Creative
Mindfulness Media

Publishing home of the institute for creative mindfulness

Welcome to Creative Mindfulness Media, the publishing home of the Institute for Creative Mindfulness. We are committed to publishing exceptional materials addressing topics in the areas of trauma recovery, addiction recovery, and the use of embodied expressive arts approaches to create healing and wellness.

Process Not Perfection: Expressive Arts Solutions for Trauma Recovery by Dr. Jamie Marich

There is no one-size-fits-all solution to healing the wounds of traumatic experiences, although most survivors agree that just talking about the trauma does not work. Expressive arts therapy offers a wide range of potential solutions for trauma survivors by taking an all of the above approach to creative practices, working with multiple expressive pathways in a variety of combinations. This book invites you into artmaking, music, dancing, movement, writing, and other expressive practices to both cultivate your existing strengths and to help you step outside of your comfort zone. Explore how the practices of expressive arts can best support your healing and recovery journey.

also AVAILABLE!

The Process Not Perfection Book Course based on the innovative new volume!

Provides 20 CE Credits: APA, OSCMFT; NBCC Credits not available
Credits can also be applied to ICM Certificate of Expressive Arts Therapy

Proceso no Perfección: Soluciones de artes expresivas para la recuperación del trauma (Spanish Edition)

No existe una solución única para sanar las heridas de las experiencias traumáticas, aunque la mayoría de los sobrevivientes están de acuerdo en que solo hablar sobre el trauma no funciona. La terapia de artes expresivas ofrece una amplia variedad de soluciones potenciales para los sobre- vivientes de trauma considerando lo anterior en las prácticas creativas, trabajando con múltiples vías expresivas en una variedad de combinaciones. Este libro te invita a la creación artística, la música, el baile, el movimiento, la escritura y otras prácticas expresivas para cultivar tus fortalezas existentes y ayudarte a salir de tu zona de comodidad. Puedes ir a tu propio ritmo mientras exploras cómo las prácticas de las artes expresivas pueden apoyar mejor tu viaje de sanación y recuperación.

Click here to download the Spanish language press release. 

Para llegar a los mercados internacionales de la manera más rentable, el libro se puede comprar fácilmente en el sitio web de Amazon según el país utilizando este enlace.

To reach international markets in the most cost-effective way, the book can most easily be ordered on an individual country’s Amazon marketplace site.

More about Process Not Perfection

March 2019: Dr. Jamie’s guest blog at Liv’s Recovery Kitchen
April 2019: Dr. Jamie’s blog The Power of Process, The Magic of Expressive Arts Therapy
April 2019: Dr. Jamie’s podcast on expressive arts therapy by Clearly Clinical
April 2019: Dr. Mary’s blog I Didn’t Sign Up For This: Lessons from My Apple Butter
April 2019: Dr. Jamie’s blog The Speechie’s Process
April 2019: Dr. Jamie’s podcast on The Trauma Therapist with Guy McPherson
April 2019: Dr. Jamie’s interview with Gary Enos of Addiction Professional
May 2019: Dr. Jamie’s blog The Practice of Buying Yourself Flowers

August 2019: Dr. Jamie’s blog Did I Just Write a Song?

Trauma and the 12 Steps: Daily Meditations and Reflections and Workbook

Purchase your signed copy (by Jamie) of the Trauma and the 12 Steps: Daily Meditations and Reflections or Trauma and the 12 Steps: Trauma Responsive Workbook or both!

Don’t forget to check out the new revised and expanded edition of Trauma and the 12 Steps (North Atlantic Books, 2020).

Price includes shipping and handling via USPS.

Experience trauma-informed recovery one day at a time…

In the tradition of great recovery meditation readers, Dr. Jamie Marich (author of Trauma and the 12 Steps) brings you a day-by-day approach to deepening your recovery process. She is joined by her friend and long-time collaborator Dr. Stephen Dansiger to teach you how to more effectively work a program on a day-by-day basis. As Marich writes in Trauma and the 12 Steps, it is not enough just to hear a slogan like “one day at a time” and be given an instant solution to potentially very complex problems. People in recovery need to practice living the small steps.
Each page of this book is designed to help you engage in practice that will hopefully translate into your life. Every day, you are presented with:

  • An inspirational quote from people who have deeply influenced Jamie and Steve
  • A trauma-informed reflection
  • A simple 3-5 minute meditation or expressive arts practice
  • A prayer or intention

​This reader is appropriate for people on all paths of recovery, however you may define recovery at this moment in your life. Whether its alcohol, drugs, codependency, food, shopping, problematic sexual acting out, compulsive Internet use, or other trauma-based dissociation that keeps you stuck, may you find ideas for helping you to engage more fully with the present day.

How exactly do I work the steps?​

Working the steps is a foundational aspect of 12-step programs, and different fellowships, sponsors, and treatment centers have their own approaches to taking people through this journey. This step workbook, brought to you by Dr. Jamie Marich (author of Trauma and the 12 Steps) and her long-time friend and collaborator Dr. Stephen Dansiger, is the first of its kind. They designed this workbook with a focus on trauma sensitivity to further assist people with their intentions for recovery. Unhealed trauma is a blocking factor and why many people in recovery stop short of engaging in step work. In this workbook, Jamie and Steve seek to break down the process in a gentle yet action-oriented manner. Each step contains:

  • A personal reflection from both Jamie and Steve on how they work the step
  • A teaching on how unhealed trauma blocks may make a step difficult, with solutions for how to address
  • Brainstorming activities for writing, guided by questions
  • Expressive arts options offered in place or in addition to writing
  • A specially-prepared meditation for each step​

​This step workbook also offers variations for people who are working the step for the first time, and for those who may be on a repeat journey through the steps. The definition of recovery embraced by the authors is very broad—so whether you have a chemical or behavioral compulsivity, or whether your path is simply one of trauma and mental health recovery—the pages of this workbook will offer something for you!

More Titles From Creative Mindfulness Media

Tabbara, K. (Producer) & Marich, J. (Director and Executive Producer) (2013) Dancing Mindfulness: LIVE [Educational Instruction Video]. Warren, OH: Mindful Ohio.

Marich, J. (2013). Creative Mindfulness: 20+ Strategies for Wellness & Recovery. Warren, OH: Cornersburg Media/Mindful Ohio.

Grace of a Woman (2012): A Collection of Jamie Marich’s singer-songwriter creations with multiple collaborators.

Be sure to check out these other titles, available on Amazon and wherever books and media are sold:

Marich, J. (2020). Trauma and the 12 steps: An inclusive guide to enhancing recovery. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.

Marich, J. & Dansiger, S. (2018). EMDR Therapy & Mindfulness for Trauma-Focused Care. Springer Publishing Company.

Marich, J. (2015). Dancing Mindfulness: A Creative Path to Healing and Transformation. Woodstock, VT: SkyLight Paths Press.

Marich, J. (2014). Trauma Made Simple: Competencies in Assessment, Treatment, and Working with Survivors. Eau Claire, WI: PESI Education & Media.

Marich, J. (2011). EMDR Made Simple: 4 Approaches for Using EMDR with Any Client. Eau Claire, WI: Premier Education & Media.