Amelia Seraphia Derr, PhD MSW FT

Amelia Seraphia Derr, PhD MSW FT, is an Associate Professor of Social Work at Seattle University, where she brings a strong commitment to justice, the lived experience of marginalized communities, and practitioner/caregiver well-being. Dr. Derr earned both her MSW and PhD from the University of Washington and is a credentialed Fellow of Thanatology. Her scholarship spans three areas: migration and service systems; burnout prevention in social work education; and caregiving and grief. Dr. Derr’s early work examined the experiences of immigrants and refugees as they navigate health and social service systems, with a focus on access, equity, and immigrant rights. Alongside this work, she developed a sustained line of scholarship on burnout prevention in social work education, exploring how radical resilience and community care can sustain practitioners for the long haul. Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Derr’s research took a personally informed turn toward the study of the emotional terrain of caregiving, ambiguous loss, and anticipatory grief—particularly in families raising children with life-limiting conditions. Across all areas of her scholarship, Dr. Derr seeks to humanize systems, challenge deficit-based models, and cultivate research that is rigorous, restorative, and grounded in the lives of those most impacted. She is currently at work on a book that blends narrative and theory to broaden understandings of loss and meaning-making.