FOAT® Community Gathering

​Monday, January 8, 2024  2:00pm - 4:00pm PT  /  5:00pm - 7:00pm ET

FOAT Community, Intentions, and Action Steps 2024

Facilitated by Laury Rappaport, Ph.D., LMFT, ATR-BC, REAT and FOAT Faculty

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During this gathering, we will take some time to become aware of a wish or intention for ourselves and for the world in this new year. Through the healing power of community, heartfelt vision, externalization, and an action step, our intentions are supported to take root and manifest.

We will begin with a Focusing Attunement to ground ourselves, arrive into the present moment and connect with each other through the beauty of stillness and mindful breathing. After, we will take some time to Focus on what we are each wanting to bring into our lives this year… and also something for our world.  Through a user-friendly approach, we will express these intentions through colors, lines, shapes, images, words, gestures, or sounds.  We will then listen within to see if there is a small action step that feels right to water the seeds of our intentions.  There will be time for sharing in small groups and in the larger group.

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FOAT® Training Program

​8 Group Meetings • Mondays, September 18 - December 18, 2023. 3:00pm- 6:30pm PT  /  6:00pm - 9:30pm ET

Level 1: Foundations and Approaches of Focusing-Oriented Expressive Arts (FOAT®)

Facilitated by Laury Rappaport, Ph.D., LMFT, ATR-BC, REAT and FOAT Faculty

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Prerequisite: Completion of Introductory level FOAT (including Introduction to FOAT® Self-Study, equivalent courses, or permission of Training Director)

Level 1 provides a solid foundation of Focusing-Oriented Expressive Arts (FOAT®) with an emphasis on deepening one’s embodied knowing of the main FOAT approaches– Focusing Attitude, Theme-Directed FOAT®, Clearing a Space with Arts, FOAT® Check-in, Working on an Issue, Self-Focusing, and Compassionate Listening.  Trainees will also expand their understanding of the core concepts, skills and philosophy of Focusing, developed by Eugene Gendlin– felt sense, symbol/handle, felt shift, and life forward direction. 
Learning FOAT and Focusing in Level 1 emphasizes learning the exercises for oneself– in order to understand deeply how the felt sense, creativity, and the body’s wisdom interacts and unfolds, while also being grounded in FOAT theories.  The FOAT Partnership and small group practices during Level 1 open the doorway to learn about others’ processes and also provides a foundation for facilitation skills that are continued in Level 2.

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FOT Conference 2023: Session 7

Friday, November 3, 2023    1:00pm - 3:00pm PDT / 4:00pm - 6:00pm EDT

PANEL: The Urgency of Teaching the Essence of FOT to a New Generation
Featuring Laury Rappaport, Biliania Dearly, Charlotte Howorth, Joan Klagsbrun, and Jeffrey Morrison - Moderator

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What is needed to preserve the uniqueness of Focusing-Oriented Therapy and pass it along to a new generation? How can we share how we teach, mentor, supervise and promote FOT? While we embrace a diversity of approaches, can we also encourage a community of mutual support and development? What needs to occur, so we preserve the wisdom of our elders, bring along new teachers and therapists, and create an “all flourishing is mutual” approach to sharing curriculum, teaching, and learning.

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FOT Conference 2023: Session 12

Saturday, November 4, 2023    4:00pm - 6:00pm PDT / 7:00pm - 9:00pm EDT

Focusing-Oriented Expressive Arts Therapy (FOAT®): Overview and Demonstration
Presented by Laury Rappaport, Ph.D., LMFT, ATR-BC, REAT

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Focusing-Oriented Expressive Arts (FOAT®) Therapy integrates Eugene Gendlin’s Focusing with the expressive arts. Laury will present a brief overview of Focusing-Oriented Expressive Arts Therapy, along with a demonstration of a FOAT Check-in with a “volunteer client.” The FOAT Check-in is a core method in Focusing-Oriented Therapy (FOT) that offers the Focuser an option of using simple art materials (crayons, markers, string, stones, etc.), gesture, movement, or sound (as well as words) to express the felt sense. The demonstration will include a user-friendly approach of teaching the Focuser how simple art materials can be used by anyone.

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FOAT® Series: Roots, Branches, and Wings

Thursday, October 19, 2023    12:00pm - 2:00pm PDT

Revolutionizing Trauma and Addiction Treatment with the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model™
Presented by Jan Winhall, MSW, RSW, FOT

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The Felt Sense Polyvagal Model™ (FSPM) shifts the current pathologizing paradigm of trauma and addiction to a strengths-based approach– providing a foundational framework that offers a clear and powerful way to integrate embodiment into practice. This model integrates Eugene Gendlin’s Felt Sense with Stephen Porges’ Polyvagal Theory, offering an appreciation of trauma and addictive behaviors as adaptive responses to maladaptive environments.

This workshop provides an overview of Jan’s book, Treating Trauma and Addiction with the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model (Routledge, 2021). Jan will discuss the creation of the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model™ (FSPM), developed from over 40 years of clinical practice. The presentation includes: a description of the FSPM theoretical framework, an introduction to The Embodied Assessment and Treatment Tool™, and Carnes Three Circle Harm Reduction Practice. Participants will also learn about Gendlin’s Focusing/Felt Sense somatic practice.

Didactic information, experiential exercises, and case examples are included. This workshop will be informative for those new to the field of trauma/addiction as well as seasoned practitioners.

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FOAT® Series: Roots, Branches, and Wings

Monday, August 7, 2023    1:00pm - 3:00pm PDT

Poetic Medicine and Poem-Making: The Art of Deep Listening, Attention, Slowing Down, and Silence
Presented by John Fox, PPM

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John Fox, author of Poetic Medicine: The Healing Art of Poem-Making and other writings, is a pioneer in the Poetry Therapy and Expressive Arts fields, and founder of the Institute for Poetic Medicine. In this presentation, John will share how he found the healing power of words and poem-making early in the 1980's, and developed it into an approach that is now practiced all over the world.

Poetry and the elements of poetry are ways to fine-tune the quality of our listening. The art of listening includes being open to what is happening, paying close attention to our experience, and showing respect for a person. The art of listening is connected to slowing down. Silence and quietness help to make listening a generative activity– where deep listening becomes a creative agent that helps ignite ideas in those who are listened to. Participants will have an opportunity to write and share poems, exploring the many dimensions of listening. Applications to working with others will be included.

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IEATA Conference 2023

Sunday, July 16, 2023    10:30am - 12:00pm PT

Self-Compassion Themed Focusing-Oriented Expressive Arts for Primary Caregivers of Pediatric Thalassemia Patients
Presented by Carolyn Tongco, REACE

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Primary caregivers of pediatric thalassemia patients go through multiple layers of stress as they provide care to and fulfill the demanding needs of their sick children. Such responsibilities can lead them to neglect their self-care needs, resulting in poor quality of life for both the caregiver and the patient. Self-compassion has been helpful in promoting resilience against distress. It can be achieved by learning to respond to suffering with kindness, becoming mindful, and understanding that suffering is part of the human experience. Focusing-Oriented Expressive Arts (FOAT®) has been used in a wide variety of populations to help increase self-compassion and resilience. A six-session Self- Compassion Themed FOAT® Program was developed inspired by Laury Rappaport’s Focusing-Oriented Expressive Arts (FOAT®) and Kristin Neff’s Self-Compassion approach to help address the caregiving stress of the primary caregivers of pediatric thalassemia patients. In this presentation, participants will experience some Self-Compassion Themed Focusing-Oriented Expressive Arts (SC-FOAT) exercises for their self-care.

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IEATA Conference 2023

Saturday, July 15, 2023    8:00pm - 9:30pm PT

Resilient Teaching: Expressive Arts among Teachers during the Pandemic
Presented by Dominic Paguio, Ph.D.

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In a study by Rabacal et al. (2020) on the Quality of Life of Filipino teachers, they found that other than the threat to physical health posed by COVID-19, the Pandemic and measures to control its spread also impacted their quality of life and mental health. In this study, expressive arts therapy workshops were held to help address the mental health needs of higher education teachers/professors in three universities and colleges in the Philippines. The sessions were delivered online and were theme-based. The facilitator utilized a Focusing-Oriented Expressive Arts Therapy (FOAT) approach, where a creative expression process ensued after mindfulness exercises. The themes identified included: fear of contracting COVID-19, demand to adapt to unfamiliar teaching modalities, work-life balance, gratitude, and self-care. The expressive arts sessions provided an avenue for safely expressing their fears and concerns and allowed them to explore the protective factors that mitigate the pandemic's effects.

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IEATA Conference 2023

Saturday, July 15, 2023    10:30am - 12:00pm PT

Creative Compassion: Building Relational Empathy through Expressive Arts Focusing Activities
Presented by Freda Blob, CP, Ed, AT, PCT, FOT-FOAT, GDP

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In this workshop you will be introduced to a practice of Expressive Arts Focusing ExAF evolved from Focusing oriented Receptive Art Therapy. The practice enhances a sense of empathy stretching beyond personal preferences and limitations. You are invited to experiment with pastel drawings of Adolf Hölzel as reference pictures. This painter and early pioneer of Modern Arts, art teacher and musician was the first artist who put color and sound in conjunction. His paintings have been performed by dance companies in 2018. You have the possibility to explore the range of intermodal expressions coming from his art. Your doing implies receptive-active arts engagement from the Art Sense. The Art Sense is a body sense expressly referring to the Fine Arts. You will go back and forth between perceiving, sensing and expressing. Your will be able to bridge between the work of the professional artist and your own artistic work from empathic Embodied Aesthetics. Stepping into this practice you get access to a method of Expressive Arts Focusing ExAF that can be integrated in your field of the Expressive Arts without previous knowledge of Focusing or Receptive Art Therapy.

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FOAT® Workshop

Thursday, March 23rd, 2023  10:00am - 1:00pm PDT / 1:00pm - 4:00pm EDT

Focusing-Oriented Expressive Arts (FOAT®) as a Trauma-Informed Approach

Presented by Laury Rappaport, Ph.D., LMFT, ATR-BC, REAT

Offered as part of Expressive Therapies Virtual Summit West

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Focusing-Oriented Expressive Arts (FOAT®) is a mindfulness and body-based approach to the expressive arts that cultivates resilience enhances self-compassion and provides tools to help clients access their innate wisdom toward growth and healing. This 3-hour virtual workshop will present an overview of Focusing-Oriented Expressive Arts (FOAT®) including its foundational principles, main approaches, and applications to individuals and groups within treatment. Participants will be introduced to a 3-phase FOAT® model that illustrates how it can be applied as a trauma-informed approach.  FOAT® can be applied to all clinical contexts, as well as applications in nonclinical contexts (e.g education, coaching, art centers, etc). Didactic material, experiential exercises, and case examples will be used to teach introductory FOAT® concepts and methods. This workshop is beneficial for all counselors and therapists, arts facilitators, educators, and coaches. All  are welcome. Approved for 3 Clock/Credit Hours: ATCB; NASW, MFT; SWNYS, LMHC, LMFT, LCAT (New York state only). Live attendance or viewing the recording with completed assignments will count as a prerequisite for our FOAT® Training Program's Level 1 (begins September 18, 2023).

• Check out Laury Rappaport's featured interview about this workshop on The Creative Psychotherapist Podcast’s episode, "Focusing-Oriented Expressive Arts"!

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FOAT® Training (Introductory Level)

Monday, March 6th, 2023  3:00pm - 6:00pm PST / 6:00pm - 9:00pm EST

Introduction to Focusing-Oriented Expressive Arts (FOAT®)

Facilitated by Laury Rappaport, Ph.D., LMFT, ATR-BC, REAT, and FOAT Faculty

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This course provides an introduction to Focusing-Oriented Expressive Arts (FOAT®) including its history and development, foundational principles, and main theoretical and practice approaches. Based on Eugene Gendlin’s evidence-based Focusing, this training workshop includes learning the main concepts of Focusing Attitude, felt sense, symbol/handle, and felt shift. 

​The course demonstrates user-friendly expressive arts methods for expressing a felt sense and defines the following main approaches– FOAT Check-in, Theme-Directed FOAT, Clearing a Space with Arts, and Working on an Issue. Didactic presentations, experiential practice exercises and examples provide a rich, varied format for learning. Approved for 3 CE (Continuing Education) hours - full CE information here. Live attendance or viewing the recording with completed assignments will count as a prerequisite for our FOAT® Training Program's Level 1 (begins September 18, 2023).

FOAT® Community Gathering

Friday, January 20th, 2023  1:00pm - 3:00pm PST / 4:00pm - 6:00pm EST

FOAT Community, Intentions, and Action Steps 2023

Facilitated by Laury Rappaport, Ph.D., LMFT, ATR-BC, REAT, and FOAT Faculty

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During this gathering, we will take some time to become aware of a wish or intention for ourselves and for the world in this new year. Through the healing power of community, heartfelt vision, externalization, and an action step, our intentions are supported to take root and manifest.

We will begin with a Focusing Attunement to ground ourselves, arrive into the present moment and connect with each other through the beauty of stillness and mindful breathing. After, we will take some time to Focus on what we are each wanting to bring into our lives this year… and also something for our world.  Through a user-friendly approach, we will express these intentions through colors, lines, shapes, images, words, gestures, or sounds.  We will then listen within to see if there is a small action step that feels right to water the seeds of our intentions.  There will be time for sharing in small groups and in the larger group.

FOAT® Series: Roots, Branches, and Wings

Monday, November 7, 2022    1:00PM - 3:00PM PST / 4:00PM - 6:00PM EST

Rhythmic Attunement in Expressive Arts: Attachment, Embodied Empathy, and Interpersonal Neurobiology
Presented by Mitchell Kossak, Ph.D., LMHC, REAT

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Dr. Mitchell Kossak will share about his 1980 meeting of Paolo Knill, Ph.D. (pioneer of intermodal expressive arts)— including reflections about Paolo's profound inspiration in the field worldwide.  After, Mitchell will present his research on rhythmic attunement and how engagement in expressive arts can lead to flow states— or what is referred to as unitive experiences, sometimes amounting to a felt sense of union with other people, other life forms, objects, environments, the divine, or the universe itself.
Therapeutic attunement can be viewed as being based on an embodied awareness of rhythmic flow, and on mutual connections that occur when there is an intense process of deep listening, kinesthetic awareness, and deep attention to what is occurring in the moment—which can be thought of as mindfulness attention.  This presentation will  introduce the basic underlying principles of therapeutic attunement— including concepts of resonance, rhythm, misattunement, embodied empathy, attachment, entrainment, and interpersonal neurobiology that affects us personally and interpersonally.  Experiential exercises are included.

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FOAT® Workshop

Fridays, October 7, 14, 21, and 28, 2022  3:00PM - 5:00PM PDT

FOAT® Tools II: Working with Challenges and Accessing our Body's Creative Wisdom 2022 Series

Facilitated by Doreen Meister, MA, LMFT. Assisted by Lic. Evelyn Ammon and Lic. Frances Ingouville.

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FOAT® Tools II builds on the resilience-enhancing FOAT exercises taught in our foundational courses and teaches new FOAT exercises that help to befriend the more challenging or stressful felt senses that are part of our everyday lives.
During this series, we will introduce you to the following exercises: FOAT® Check-in and What it Needs, Inner Advisor, and Self-Care. Together we will co-create a supportive community to learn and practice these tools for deepening into our authenticity, presence, and creative wisdom – and identify steps toward growth, healing, and change. There will be opportunities to support our connection and deepen our skills of compassionate presence and listening through small and large group sharing.
Note: FOAT® Check-in and What it Needs will be offered 2 times in this series because when it is used as a repeated practice it:

• Deepens the ability to ground ourselves

• Brings a compassionate presence to whatever felt sense is there

• Enhances our authenticity

• Strengthens our inner knowing for how to care for ourselves and challenging felt senses

Approved for 8 CE hours: Click here for CE information.

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FOAT® Workshop

Monday, September 19, 2022   10:00AM - 11:00AM PDT / 1:00PM - 2:00PM EDT

Cultivating Self-Compassion through Focusing-Oriented Expressive Arts (FOAT®) for Self-Care

Presented by Laury Rappaport, Ph.D., MFT, REAT, ATR-BC

Offered through the International Association for Creative Arts in Education and Therapy (IACAET)

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Focusing-Oriented Expressive Arts (FOAT®) is a mindfulness-based, somatic approach to the expressive arts that cultivates self-compassion and enhances resilience. The Focusing Attitude is central to FOAT® practice and teaches how to be curious and “friendly” to all of one’s inner experiences— whether uplifting or painful and difficult. This inner attitude brings a safe holding space within— that carries with it a life enhancing energy. Over time and with practice, the Focusing Attitude evolves into greater self-compassion.
This presentation includes an experiential exercise on the “Focusing Attitude”— that also teaches the basic step of FOAT®: how to access a felt sense— symbolize it as an image, gesture, sound, word, or phrase— and express it through the arts. This FOAT® exercise is a self-care practice for practitioners and can also be applied to working with others.

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FOAT® Workshop

Thursday, August 11, 2022   2:00 - 4:00 PDT / 5:00PM - 7:00PM EDT

Cultivating Compassion For Self And Others Through Focusing-Oriented Expressive Arts (FOAT®)

Presented by Laury Rappaport, Ph.D., MFT, REAT, ATR-BC

Offered through The International Focusing Institute

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This presentation will provide a brief overview of Focusing-Oriented Expressive Arts (FOAT®), including its main approaches— Theme-Directed FOAT®, Clearing a Space with Arts, FOAT® Check-in, and Working on an Issue.

We will do a Theme-Directed FOAT® exercise on Gene Gendlin’s central concept, the Focusing Attitude— being curious and “friendly” to all of one’s inner experiences, whether uplifting or painful and difficult. With practice and time, the Focusing Attitude evolves in greater self-compassion and compassion towards others. This experiential exercise includes user-friendly methods for expressing the felt sense through creative expression. Externalizing the felt sense symbol (word, phrase, image, gesture or sound) helps the Focuser to see clearly what is within, unfolds the felt meaning, and can be a continuing reminder of what is wanting to be carried forward.

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FOAT® Series: Roots, Branches, and Wings

Monday, August 1, 2022    3:00PM - 5:00PM PDT / 6:00PM - 8:00PM EDT

Carrying Focusing Forward is a Creative Process
Presented by Ann Weiser Cornell, Ph.D.

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Ann will tell the story of meeting and learning Focusing from Gene Gendlin 50 years ago, when she was 22— and how Gene encouraged her to develop her own ideas about teaching Focusing, saying “Keep going!” It’s a part of Gene’s philosophy that the only way to be true to an idea or a method is to bring it through your own body and make it your own. After, Ann will share about the development of Inner Relationship Focusing, and how it grew from seeds planted while she was assisting Gene with his first Focusing workshops. Inner Relationship Focusing (IRF) is an approach to Focusing based on cultivating an inner state of calm, curious acceptance toward all aspects of the self, including stressful and judgmental thoughts and all sorts of emotions and body sensations. An important principle is the “radical acceptance of everything,” the assumption that there are no enemies inside, and everything in us deserves and needs compassion for how it is trying to help us. Ann will present the main highlights of Inner Relationship Focusing along with an experiential exercise.

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FOAT® Workshop Series

Fridays, June 17, 24 and July 8, 15, 2022   3:00 - 5:00 PDT / 6:00PM - 8:00PM EDT

FOAT® Tools I: Foundations for Enhancing Resilience 2022

Facilitated by Doreen Meister, MA, LMFT. Assisted by Lic. Evelyn Ammon and Lic. Frances Ingouville

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We are excited to offer this rejuvenating 4-session series!  Our goal is to co-create a supportive group that will meet to practice specific FOAT® exercises to enhance resilience, cultivate self-compassion and compassion toward others. Each week will include one main Theme-based FOAT® integrating Focusing with user-friendly methods for arts expression. Through this weekly FOAT® practice group, small steps towards wellbeing, positive change and growth will be nourished and supported. Open to both those new to and experienced in FOAT®!

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FOAT® Series: Roots, Branches, and Wings

Monday, June 6, 2022    1:00PM - 3:00PM PDT / 4:00PM - 6:00PM EDT

Natalie Rogers, a Mentor and Friend: Person-Centered Expressive Arts and Its Applications
Presented by Anin Utigaard, MA, MFT, REAT

Anin Utigaard, MA, MFT, REAT, met Natalie Rogers, Ph.D., pioneer of Person-Centered Expressive Arts in 1988. Natalie Rogers was the founder of the Person-Centered Expressive Therapy Institute (PCETI), and the daughter of Carl Rogers— a humanistic psychologist who developed the Person-Centered (and Client-Centered) approach to counseling and psychotherapy. Anin will share highlights of what she learned from Natalie through her experiences in many roles (i.e. student, co-facilitator, mentee, colleague, and friend)— and from the legacy that Natalie left to the field and global community.

After, Anin will present the philosophy and foundation with the Person-Centered Expressive Arts Approach and how it can be applied to working with clients, groups, couples, families, and children. She will discuss how the Person-Centered methods assisted her in working with adolescents in a treatment center and private practice. Additionally, Anin will illustrate how the expressive arts helps teens to move through resistances while providing a safe place to express and process their inner life. The presentation includes a Person-Centered experiential exercise, along with opportunities for sharing, reflections, and Q&A.

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FOAT® Related Workshop

Weekly meetings on Fridays from April 29 - May 20, 2022   Starts at 6:30PM EDT

FOAT® and SoulCollage® for Self-Discovery

With Lynn Pollock, LMHC, REAT and Marise Lariviere, LMFT, ATR, SoulCollage® Facilitator

Offered by the Expressive You Online School

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FOAT® Trainers Lynn Pollock and Marise Lariviere invite you to join them for a 4-week online workshop centered around the theme of self-discovery. In this workshop, you will be introduced to the creative and intuitive approach of Focusing-Oriented Expressive Arts (FOAT®). Focusing, a form of felt-sensing, is a practice of allowing our bodies to guide us to deeper self-knowledge and healing. Each week, you will be guided through a FOAT® invitation to delve into parts of your many-faceted self and illustrate your experience through the creation of a SoulCollage® card. The SoulCollage® process is highly conducive to awakening your intuition and empowering inner wisdom. The goal is for participants to: access their inner wisdom, build self-awareness, develop self-compassion, and practice self-care.

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FOAT® Related Workshop

Thursday, April 21, 2022   2:30PM - 5:30PM PDT

Focusing-Oriented Expressive Arts (FOAT®) as a Trauma-Informed Approach

Presented by Laury Rappaport, Ph.D., MFT, REAT, ATR-BC

Offered as part of the Expressive Therapies Summit Los Angeles Conference

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Focusing-Oriented Expressive Arts (FOAT®) is a mindfulness and body-based approach to the expressive arts that cultivates resilience enhances self-compassion and provides tools to help clients access their innate wisdom toward growth and healing. This 3-hour virtual workshop will present an overview of Focusing-Oriented Expressive Arts (FOAT®) including its foundational principles, main approaches, and applications to individuals and groups within treatment. Participants will be introduced to a 3-phase FOAT® model that illustrates how it can be applied as a trauma-informed approach.  FOAT® can be applied to all clinical contexts, as well as applications in nonclinical contexts (e.g education, coaching, art centers, etc). Didactic material, experiential exercises, and case examples will be used to teach introductory FOAT® concepts and methods. This workshop is beneficial for all counselors and therapists, arts facilitators, educators, and coaches. Eligible for 3.0 Clock/Credit Hours.

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FOAT® Series: Roots, Branches, and Wings

Monday, April 4, 2022    1:00PM - 3:00PM PDT

A Focusing Approach to Positivity: Focusing on What You Love and What Matters Most
Presented by Joan Klagsbrun, Ph.D.

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Joan Klagsbrun met Eugene Gendlin in 1976 and maintained a close connection with him through his life, as well as with his wife Mary Hendricks-Gendlin. After Joan shares stories that illuminate what was inspiring about Gene and his teachings, she will present how to integrate Focusing with Positive Psychology.
Focusing, developed by Eugene Gendlin, is an evidence-based approach and an intrinsically optimistic method. It can help us to discover and savor the positive aspects of our Iives. By Focusing on our good experiences, we not only get to the essence of what was so pleasurable or so meaningful, but we deepen our sense of wellbeing and invite it to grow. Research affirms this wisdom of placing attention on positive experiences and feelings. Positive emotions build inner resources to help us become more resilient. People who have a higher ratio of ‘positivity’ to ‘negativity’ also have more energy, more creativity, and better health. Most of us reflexively dwell on our problems and concerns. When we are able to feel gratitude, contentment, or enjoyment, for example, we can actually elevate our mood and think more effectively.
Joan’s presentation will also include an experiential component that includes time to Focus on some pathways to happiness that can strengthen a sense of wellbeing and enrich our lives.

FOAT® Related Workshop

Saturday, March 19, 2022   10:00AM - 12:00PM PDT

The Power of Using Art with Focusing: Building Resilience with FOAT® and SoulCollage®

Presented by Lynn Pollock, MA, LMHC, REAT and Marise Lariviere, LMFT, ATR  |  Offered through The International Focusing Institute

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Lynn and Marise invite you to join for an introduction to Focusing Oriented Expressive Arts (FOAT®), a Focusing approach that incorporates the expressive arts with Gendlin’s Focusing to enhance and deepen inner knowing. In this webinar we will review the basics of Focusing and FOAT® and engage in a simple collage process to experience this powerful approach. You will be guided in a theme-directed FOAT® invitation, to delve into a part of your many-faceted self and illustrate your experience through the creation of a SoulCollage® card. The SoulCollage® process is highly conducive to awakening your intuition and empowering inner wisdom. This webinar is hands-on and no prior Focusing or arts experience is required. The time will be spent in some didactic learning and then you will be given ample time to create your collage. After, we will open it up for sharing and questions.

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FOAT® Series: Roots, Branches, and Wings

Monday, February 7, 2021    1:00PM - 3:00PM PST

Growing Up with Art Therapy: A Glorious Adventure for Almost 6 Decades!

Presented by Judy A. Rubin, Ph.D., ATR-BC, HLM

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Judy Rubin is a pioneer art therapist who began her work in 1963, when the profession itself was in the process of being born. In the first part of this presentation, Judy will share stories from the early days of the development of art therapy in the United States. Making it up as she went along, Judy had the good fortune to meet some generous visionaries whose guidance was critical— including Erik Erikson, Margaret Naumburg, Edith Kramer, and Irene Jakab. Next, Judy will show videos from different periods in the growth of art and all the expressive arts therapies, where you will meet others who helped to invent these professions. Judy will also talk about what she learned as the “Art Lady” on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and its effect on all of her later work. Additionally, Judy will discuss her hopes and vision for the future, including her dream of providing a streaming library where people can view classic and contemporary films— and can learn by watching master clinicians conducting thoughtful and sensitive therapy using all of the expressive arts. 

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IEATA 14th International Conference

Sunday, January 16, 2022    1:15AM - 2:45AM PST

Into the More – Exploring the Transformative Potential of Expressive Avenues

Presented by Freda Blob, M.Psych., M.Ed., Cert. FOT/FOAT®, Cert. GD®P  (Germany)

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Art making is not about who is me. It is about releasing creative life energy into something bigger. To express this experience we use different modalities or avenues. The avenue most favoured may indicate the most transformative potential or shifting power. We ask: What does such favoured avenue hold for a person's growth and healing process? The workshop will introduce into the experiential concept of the avenues (Gene Gendlin) and its application in Focusing Oriented Expressive Arts Therapy FOAT® (Laury Rappaport). You will learn about the body sense as the juncture between the modalities and explore how the body sense is leading from one expressive avenue into the other. Being with how you work on one avenue - the favoured one -, you get insight in the essential of each avenue. New experiences of vastness, synchronicity and unity will show up very naturally.

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IEATA 14th International Conference

Saturday, January 15, 2022    8:15PM - 9:45PM PST

Introduction to FOAT® and SoulCollage® for Growth and Transformation

Presented by Lynn Pollock, MA, LMHC, REAT | Marise Lariviere, LMFT, ATR

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This is an introductory workshop combining FOAT® and SoulCollage® - two creative and insightful approaches to inner exploration. In this workshop, participants will be introduced to FOAT® as a gentle and curious way to explore their inner experience and access the felt sense. Then they will learn the fun and powerful artistic process of SoulCollage® that uses images as a means of expressing their inner wisdom. Blending FOAT® with SoulCollage® fosters a profound experience, allowing our body to guide us to deeper self-knowledge. To give participants a taste of this powerful medium, we will briefly review the basics of FOAT® and SoulCollage®, create a card or two, and engage in an intermodal experience to deepen insight and self-discovery. Open to people who are new to FOAT® as well as those with previous FOAT® experience!

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IEATA 14th International Conference

Friday, January 14, 2022    3:00PM - 4:30PM PST

Focusing Oriented Expressive Arts (FOAT®) Source of Strength

Presented by Doreen Meister, MA, LMFT | Grace Brillantes-Evangelista, Ph.D., RPsy, CSCLP

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We will introduce participants to the embodied mindfulness practice of FOAT® and facilitate the process of accessing the body’s wisdom. They will be invited to become aware of something in their lives that is or has been a source of strength or support. This felt sense is then expressed creatively through visual art, writing, gesture, movement, or sound. The FOAT® Source of Strength can be carried forward and applied in the participant’s current life circumstance.

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IEATA 14th International Conference

Friday, January 14, 2022    1:15PM - 2:45PM PST

Cultivating Self-Compassion and Enhancing Resilience through Focusing-Oriented Expressive Arts (FOAT®)

Presented by Laury Rappaport, Ph.D., LMFT, REAT, ATR-BC​

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Focusing-Oriented Expressive Arts (FOAT®) is a mindfulness and body-based approach to the expressive arts that cultivates self-compassion and enhances resilience. This workshop will provide a brief overview of FOAT® and present two of its main approaches:

1. The Focusing Attitude

2. Expressing a felt sense through the arts

The Focusing Attitude teaches how to be “curious and friendly to all of one’s inner experiences” whether uplifting or painful and difficult. This inner attitude brings a safe holding space within that carries with it a life enhancing energy. Over time, the Focusing Attitude evolves into greater self-compassion. The workshop will also include an experiential exercise on the Focusing Attitude that teaches how to access a felt sense; symbolize it as an image, gesture, sound, word, or phrase; and express it through the arts. A brief example will also be included. This workshop highlights how FOAT® accesses our inner wisdom and creativity, enhances self-compassion and naturally unfolds steps toward growth and healing.​

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