Joan Mowat Erikson (born Sarah Lucretia Serson;[4][5] June 27, 1903 – August 3, 1997) was a Canadian author, educator, craftsperson, and dance ethnographer.
Joan Erikson was born in Brockville, Ontario, one of three children of John Reaby and Mary Louise MacDonald Serson.
"[8] Joan moved to Vienna to conduct dance research for her doctoral dissertation and there met her husband-to-be Erik Homburger, who was working at a progressive school started by Anna Freud.
Joan persuaded Erik to move to the United States three years later ("to escape European fascism"), where they became citizens in 1939.
[12] Joan died on August 3, 1997, in a nursing home in Brewster, Massachusetts, three years after the death of her husband, Erik.
[13] Mrs. Erikson's survivors included two sons, Kai of Hamden, Conn., and Jon of Port Angeles, Wash.; a daughter, Sue Bloland of Manhattan, and three grandchildren.
[15] After meeting husband Erik Erikson, Joan stopped research for her dissertation and took a job at the progressive school in Vienna, where he was working.
[3] In 1951, Joan became the director of activities at the Austen Riggs Center, a psychiatric treatment facility for children and adults in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
This ninth stage is experienced in the eighties and nineties and is accompanied by a loss of physical health, friends, family members, and independence, in addition to isolation from society.
Joan Erikson believed that during the ninth stage, older adults can shift towards a more transcendent perspective, which increases life satisfaction.
[20] Often during this time, individuals are put into retirement communities and assisted living facilities, which Joan believed was isolating them from society and from youth.
[16] There, Joan worked with Ellen Kivnick to determine which types of creative practices led to improved psychological development in children and youth.
[24] Joan Erikson thought it was especially important for older adults facing retirement to engage in creative activities.