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.
November 4, 2022
“I am a Third Culture Kid (TCK)… I would like to think that I invite art therapists, as well as myself, to be curious, open, and a little skeptical about the impact social justice has on our field.”
What excites (or inspires) you most about your job right now?
As a professor of art therapy I feel honored to be a guide and a learner alongside my students. I truly feel energized seeing our students and my colleagues constantly grow and transform.
How have race, diversity, and/or social justice impacted your work as an art therapist?
I am a Third Culture Kid (TCK), being born in Argentina, raised in Mexico, and living in the USA. With that identity has always come curiosity, and openness to understanding what community means, and a constant yearning to integrate new ways of seeing the world. I would like to think that I invite art therapists, as well as myself, to be curious, open, and a little skeptical about the impact social justice has on our field.
What are your hopes for the future of the art therapy profession?
Globalizing art therapy, without losing the beautiful twist that every culture gives our field.
Maru Serricchio-Joiner, PhD, MFT, ATR-BC
Maru Serricchio-Joiner, PhD (in International Psychology with a concentration in Organization and Systems from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology) is a licensed marital and family therapist, board certified art therapist, and an art therapy professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, CA. Dr. Serricchio-Joiner’s research focused on grief responses and support in the workplace within Mexican culture. She continues to be an active practitioner and artist, working with individuals, families, and groups of all walks of life and providing workshops to clinicians, schools, and organizations regarding ways to transform experiences of loss, grief and trauma, through creative tools.
Dr. Serricchio-Joiner was elected to the Board of the American Art Therapy Association in November 2022.
Connect with her on Instagram @soy_dr_maru or visit maruserricchio.com