What is an ETC Assessment?
An ETC assessment is an assessment within the structure of the Expressive Therapies Continuum. It would be used by an art therapist (or another kind of expressive therapist) to determine how a client’s nervous system processes information; this information can be physical in nature, emotional, or intellectual.
In truth, our nervous systems process all three kinds of information simultaneously, but for each person there’s usually one dominant way of processing it all.
Dominant Information Processing Styles
The ETC assessment is given to discover which way is dominant—this matters because a person’s dominant information processing style is going to influence how they primarily experience the world around them.
Examples of Information Processing Styles
Some people use their bodies to make sense of things; they may work in fields that require them to use physical means to accomplish tasks. Other people use their feelings to make sense of things; they may work in fields that require them to use emotional skills to accomplish tasks.
Still other people use their thoughts to make sense of things; they may work in fields that require them to use intellectual operations to accomplish tasks.
Rationale for Expressive Therapies Continuum Assessment
Determining how a client makes sense of their experiences is important because treatment should be shaped around the way the client most naturally functions. Ignoring this could lead to treatment that stalls out or treatment that never really gets much farther than the starting gate because the client can’t relate to it.
ETC assessment gives the client a way to convey nervous system data they might not even be aware of; much of it is nonconscious, and most of it is so automatic and natural that an individual likely has minimal awareness of processing information in a way that’s unique to them.
Subtypes of Information Processing Styles in the Expressive Therapies Continuum
Now let’s get a little more specific about things: there’s more to ETC assessment than determining whether someone primarily processes information through physical channels, emotional channels, or intellectual channels.
In Expressive Therapies Continuum parlance, physical information processing could be Kinesthetic or Sensory. Emotional information processing could be Perceptual or Affective. Intellectual information processing could be Cognitive or Symbolic.
Levels of the Expressive Therapies Continuum
The physical level of the Expressive Therapies Continuum is the Kinesthetic/Sensory level, the emotional level is the Perceptual/Affective level, and the intellectual level is the Cognitive/Symbolic level.
The relationship among these levels can be seen in a schematic diagram in this article about the Expressive Therapies Continuum; each level is actually its own continuum of either physical, emotional, or intellectual experiencing.
Constellation of Information Processing Styles
Every person has a dominant way of processing information, as has already been stated, and an ETC assessment can yield pretty granular results about how a person’s dominant style compares to their use of the other styles.
I call these results a person’s constellation of information processing styles. As with any constellation in the night sky, some stars shine brightly while others are dim by comparison. ETC assessment can reveal which information processing styles are bright stars in a person’s way of experiencing life and which styles are dim.
Treatment Within the Structure of the Expressive Therapies Continuum
Generally speaking, a person who’s come for treatment is experiencing imbalance—internal needs and external demands are clashing. They need a way to rebalance the way their nervous system processes information so they can gain full access to all information processing channels.
ETC assessment is a tool for determining the individual’s constellation of information processing styles and developing a treatment plan that starts on the client’s “brightest star”, gradually and organically incorporating the dim stars and rebalancing the amount of energy among them so the person can detect all of them and use them to guide the integration of internal and external data.
Assessment Within the Structure of the Expressive Therapies Continuum
Interested in learning more about ETC assessment? Check out this longer article about assessment within the structure of the Expressive Therapies Continuum. It’ll introduce you to the assessment protocol, help you understand more about information processing styles, and present you with a vignette about one of my many experiences using ETC assessment in clinical work.
Expert Expressive Therapies Continuum Services for Therapists
Are you looking for more guidance about the Expressive Therapies Continuum? I have been helping therapists discover the ETC and its nuances for over 15 years, and I’d love to help you too. I offer webinars, virtual Q&As, and other ways to grow in your understanding.
A Free Expressive Therapies Continuum Bibliography
Feel free to contact me about other opportunities to meet your needs, such as speaking engagements. Sign up for my Expressive Therapies Continuum newsletter and be the first to know about upcoming events!
You’ll receive a FREE ETC bibliography to support your interest in expanding your familiarity with this ahead-of-its time, nervous system-oriented framework.
Expressive Therapies Continuum-based Art Therapy
If you know of anyone whose stars all seem to have grown dim, please let them know I’d be happy to have a conversation with them about how art therapy with me (including an ETC assessment) can help them bring energy and light back to the way they experience life.
I serve adults in Texas, Indiana, and Arizona through online art therapy, and I’d love to help the special people in your life shine bright.
References:
Hinz, L. D. (2020). Expressive Therapies Continuum: A framework for using art in therapy (2nd ed.). Routledge.
Lusebrink, V. B. (2010). Assessment and therapeutic application of the Expressive Therapies Continuum: Implications for brain structures and functions. Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 27(4), 168-177.
VanMeter, M. L., & Hinz, L. D. (2024). A deeper dive into the Expressive Therapies Continuum; Structure, function, and the creative dimension. Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 41(2), 107-110.