Dr. Mercedes ter Maat, Ph.D., LPC, ATR-BC is a professor in the Department of Counseling at Nova Southeastern University’s College of Psychology in Ft. Lauderdale. Prior to joining NSU, she was the director of the school counseling graduate program at the George Washington University, Alexandria, VA campus and an assistant professor at Virginia Tech. She has over 30 years of combined working experience as a counselor educator, mental health counselor, school counselor, and art therapist. Dr. ter Maat participates in local, state, national, and international leadership undertakings for the fields of mental health counseling, school counseling, and art therapy and frequently presents on topics related to multicultural counseling, ethics, motivational interviewing, and the use of art in counseling and therapy. She actively participates in humanitarian work, most recently in Argentina, Swaziland, Lebanon, and Peru, and her research interests are in enhancing the quality of life of the immigrant, minority families in crisis by identifying risk and promoting protective factors through school- and community-based interventions. She is a past-president of the American Art Therapy Association, the current president of the Croatian Art Therapy Association, and the current president of the European Branch of the American Counseling Association. Dr. ter Maat is a licensed professional counselor and a board-certified/registered art therapist.