Judith Greer Essex

Educational Background
Prof. Dr. Judith Greer Essex earned her Ph.D. in Expressive Arts Therapy, magna cum laude, at the European Graduate School (EGS), where her dissertation explored the metaphors that shape the field. She holds an M.A. in Dance/Movement Therapy from UCLA, where she designed a residential program for dual-diagnosed teens. She also earned an M.A. in Counseling Psychology (With Honors) from National University, sat for the California LMFT boards, and is a licensed counseling psychologist. Her B.A. in Dance and Theater is from Brigham Young University.

Current Roles and Professional Work
Prof. Essex is a faculty member at EGS, teaching in both the master’s and doctoral programs. She is Director of the Expressive Arts Institute in San Diego, leads supervision groups, and maintains a limited private practice. She is an active member of IEATA, serves on the Board of Directors of the Expressive Arts Foundation, and is also on the editorial board of Eco-poiesis: A Journal of Ecological and Cultural Aesthetics.

Areas of Research, Teaching, and Practice
Her current research and teaching interests center on the body as a central presence in art-making, encompassing performance, somatic inquiry, and trauma recovery. She is deeply engaged with feminist and woman-centered inquiries, exploring how feminist theory has illuminated the abuse of women and children and reshaped therapeutic practice. Her work celebrates myth, image, goddess traditions, and the role of imagination in healing.

She also studies the creative drive of early humans, biophilia (our innate love of nature), poetry as balm, and diverse worldviews—including queer and more-than-human perspectives.

Artistic Practice and Passion for the Field
Prof. Essex is a lifelong journal writer. She teaches The Illuminated Journal, an integrative practice combining writing, drawing, collage, and painting. She is currently studying with poet Elizabeth McKim and preparing a chapbook of her own poetry as well as a text on her journal method. In 2005, she was the Artist-in-Residence and performed her one-woman show, Red Moon. As part of that assignment, she held ensemble improvisation classes for the students.

Her personal practice includes movement, writing, and artistic exploration. She advocates for what she calls an “aesthetic revolution”: a return to aesthetics in all areas of life as a source of individual and collective well-being.

Selected Publications and Projects

• Mastering the Practice of Expressive Arts Therapy: A Practitioner’s Guide (Jessica Kingsley Publishers)
• Numerous articles in Poiesis: A Journal of the Arts and Communication, including:
  • “Encountering (An) Other in Writing and Retreat” (2022)
  • “The Revolutionizing Effect of Aesthetic Beauty” (2021)
  • “Dance and Embodiment”
  • “Embodying Scholarship” (20th Anniversary Edition, 2015)
  • “Community Art: A 30-Year Retrospective” (2005)
  • “A Small and Artful World” (2003)
  • Selected poetry, including Is That Girl…? (2024), California (2023), Sing or Sink in the Mud (2013), “Aubade to the Sass-Fee Glacier” (2008), Cedar Fire Fragment (2004), Horseplay (2002), and Prayer for 2000 (2000).

Judith Greer Essex also serves as an Editor for Eco-poiesis and co-presented Animus Mundi at the Spring Symposium in Costa Rica, 2024.  In San Diego, she co-led a project funded by the $1M Prebys Spark Grant, training 50 teaching-artists to bring expressive arts approaches into the public school system.