of arts experiences.
Recruitment is also often based in knowledge of an individual’s work and recommendations from trusted sources.

In addition, the proposed teaching content/format/cost needs to balance out our offerings and be of interest to our constituents, as we can best determine based on experience. If you are interested in becoming an instructor, we suggest that you attend one of our programs to gain understanding of our work and introduce yourself to us. You are also welcome to send your website and any other information about yourself to info@artsandhealinginitiative.org to help us determine the goodness of fit.

Beat the Odds® (BTO)

How can I get drums on a limited budget?

Arts & Healing Initiative has partnered with Remo, Inc. to offer drum packages and individual percussion instruments at below-market discounted rates. The Remo drums that we offer are lightweight, durable, and nestable for easy storage, with interchangeable not-so-loud drumhead options. There are also drumheads that fit on standard-sized paint buckets, and flat “Sound Shapes®” played with mallets, which offer lower cost alternatives. You can consider purchasing a variety of instruments and have your participants share or take turns with them. We also offer some lower cost sets that include a variety of drum and percussion instruments. If none of these items work for your budget, remember that rhythm can ultimately be made with anything; for example, you can use “found sounds” such as 2- or 5-gallon water bottles, desks, Tupperware containers, cookie tins, paint buckets turned upside down and played with turkey basters or spoons, metallic sports water bottles played with pens, and so forth. Even a small package of disposable diapers can make a great (and not so loud) hand drum. You can make your own shakers with plastic Easter eggs, disposable cups, recycled containers, rice or legumes, and tape. And then there is “body percussion”. Sounds can be made with hands and feet by clapping hands, slapping thighs, stomping feet, and snapping fingers, for example. Vocal sounds, such as percussive consonants and open vowels, can be added. There is no limit to creativity!

Who can deliver this program?

Anyone can deliver the program. It does not require any previous musical experience. The manual is scripted in a user-friendly format, for ease of use. We have observed a variety of people deliver the program – all with success: teachers, mental health professionals, music teachers, school counselors and after school personnel, health care professionals, Boys and Girls Club staff, actors, college students, and more. The program is so engaging that even when delivered by literally reading the curriculum, participants love the experience.

Who can benefit from this program?

While the program was designed for upper elementary-age students, it easily can be adapted to any other age group or for families. Guidelines for adaptation for adolescents and adults can be found in the scripted manual and are discussed during the training. In addition, a version for adolescents and adults will be available shortly. We have found that the program is perfectly suited as it is for special needs classrooms with mild to moderate disabilities. Students with moderate to severe disabilities also benefit tremendously with a few simple adjustments to the program.

How much space to do I need to store drums?

We use Versa drums for our Beat the Odds® program, which are produced by Remo, Inc. These products are specifically designed for community use. They are durable, sound adjustable for sensitive ears, lightweight, and nest-able for easier storage. Arts & Healing Initiative has partnered with Remo, Inc. to be able to provide the community with drums and hand percussion instruments at deeply discounted prices.

FOR 30 DRUMS

The drums nest together in groups of 3. For 30 drums, there would be 10 groups. Two groups can be stacked vertically on one another. Most of the groups are the same height (all tubanos) except for two, which consist of some different types of drums (tubano, timbau and djembe combo), so they are a little taller.
A stack of two groups of tubano drums will require 1 foot square land space and 51" height. There would be three of these.
A stack of a group of tubano drums and mixed drums will require 1 foot square land space and 58" height (an additional 7"). There would be two of these.
Therefore in total, you would need a 5 foot square land space and 58" height to accommodate 30 drums. For 60 drums, you would multiply this by 2.
If you do not have the height to stack 2 groups of drums on top of one another, but have a space with width, just assume a 10 foot square space to accommodate each stack of drums and a height of 32" to accommodate the tallest stacks. For 60 drums, you would multiply this by 2.

FOR 15 DRUMS

You would need a 3 foot square space and 58" height for 15 drums.
If you have more land space and less height, you need a 5 foot square land space and a height of 32" to accommodate the tallest stacks.

How do we get buy-in and funding for your program or drums?

There may be funding sources within a school's budget, such as an arts fund, that can be allocated to the purchase of drums. Beat the Odds® is a mental health as well as arts-based program; therefore, funding of drums may be justified through a variety of sources. Grant writing through small local family foundations and fundraising through the PTA are other ways to obtain funding. Drums can also be obtained through e-Bay and www.donorschoose.org (for educators). The drums that we use reflect cultural diversity, and give sound and tactile gratification that comes with hitting a full-sized drum; they are designed for durability, nesting for space economy, and sound sensitivity, so we recommend them. You can also use a variety of instruments - some large drums, flat sound shapes (made by Remo, Inc.), shakers, 5 gallon water jugs, paint buckets, homemade instruments, things you find lying around that make sounds (found sounds). Remo Inc. offers a line of bucket drumheads that sit on conventional plastic paint buckets. We also offer grants that reduce drum costs to below market rates, to make them more accessible to the community. To obtain support for this Program from administrators and other school personnel, try the following:

Present our research findings and other scientific justification for drumming to your administration by sharing with them the following document: Beat the Odds®: A Brief Summary of an Evidence-Based Program.
Facilitate buy-in for the program by demonstrating the Booster Session in the curriculum with students or with staff.

Is Beat the Odds® appropriate for severely emotionally-disturbed or students with other behavior or learning challenges?

Beat the Odds®: Social and Emotional Skill Building Delivered in a Framework of Drumming is an accessible, sustainable program that is evidence-based and scripted for clinical integrity and rhythmic engagement. The school can purchase the curriculum materials and have its own personnel deliver it. Anyone can deliver it - even without a music background. We have found that all children benefit from boosting their core strengths; however, the greater the social-emotional needs, the greater the benefits appear to be from the program. We have just completed some research (not yet published) that showed the Beat the Odds program as tremendously useful for special needs populations - even moderate to severe autism (with some simple adaptations). Mild to moderate needs classrooms did not require any changes to the program. We have also has success delivering Beat the Odds® as an inclusion program in schools. Special education and general education students are paired sharing a drum, to build positive social connection and emotional well-being while learning emotional coping skills.

How do I register for the Beat the Odds® training if my employer is paying for it?

Please contact us at info@artsandhealinginitiative.org for assistance!

How are the rhythmic and counseling activities integrated?

Beat the Odds® emphasizes process and not performance. It includes a therapeutic dimension involving such elements as positive affirmations, emotional coping strategies, and guided interaction with rhythmic activities serving as a metaphor for life, followed by reflection and dialogue—without the stigma of therapy. Our original published study describes some of the specific ways in which the counseling and rhythmic activities are intertwined. There are a few pure counseling activities as well – such as a guided visualization and a scripted lesson on feelings. The program can be adapted easily for other age groups and is great for families. We have found that just reading the script, anyone can deliver it effectively, and someone with rhythmic skills can make the program even more engaging for all.

Do I need to take the training in order to be able to deliver the curriculum?

The curriculum is scripted and designed for use without having to take the training; however, people find the training invaluable for getting comfortable facilitating the rhythmic parts, learning troubleshooting and activity adaptations experientially, and reviewing all the important information in the manual.

How can I get Beat the Odds® started in my district? How can I convince my supervisor?

One person, who has made a successful business for herself delivering Beat the Odds® at the pre-kindergarten and elementary school grade levels, got started with no experience at all. She started by offering free demos, offering the idea that if they liked it—they could hire her. People also started hiring her for birthday parties as well. She now needs an assistant! In line with the above example, you can use the Beat the Odds Booster session in the manual as a demonstration session. You can show your supervisor the part of the DVD showing the call and response with the drum in the middle activity and the reflection on empathy afterwards. You could also show your supervisor our Beat the Odds information page, that has links to published articles, a brief summary of the program for administrators, media clips (like a 10-minute documentary trailer of our work), other media publications (like a TIME article and the lead article in UCLA Today for faculty and staff), and testimonials, including a compelling video interview with a 6th grade teacher on the value of Beat the Odds® for his classroom.

Social Emotional Arts (SEA) Professional Development

What are the 13 modules offered?

SEA Theory & Practice
Communication from Trauma-Informed & Cultural Perspectives
Inclusive Practices for Neurodiverse Learners
Needs Assessment & Program Evaluation
Best Practices in Art
Best Practices in Writing & Poetry
Best Practices in Rhythm & Drumming
Best Practices in Music
Best Practices in Dance & Movement
Best Practices in Theater
Staying Grounded: Self-Regulation & De-Escalation Strategies for Facilitators
Developing Your Presence as a Facilitator
Integrating SEA Practices: Demonstrations & Feedback*
BONUS Module: Launching Your Career in Social Emotional Arts*

BONUS Guide: SEA Program Design & Lesson Plan Template*

*Certificate Track only

Can I sign up for individual modules or do I need to take them all?

You can now choose to either enroll in the modules that best fit your needs or register for the full 35-hour SEA Certificate Track.

If I sign up for a few modules and then decide to sign up for the rest of them to complete the 35-hour SEA Certificate Track, am I still eligible to receive a social emotional arts certificate?

Yes, as long as you complete the requirements for the full SEA Certificate Track.

Are the modules pre-recorded or live?

Modules are implemented live for maximum engagement; however, you can access recordings anytime to catch up or review the material.

Where will the training take place?

All modules will be implemented online via Zoom.

What if I miss a module I enrolled in?

No problem. You will receive video recordings of all the modules you have registered for, and can watch the missed session at your convenience.

What are the registration fees?

The registration fee for the 35-hour SEA Certificate Track will be $999. If opting to enroll in individual modules, the fee will vary, depending on length of session—from $59 for a two-hour session to $89 for a three-hour session.

What are the program dates?

The program will take place weekly on Fridays from February 26 through May 14, 2027

What day and time will the program run?

All sessions will begin at 9 am PT on Fridays and run for two to three hours depending on the module. (Time Zone Converter).

Do you offer financial assistance?

We believe that learning and practicing approaches that support healing and well-being should be financially accessible. Therefore, we've intentionally priced the Social Emotional Arts Professional Development program with affordability in mind. Participants may also register for one module at a time, allowing them to make payments over time rather than pay for the full program upfront. For those who need additional financial assistance, a limited number of partial scholarships are available. To inquire, please contact us at info@artsandhealinginitiative.org.

Is an application required?

To further align with our goal for all of our programming to be accessible and inclusive to all, we will no longer be requiring an application for consideration.