May 22, 2025
The American Art Therapy Association represents a diversity of professionals, students, and organizations across the nation. We recognize and celebrate the work of our members at all levels through our Featured Member series.
What excites you most about your job right now?
I love looking at clients and cases from a non-verbal lens. I was an art museum educator before becoming an art therapist and we utilized the inquiry method which is basically allowing time and mindful space for people to sit with themselves and the artwork in a safe environment, then asking open-ended questions to encourage everyone to come to their own conclusions, and then layering in the facts about the artist and art-making process. I apply similar principles with therapy, noting that the client is the main character of their own life and they are empowered to find answers through the process of both talk and art therapy. I layer in parts that feel relevant from psycho education that I was afforded to learn.
Has working with a particular client group shaped your professional focus or specialty? What have you learned from working with these clients?
How have race, diversity, and/or social justice impacted your work as an art therapist?
“I used to teach in contemporary abstract art museums, and my favorite thing included people who came in with an assumption about the art, but when they sat with it and learned more about it and the person who made it, their beliefs were altered. This is something I love to experience with art therapy clients as well.”
— Joanna L. Warren, MPS, ATR, LMHC
What are your hopes for the future of the art therapy profession?
I hope we get more support and appreciation. I think we are often delegated as the younger step-child of the therapy field, but all the while those same clinicians are using art, movement, making and creativity to better their own lives, so I think I would like us just to get the credit we deserve.
What advice would you give someone interested in pursuing a career in art therapy?
My advice is always “go for it!” If you are considering it, take the next steps. Find a college, meet with the director of the program, write your statement of purpose…Just take steps, AND keep making your own art. Even after years of offering art therapy to clients, I know that my Sundays for art-making are what keep me sane. Let yourself express. Find an art therapist to go to for yourself. You can’t support others without doing your own work.
About Joanna L. Warren, MPS, ATR, LMHC
Abstract expressionist artist Joanna Lynn Warren has been using art materials since childhood. Studying both theology and studio art in college, Joanna’s practice embodies an immersive, spiritual approach. Currently residing in Washington state, her practice as an artist is bi-coastal. Joanna completed her formal education at the Pratt Institute, BK, NYC, where she received her experiential and collective learning in Creativity Development and Art Therapy. The multi-layered and textured surfaces of Joanna’s paintings echo her accumulated life experiences. Incorporating non-traditional techniques using fine art tools, in a constant attempt to merge old narratives with new modalities. Amongst her strong training in material-use, Joanna was also submersed into both art museum culture and museum education while residing in New York City. Her experience spans from gallery and studio education, artist-in-residence, and managing fine artist studio collections. Joanna currently practices Creative Arts Therapy with private clients for her own company, Lift Hold Heal, and offers professional development for educators both in schools and art museums.
You can learn more about Joanna on her website joannalynnwarren.com or her personal art Instagram or Lift Hold Heal Instagram accounts.