Dr. Leticia Russell, ATR-BC

Email: leticia.russell@westliberty.edu

Dr. Russell is an artist, educator, and graduate of the doctoral program in art therapy at Dominican University of California. In her practice as a community art therapist, Leticia is passionate about using art to create community by sharing the joy of self-learning through the use of creative play, the artistic imagination and storytelling.

As a child Leticia grew up playing for hours at the beach and in a printing press full of cabinets of lead type with the sounds of inked metal plates kissing paper with words and illustrations. These formative experiences instilled in her the power of nature to enhance well-being and storytelling to connect. As an artist, Leticia works with photography, paper (collage, printmaking, altered books, dictionary pages and ZINEs), watercolor and natural elements to explore personal and community narratives.

As a wildfire evacuee and community eco-art therapist she’s interested in how time in nature and art making with paper, images, and natural materials can promote dialogue, collective trauma processing, facilitate social connection, and support community well-being.

As a researcher, Leticia is enthralled with arts-based inquiry and the potential of inviting images to accompany, provide insights and serve as co-researchers. She developed a course Delving into the Image to share the art-based inquiry process with art therapy graduate students and anyone interested in learning about art as a way of knowing, informing research, and as inspiration for creative writing.

Teaching: ATC 504 Group Dynamics, ATC 515 Social and Cultural Foundations, ATC 523 Theories into Practice, ATC 534 Trauma/Crisis Counseling