REAT® FAQs

Look for an Expressive Art Therapy Institute founded by or currently has courses/classes taught by a Registered Expressive Arts Therapist REAT® and has facilitators/instructors who had training and experience as a creative or expressive arts therapist with equivalent qualifications set forth in IEATA’s general registration REAT Standards and Requirements .

IEATA does not endorse or approve any programs or institutes. The directory list is composed of institutes, organizations, or individuals, who are IEATA members that offer training in, or training related to expressive arts. You can consult our Professional Education Directory for current listings.

Supervision: is defined as live, direct contact with a supervisor for the purpose of reviewing therapeutic work either in an individual or group setting. Direct contact may be on-site or through video or audiocassettes accompanied by transcripts of sessions. A ratio of ten hours of client contact to one hour of supervision is recommended. Supervision time includes time for reviewing work and giving feedback to supervisee.

Time Frame: Post-master’s supervised hours must be collected within 48 months after you graduate from your master’s degree and obtain your expressive arts training. Hours you earned while you are in your graduate program do not count towards the 1,000 hours post-masters required for REAT, but they do count for the supervision hours in your practicum requirement.

Education Categories: Depending on the application category that meets your education program, you will have different supervised clinical practicum and individual and/or group supervisory requirements. The direct clinical hours and individual and/or group supervision hours cannot begin until you have successfully completed the majority of your master’s program and majority of your expressive arts training hours sufficient to qualify you to begin practicum in your masters/expressive arts training program. You can have a combination of individual and group supervision sessions in general a supervision session is: 1 individual supervision hour which is equal to 2 group supervision hours.

Category A: Masters Expressive Arts Therapy

• 500 hours practicum of supervised individual clinical work
• 50 hours of supervised individual clinical session; or
• 100 hours of supervised group clinical session

Category B: Masters Counseling w/Training Expressive Arts Therapy Institute

• 200 hours practicum of supervised individual clinical work
• 25 hours of supervised individual clinical session; or
• 50 hours of supervised group clinical session

Category C: Masters Fine Arts w/ Training Expressive Arts Therapy Institute & Psychology, and Therapeutic Process

• 500 hours practicum of supervised individual clinical work
• 50 hours of supervised individual clinical session; or
• 100 hours of supervised group clinical session

Category D: Doctoral Expressive Arts Therapy

• 1000 hours practicum of supervised individual clinical work
• 100 hours of supervised individual clinical session; or
• 200 hours of supervised group clinical session

Remember that you can have more than one REAT supervisor, so if you want to explore other modalities please use the REAT Supervisor Directory to find options.

We encourage whenever possible to find a qualified REAT supervisor; however, the following exception is allowed:

• If access to a REAT is impossible, a case-by-case evaluation of another supervisor will be made by the Professional Standards Committee for Expressive Arts Therapists, prior to their submission of an application, at the applicant’s request.
• The non-REAT supervisor will be considered in the following manner: A non-REAT potential supervisor must be a licensed therapist, counselor, psychologist, psychiatrist, or other licensed mental health master-level professional for example Social Worker, who is certified as either a Drama Therapist, Music Therapist, Art Therapist, Etc., or one of the other creative arts therapy professions. They must send in a copy of their resume/CV, including information on their own training and supervision regarding any creative arts background and expressive arts therapy, along with a professional philosophical statement explaining their expertise and use of intermodal expressive arts therapy.

IEATA is an international organization. As long as your Master’s degree is accredited in your country, it is accepted and welcomed here. If it is not accredited, you must include an official course syllabus for your program in your application.

You have the option to find a Master’s degree program that includes the Expressive Arts Therapy training that aligns with the REAT EXA Institute definition. Also, some applicants choose to find Expressive Arts Therapy training separate from their Master’s program.