Lucia Capacchione (born 3 November 1937) is an

Italian-American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, ...

psychologist,

art therapist Art therapy (not to be confused with ''arts therapy'', which includes other creative therapies such as drama therapy and music therapy) is a distinct discipline that incorporates creative methods of expression through visual art media. Art ther ...

, former graphic designer and a writer who has been bestseller of twenty-two books based on

child therapy Child psychotherapy, or mental health interventions for children have developed varied approaches over the last century. Two distinct historic pathways can be identified for present-day provision in Western Europe and in the United States: one t ...

and self-help, including ''The Creative Journal'' (1979) and ''Recovery of Your Inner Child'' (1991). She discovered the use of 'writing and drawing with the non-dominant hand' method in art therapy, which she first mentioned it in her work ''The Power of Your Other Hand'' (1988). She was the director of

Head Start program Head Start is a program of the United States Department of Health and Human Services that provides comprehensive early childhood education, health, nutrition, and parent involvement services to low-income children and families. The program's s ...

during the period of President Johnson's war on poverty. A long-time member of

American Art Therapy Association The American Art Therapy Association (AATA) is a U.S. not-for-profit 501(c)(3), non-partisan national professional association of approximately 5,000 practicing art therapy professionals, including students, educators, and related practitioners ...

and International Expressive Arts Therapy Association, she was also a consultant to

Walt Disney Imagineering Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development, Inc., commonly referred to as Imagineering, is the research and development arm of The Walt Disney Company, responsible for the creation, design, and construction of Disney theme parks and attra ...

from 1983 till 1993. Lucia died by suicide on November 28, 2022.

Early life

Capacchione was born to a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

Italian immigrant family on November 3, 1937, in

West Hollywood West Hollywood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Incorporated in 1984, it is home to the Sunset Strip. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, its population was 35,757. It is considered one of the most prominent gay villages ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Her father and grandparents hailed from

San Ferdinando di Puglia San Ferdinando di Puglia is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Barletta-Andria-Trani in the Apulia region of southeast Italy. Twin towns * Lariano, Italy * Carapelle Carapelle ( Foggiano: ) is a town and ''comune'' belonging to the Provin ...

, Apulia,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

who moved to Los Angeles County somewhere between 1908 and 1920. She spent her preschool days in New Chinatown before moving to

Crenshaw Crenshaw may refer to: Places in the United States *Crenshaw, Los Angeles **Crenshaw High School *Crenshaw County, Alabama *Crenshaw, Mississippi *Crenshaw, Pennsylvania Transportation *Crenshaw Boulevard *Crenshaw station (C Line, Los Angeles Met ...

where she attended Roman Catholic convents schools such as St. Paul's Grammar School and St. Mary's Academy. She was exposed to major talent of the time attending live opera, concerts. musicals and plays at the L.A. Philharmonic and Baltimore Theater. In 1950, at the age of 13, she began Saturday classes at the Otis Art Institute in the Harrison Gray Otis mansion in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. She graduated from Immaculate Heart High School in 1955, with classmate

Mary Tyler Moore Mary Tyler Moore (December 29, 1936 – January 25, 2017) was an American actress, producer, and social advocate. She is best known for her roles on ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' (1961–1966) and ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (1970–1977), which ...

. She married Peter Pearce in 1960 and has two daughters with him.

Education

According to her

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

profile, after completing her studies from Immaculate Heart High School in 1955, she pursued

bachelors A bachelor is a man who is not and has never been married.Bachelors are, in Pitt & al.'s phrasing, "men who live independently, outside of their parents' home and other institutional settings, who are neither married nor cohabitating". (). Etymo ...

fine art In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwor ...

s and English literature from now-defunct

Immaculate Heart College Immaculate Heart College was a private, Catholic college located in Los Angeles, California. The college offered various courses including art and religious education studies. By June 1906, six young women had become the first graduates of the ...

, graduating in 1959. She further pursued masters in

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...

and art therapy from

Goddard College Goddard College is a progressive education private liberal arts low-residency college with three locations in the United States: Plainfield, Vermont; Port Townsend, Washington; and Seattle, Washington. The college offers undergraduate and gra ...

in Plainfield, graduating in 1975. She holds a PhD degree in

from Summit University of Louisiana in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

, graduating in 1990.

Career

Capacchione started-off her internship as a trainer in various programs of American Montessori Society in the 1960s. She was later appointed as a Child Development Supervisor for Catholic Charities (an affiliate of

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles The Archdiocese of Los Angeles ( la, Archidiœcesis Angelorum in California, es, Arquidiócesis de Los Ángeles) is an ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church ( particularly the Roman Catholic or Latin Church) located in th ...

) in December 1965 and even got certified through Dr. Thomas Gordon's Parent Effectiveness Training and Teacher Effectiveness Training. She resigned from the Archdiocese in 1967 but remained a consultant to both of the organizations' programs in

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. ...

and

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. She also produced two documentaries while being the director of

, ''Learning to Learn'' and ''I Wanna Be Ready''. In 1973, Lucia fell mysteriously ill and was misdiagnosed by doctors several times. As a result, she suffered with the side-effects of wrong medications. She then started venting her emotions and thoughts in sketchbooks and saw them morph into journals. She mentioned this new self discovered healing method of the inner-child in many of her works, such as ''The Creative Journal'' (1979). In 1976, she discovered the use of 'writing and drawing with the non-dominant hand' method, which she first mentioned it in her work ''The Power of Your Other Hand'' (1988) and also a method of reparenting which she documented in her book ''Recovery of Your Inner Child'' (1991). She was a consultant to

for ten years from 1983 till 1993 where she worked with designers and builders on various Disney theme parks and stores.

Bibliography

* ''The Creative Journal: The Art of Finding Yourself'', 1979 * ''The Power of Your Other Hand: A Course in Channeling the Inner Wisdom of the Right Brain'', 1988 * ''The Creative Journal for Children: A Guide for Parents, Teachers, and Counselors'', 1989 * ''The Well Being Journal: Drawing upon Your Inner Power to Heal Yourself'', 1989 * ''Lighten Up Your Body, Lighten Up Your Life: Beyond Diet and Exercise'', 1990 * ''The Picture of Health: Healing Your Life through Art'', 1990 * ''Recovery of Your Inner Child: The Highly Acclaimed Method for Liberating Your Inner Self'', 1991 * ''The Creative Journal for Teens: Making Friends with Yourself'', 1992 * ''Creating a Joyful Birth Experience'' (with Sandra Bardsley), 1994 * ''Putting Your Talent to Work: Identifying, Cultivating, and Marketing Your Natural Talents'', 1996 * ''Creative Journal for Parents: A Guide to Unlocking Your Natural Parenting Wisdom'', 2000 * ''Visioning: Ten Steps to Designing the Life of Your Dreams'', 2000 * ''Living with Feeling: The Art of Emotional Expression'', 2001 * ''The Art of Emotional Healing'', 2006 * ''Hello, This Is Your Body Talking: A Draw-It-Yourself Coloring Book'', 2017

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Capacchione, Lucia 1937 births 21st-century American psychologists Living people Art therapists American self-help writers 20th-century American psychologists