RAQUEL CHAPIN STEPHENSON

Raquel is Associate Professor and Program Coordinator of Lesley University’s Art Therapy Program, and Faculty Fellow in Lesley’s Institute for the Arts in Health. As a Fulbright Scholar, she taught at Tallinn University in Estonia and continues as a guest lecturer.

Committed to improving the lives of older adults through the arts, Dr. Stephenson’s clinical work and research focus on the intersection of arts and aging, which she has taught and presented worldwide. She was co-founder and teaching artist for the Creative Approaches to Healthy Aging program, funded by two National Endowment for the Arts ArtWorks Grants, and was the founder, clinical supervisor, and program director of New York University’s Creative Aging Therapeutic Services. She recently published Art Therapy and Creative Aging: Reclaiming Elderhood, Health, and Wellbeing, a book about how arts engagement supports healthy aging.

Dr. Stephenson serves on the National Advisory Council and Program Advisory Committee of Arts for the Aging and the Advisory Council of the Art Therapy Project. She also serves on the editorial board of the International Journal of Creativity and Human Development and is a member of the UNESCO-UNITWIN Chair on Life Design, Decent Work, and Sustainable Development.