About this Event
- This is an in-person conversation event with audience Q&A. You can also register for the livestream.
Stories shape the ways we understand ourselves, one another, and the world around us. Poetry offers a way to be in deeper relationship with those stories, bridging the somatic and the intellectual, the known and the imagined. The protective cover of metaphor and sensory imagery allows us to tell stories that are often beyond words, moving between emotional safety and edge. The field of poetry therapy invites people to encounter experiences that once felt unknowable, transforming isolation into connection and pain into possibility. The sharing of poetry offers both poet and audience an opportunity to bear witness to experiences that often go unheard, re-author narratives shaped by oppression and marginalization, and imagine new ways of being rooted in healing, belonging, and collective liberation.
Join CIIS Expressive Arts Therapy faculty member Jenna Robinson in conversation with Dean of Faculty Development, Community, and Collaboration Danielle Drake for an evening exploring the transformative possibilities of poetry therapy, expressive arts therapy and spoken word. Celebrating the launch of the new Poetry Therapy Certification Track within the CIIS Expressive Arts Therapy program, this event features live performances woven throughout the evening by Bay Area poets and CIIS expressive arts therapy alumni. Co-sponsored by the National Association for Poetry Therapy, the event invites participants to experience poetry not only as an art form, but as a practice of witnessing, relationship, and transformation.
Danielle Drake, Ph.D. is Dean of Faculty Development, Community and Collaboration at the California Institute of Integral Studies. She earned her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Fielding Graduate University with her dissertation study focused on the use of creativity and spirituality among African Americans. As a result of her dissertation research, she developed and conducted an initial validation of the Black Spiritual Creativity Scale (BSCS) which is now in use in several research projects and studies. Dr. Drake was Associate Professor and Program Chair of the Counseling Psychology, Expressive Arts Therapy M.A. program. As a psychologist at Rafiki Coalition, Dr. Drake focuses on holistic health and psychospiritual wellness of clients in the Bayview / Hunters Point community of San Francisco. Dr. Drake’s clinical work as an Expressive Arts Therapist engages clients individually and groups in creative writing, music, and visual arts processes. She is a spoken word artist and former Oakland Poetry Slam Champion and also the author of Cast Iron Life: A Collection of Poems and Recipes.
Jenna Robinson (M.A., LMFT, PTR) is a multi-racial, Bay Area-based poetry therapist, professor, and performance poet informed by a narrative worldview. A two-time Hawaiʻi Slam champion and 2015 National Poetry Slam finalist, she has facilitated multimodal poetry therapy workshops with youth, adults, and families across California and Hawaiʻi. Through her master’s program and clinical training in family violence and poetry therapy, Jenna has developed a therapy approach melding narrative therapy, liberation psychology, expressive arts, spoken word poetry, and collective practices. She values working alongside people responding to trauma, those navigating family violence, and youth impacted by systems in her private practice, while also directing Bay Area Creative’s therapeutic writing program, Revisions. She teaches as an assistant professor in the Expressive Arts Therapy concentration of the M.A. in Counseling Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies and contributes to the field through her service on the board of the National Association for Poetry Therapy.
Camila Elizabet Aguirre Aguilar is a bisexual Xicana poet and educator who teaches creative writing in nonprofit organizations throughout the California Bay Area. A finalist for the 2025 Steve Kowit Poetry Prize and slam poet of over twenty years, Camila's work explores power, incarceration and institutionalization, trauma, resistance, and resilience. A recent graduate of St. Mary's College of California’s MFA program, Camila is working towards publishing her debut poetry manuscript.
Fortino Vazquez Edmonds aka Tino VH Jr. is a gay Mexican American spoken word teaching artist from Oakland, CA, who uses Popular Education and Freedom frameworks in his classroom. A spoken word poet for over a decade, Vazquez has represented cities such as Santa Cruz and Berkeley in Regional and National levels. His poetry explores masculinity/feminism, addiction, indigeneity, queerness, and his Mexican-American heritage. Vazquez has spent equal amounts of time teaching poetry to younger poets in hopes of them finding their own voices. He believes in transformative and healing education, which has led him to work with incarcerated youth of the Bay Area and Sonoma County. Vazquez is editor in chief of The Poet’s Bookshelf, a Substack newsletter that offers workshops, writing advice, book reviews and poetry.
Jaelynn Ortiz (she/her) is a lesbian Boricubana poet and expressive arts therapist based in Los Angeles. She often says that poetry was her first love. With a creative writing minor at NYU, a masters in expressive arts, and poetry training in the works, she offers therapy for adults, couples and children at Scribble in Highland Park. There, she also facilitates Scribble’s first-ever poetry therapy group for BIPOC women and gender-expansive folks. Her clinical, creative, and community work is grounded in the belief that poetry can be a practice of witnessing, meaning-making, resistance, and healing.
Accessibility Information
If you need to request accessibility accommodations, please email [email protected] at least one week prior to the event. For more information, explore our Accessibility web page.
Recording Policy
Ticket holders will have access to an ad-free replay of the event for one month after the live event, after which unlimited viewing with ads will be available. Portions of the audio will also be released on our podcast. Only registered ticket holders who choose to watch live can participate in the chat and Q&A.
Attending as a Prospective Student?
Contact Admissions at [email protected] to learn about complimentary tickets.
Refund Policy
All tickets and add-ons purchased for this event are nonrefundable.
Event venue & nearby stays
California Institute of Integral Studies, 1453 Mission Street, San Francisco, United States
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