EXIT Group Leader Certification

Expressive Arts in Transition (EXIT)

📍 Oslo, Norway

📅 May 10–15, 2027
6-Day Intensive Training + 20 Hours of Supervision

Travel Days: May 9 and May 16, 2027

Facilitated by Melinda Ashley Meyer, PhD & Shabrae Jackson, PhD Candidate

Become Certified in a Research-Based Expressive Arts Approach for Trauma Recovery, Resilience, and Post-Traumatic Growth

Are you working with individuals or groups affected by stress, trauma, displacement, major life transitions, or social change?

The EXIT (Expressive Arts in Transition) Group Leader Certification provides professionals with practical tools, a structured group model, and expressive arts-based methods that support healing, resilience, integration, and post-traumatic growth.

Grounded in Intermodal Expressive Arts (EXA), EXIT combines movement, visual arts, storytelling, ritual, imagination, and creative expression to help individuals reconnect with their strengths, resources, and sense of possibility—even after difficult life experiences.

Upon completion of the training, supervised practice, and certification requirements, participants will be certified as EXIT Group Leaders.

What You’ll Leave With

✔ Certification as an EXIT Group Leader

✔ A complete research-based group intervention model

✔ Trauma-informed expressive arts facilitation skills

✔ Practical experience leading an EXIT group

✔ 20 hours of professional supervision

✔ Tools that can be applied across educational, healthcare, community, integration, leadership, and humanitarian settings

✔ Access to an international network of practitioners working with resilience, healing, and transformation

What is the EXIT Model?

EXIT (Expressive Arts in Transition) is a group intervention based on art and expression methods within the field of Intermodal Expressive Arts (IMEXA).

The model was developed to provide practical tools and creative pathways for people experiencing stress, trauma, displacement, major life transitions, illness, or other challenging life circumstances.

Traumatic experiences often affect both body and mind. Common reactions include:

• Insomnia
• Anxiety and restlessness
• Headaches and muscle pain
• Anger and emotional overwhelm
• Difficulty concentrating
• Social withdrawal
• Loss of meaning and hope

In many situations, words alone are not enough.

Through movement, visual art, storytelling, ritual, imagination, and other expressive arts modalities, EXIT creates a safe and structured platform for communication, reflection, and connection.

Creative expression allows participants to access inner resources, strengthen resilience, and discover new possibilities for meaning-making and growth.

Rather than focusing solely on symptoms, EXIT supports participants in transforming lived experiences into strengths and capacities for the future.

Research Foundation

EXIT was developed and researched in collaboration with the Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies (NKVTS) between 2008 and 2014.

Research findings demonstrated:

✔ Reduction in post-traumatic stress symptoms

✔ Increased optimism and future orientation

✔ Strengthened resilience and coping abilities

✔ Improved social connection and participation

The documentary film EXIT illustrates how expressive arts methods can mobilize hope, creativity, dreams, and community in the aftermath of difficult life experiences.

Who Is This Certification For?

The EXIT model can be applied in a wide range of professional settings and populations.

This training is particularly relevant for:

• Therapists and counsellors
• Expressive arts practitioners
• Social workers
• Psychologists
• Teachers and educators
• Community leaders
• Health professionals
• Refugee and integration workers
• NGO and humanitarian workers
• Group facilitators
• Leadership and organizational development professionals

EXIT has been successfully applied with refugees, youth, schools, workplaces, communities, and individuals navigating major life transitions.

The model has also proven highly relevant in integration and inclusion work across educational, community, and professional settings.

What You Will Learn

Learn the Complete EXIT Model

• Understand the philosophy and structure of the EXIT intervention
• Learn how to facilitate each phase of the process
• Gain confidence implementing the model within your professional setting

Develop Trauma-Informed Facilitation Skills

• Create safe and supportive group environments
• Understand stress and trauma responses
• Work with resilience-building approaches through expressive arts

Apply Intermodal Expressive Arts Methods

• Integrate movement, visual arts, storytelling, sound, and ritual
• Facilitate transitions between artistic modalities
• Support non-verbal and symbolic forms of expression

Support Healing, Resilience, and Growth

• Help participants reconnect with strengths and resources
• Foster belonging, inclusion, and hope
• Facilitate pathways toward post-traumatic growth

Certification Requirements

To participate in the EXIT Group Leader Certification, applicants must have at least one of the following:

✅ Completed the Introduction to EXIT Course

✅ Participated in an EXIT Group

For questions regarding eligibility, please contact us.

Practicum and Supervision

As part of the certification process, participants are required to organize their own practicum group consisting of a minimum of 8 participants.

The group should be facilitated by:

• Two students working together, or
• One student together with an experienced group leader familiar with participatory methods

The practicum provides an opportunity to apply the EXIT model in a real-world setting while receiving professional support and supervision.

Supervision

Certification includes 20 hours of online supervision.

Supervision takes place while participants are implementing their practicum groups and provides:

• Professional guidance
• Reflection and feedback
• Case consultation
• Support for integrating the EXIT model into practice
• Ongoing development of facilitation skills

Training Faculty

Professor Melinda Ashley Meyer

FOTO: Isaia Contreras Holsæter

Melinda Ashley Meyer is Director and Co-Founder of the Norwegian Institute for Expressive Art and Communication (NIKUT), researcher, educator, psychotherapist, and internationally recognized pioneer in expressive arts, trauma recovery, conflict transformation, and community healing.

She formerly served as Director of the Expressive Arts Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding Program at the European Graduate School (EGS) and has worked extensively with refugees, torture survivors, and communities affected by conflict for more than four decades.

As project leader of the NKVTS research study on EXIT, Melinda helped establish one of Norway’s most recognized expressive arts interventions for trauma recovery and resilience-building.

She has presented lectures, trainings, and workshops internationally throughout Europe, Israel, Eastern Europe, North America, Central America, and South America.

In recognition of her contributions to refugees, expressive arts, and community development, she received the King’s Medal of Merit in 2023.

Shabrae Jackson, PhD Candidate

Shabrae Jackson is an expressive arts facilitator, educator, coach, and community-builder with more than 25 years of international experience.

Her work focuses on belonging, trauma-informed practice, healing, peacebuilding, group dynamics, and collective transformation.

She is the founder of Collective Tapestry and serves as faculty member and co-coordinator of the Expressive Arts and Global Health Program at the European Graduate School (EGS).

Shabrae brings extensive experience designing training programs, facilitating community processes, and developing arts- and body-based methodologies that support individual and collective well-being.

She holds a BA in Social Work, a postgraduate degree in Sport for Conflict Transformation and Social Coexistence from the University of Catalunya, and an MA in Expressive Arts for Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding. She is currently a PhD Candidate at the European Graduate School (EGS).

Registration & Pricing

Early Bird Rate

NOK 14,000 per participant

Register before December 1, 2026

Standard Rate

NOK 15,500 per participant

Registrations received after December 1, 2026

Registration Terms and Conditions

Registration is binding upon payment of a NOK 2,500 deposit.

The deposit is non-refundable.

In the event of documented illness (medical certificate required), 50% of the remaining course fee will be refunded.

Maximum refund in cases of documented illness:

• Early Bird Registration: NOK 5,750
• Standard Registration: NOK 6,500

Course Venue

Sagene Samfunnshus
Oslo, Norway

Ready to Become an EXIT Group Leader?

Join a growing international network of practitioners using expressive arts to support healing, resilience, integration, and transformation.

Upon successful completion of the training, practicum, and supervision requirements, participants will receive certification as an EXIT Group Leader.

Questions?

📧 post@nikut.no

Register

Click the registration button below to secure your place.

Spaces are limited. Early registration is recommended.

Litterature

• Marianne Vervliet, Melinda Ashley Meyer DeMott, Marianne Jakobsen, Trond Heirm.fl: Health and Diasabilities. The mental health of unaccompanied refugee minors on arrival in the host country. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 2014
• Jakobsen, Meyer DeMott, Heir: Prevalence of psychiatric disorders among unaccompanied minor refugee boys. Clinical Practice & Epidemiology in Mental Health. Bentham Science Publishers, 2014
• Jakobsen, Meyer DeMott, Heir: Multi Casi – Validation of a data based questionnaire, 2015
• Jakobsen, Meyer DeMott, Heir: Mental health of unaccompanied refugee boys – a longitudinal study, 2017
• Meyer DeMott, Melinda: Art as Testimony – Breaking the silence in: Do we really care? Cambridge Scholars Publishing (level one) Nordic work with traumatised refugees, 2014           
• Film: Skagen/Meyer  EXIT, 2014

Meyer, M.A. (1999). In exile from the body: creating a play room in the waiting room. In: S.K. Levine & E.G. Levine (eds). Foundations of Expressive Arts Therapy. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 241–255. 

Meyer, M.A. (2004). The garden of praise and lament. Poiesis, A Journal of the Arts and Communication 6: 164–172. 

Meyer DeMott, M. A. (2007). Repatriation and Testimony. Expressive Arts Therapy. A phenomenological study of Bosnian war refugees with focus on returning home, testimony and film. PhD Thesis: Arts, Health & Society Division (EGS) in Switzerland and Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies, Oslo. 

Meyer DeMott, M. A., Jakobsen, M., Wentzel-Larsen, T. & Heir, T. (2017). A Controlled Early Group Intervention Study for Unaccompanied Minors: Can Expressive Arts Alleviate Symptoms of Trauma and Enhance Life Satisfaction? Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 58, 510-518. 

Meyer DeMott, M. A. (2017). Reconstructing meaning after trauma: Expressive Arts: A Group Intervention for Unaccompanied Minor Asylum Seekers and Young Adults. Elisabeth Altmeier, Elsevier

Extra:

• Levine, P. A., & Frederick, A. (1997). Waking the tiger: Healing trauma. North Atlantic Books.
• van der Kolk, B. (2014). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. Viking.
• Boss, P. (1999). Ambiguous loss: Learning to live with unresolved grief. Harvard University Press.

NIKUT reserves the right to make changes to the program, pricing, and teaching faculty if necessary.

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