 | Executive Board |
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Current Board Members |
| Standing Committees |
2009-2011 NAPT Executive Board (biographies included below)
President: Barbara Bethea
VP for Conferences: Rob Merritt
VP for Membership: Nessa McCasey
Treasurer: Position open
Secretary: Susan Wirth Fusco
By-Laws/Governance Chair: Position open
Publications Committee Chair: Karen vanMeenen
Academic/Institutional Outreach: Position open
Board Members-at-large
Diane Richard Allerdyce
Diane Hovey
Nick Mazza, Journal of Poetry Therapy Editor
Sherry Reiter
2009-2011 BOARD MEMBER BIOS
* indicates board member is an approved mentor-supervisor.
For a complete list of mentor-supervisors, please click here.
Diane Richard Allerdyce, PhD, CPT, Treasury Committee, Immediate Past President. Like many of who believe wholeheartedly in NAPT’s tag line: “Promoting Growth and Healing through Language, Symbol, and Story,” Diane discovered poetry therapy as if it were a long-lost country. Interested all her adult life in the intersection between literature and psychology, she earned her Ph.D. in English in 1988, specializing in psychoanalytic approaches to literature. In 1996, she attended John Fox’s poem-making workshop at Omega Institute and soon afterward began training as a certified poetry therapist with mentor/supervisor Deborah Grayson, receiving her CPT in 2000. She joined the Board in 2000 and served as VP of Conferences for two years before serving as President 2007-2009. Her many years’ experience as a university professor and, during the last decade, work as a charter school founder/administrator allow her to incorporate many aspects of poetry within an interdisciplinary approach to education—a focus she would like to continue to develop as part of her service to NAPT.
Evelyn Torton Beck, PhD. Professor Emerita of Women’s Studies, University of Maryland, Evi holds Ph.D.s in both Comparative Literature and Clinical Psychology. Long before she trained in poetry therapy (with Peggy Heller and Ken Gorelick), she infused her teaching and administrative work with poetry and art. She has published on themes such as Kafka, Kahlo, anti-Semitism, homophobia, the Holocaust, feminist psychology, literature, art, creativity, and social justice. In 2009 she offered the keynote address at NAPT, focusing on the myriad, unexpected ways in which poetic expression has been embraced. She offers workshops combining poetry with sacred circle dance, focusing on health and healing, creative aging, integrating mind, body and spirit, and is an active member of the community poetry therapy group in the Washington, DC area. With Margaret Blanchard, she has written a study guide to accompany Stacey Stone’s film (A Poetic Approach) introducing poetry therapy to a wider audience. By serving on the Board, she hopes not only to bring a more diverse population into NAPT, but also to bring NAPT further out into the world, especially to educators. She has served on the Board of the National Association for Poetry Therapy since 2007.
Barbara Bethea, MA, PTR, LCAT. President. Barbara has served on the NAPT Board as Diversity Chairperson since 2003. She graduated from Vermont College with a Master of Art in Psychology, Poetry Therapy and Counseling in 2004. She received her certification as a Registered Poetry Therapist in 2005 and her licensure as a Creative Art Therapist in NYS in 2006. She is currently employed at Woodhull Medical & Mental Health Center/Cumberland Diagnostic Treatment Center in the Department of Psychiatry. She is currently the only Certified and Licensed Poetry Therapist working as a clinician in a hospital. She is also a certified rape counselor advocate for the Mount Sinai Sexual Assault & Violence Intervention (SAVI) program. Barbara is the founder of Poetryworks Entertainment and is also known as "The Afrikana Madonna," a spoken word artist with a CD release entitled Like Manna for the Soul. She is also a co-author of Writing Away the Demons, edited by Dr. Sherry Reiter.
*Geri Chavis, MA, PhD, LP, CPT-M/S, Secretary. Geri has been very involved in poetry therapy for over thirty years and is a passionate planter of seeds for flourishing growth in the field. Thus, she can bring to her position as board member a historical perspective as well as enthusiastic commitment to current trends and needs. Her background and teaching experience in literature, combined with her past Board involvement, training and experience as a C.P.T., and work as a master mentor-supervisor and licensed psychologist have served her well in her current training role in poetry therapy both in the Midwest and in the Republic of Ireland. She is particularly interested in education and training of poetry therapists and facilitators both here and abroad and in the interdisciplinary nature of the field that involves not just the writing and reading of poetry, but also the use of journaling, film, story, drama, and metaphor/symbol elaboration. Spreading the word about poetry therapy is particularly gratifying to her. She has enjoyed countless meetings with individuals who glow when introduced to our field, as they find a home consistent with their creative spirit and devotion to helping others.
Susan Wirth Fusco, PhD, LMHC, CPT, CADAC. Susan enthusiastically supports NAPT and has joined NAPT's Board with the sincere hope to promote educational outreach and to cultivate diversity at all levels, both ethnic and linguistic. After a thirty-year college teaching career as Professor of French and French Literature at Queensborough, CUNY, NYC, Susan decided to pursue another long-abiding passion: learning about how and why creativity and the imagination— manifest in all forms of literature, art, music, and dance— heal. Because Susan's interest in poetry was omnipresent since her studies at Oberlin College (BA in French Literature and Music) and Columbia University (MA and PhD in French Poetry and Stylistics), it naturally ensued that her subsequent studies and work in mental health counseling and expressive arts therapy gravitated towards Poetry Therapy. After completing her M.Ed. in Counseling Psychology and Mental Health Counseling at Cambridge College, Susan began doctoral work at nearby Lesley University, where her Senior Advisor, Shaun McNiff, urged Susan to join NAPT in 2003. While focusing on Poetry and Healing, Creativity and the Imagination, and the Expressive Arts Therapies in all her course work, clinical work, and dissertation research (2003-the present), she has attended NAPT Conferences on an annual basis; Susan earned the CAPF and CPT with Sherry Reiter, her much cherished NAPT Mentor/Supervisor.
Diane Hovey, PhD, CPT, LAMFT. Like so many of the dedicated members of NAPT, Diane brings enthusiasm for poetry therapy and its powerful potential for healing. She believes NAPT has a long way to grow as an organization in bringing the incredible potential of this form of therapy into the lives countless people. She received her Doctor of Philosophy degree in Family Social Science from the University of Minnesota. She is the owner of aHeARTT (alternative Healing Arts Resources, Therapy and Training). Through aHeARTT, she works as a marriage, family and poetry therapist, and she creates therapeutic resources to be used by therapists and individuals to improve the potential for healing.
*Nicholas Mazza, PhD, PTR-M/S. Nicholas Mazza is the Interim Dean and Patricia V. Vance Professor of Social Work at Florida State University. He is the founding (1987) and current editor of the Journal of Poetry Therapy and author of Poetry Therapy: Theory and Practice. Dr. Mazza has been involved in the practice, research and teaching of poetry therapy for over 37 years. He is past vice president and has served on the NAPT board since 1985. In 1997, he received the Pioneer Award from NAPT. Nick holds Florida licenses in clinical social work, marriage and family therapy, and psychology.
Nessa McCasey, CPT, Vice-President for Membership. Nessa has enjoyed bringing her energies to build up membership of NAPT, which also means exposing more people to this amazing profession. Her previous experience includes many years of writing/editing and marketing communications for various organizations. Additionally, she has been personally involved with disabilities, especially autism, as her son is diagnosed on the autism spectrum. Nessa received her CPT in 2006 and continues to build up interest for poetry therapy in her home state of Michigan along with creating her own poetry therapy practice. She has started NAPT groups on two social networking forums: Facebook and LinkedIn, where not only can NAPT members help each other with professional networking, they can also connect with others who find us through the network connections and general interest searches. She welcomes more NAPT members! Future plans include working on regional connections for NAPT members and exploring more ways to support NAPT members.
Rob Merritt, PhD, Vice-President for Conferences. Rob is Professor of English at Bluefield College in Virginia and a poet who offers workshops about creativity and the healing powers of writing. He is interested in educating people, specifically those in higher education, about the resources available through NAPT. He is currently writing about how major authors, such as W.B. Yeats for example, fit within the context of poetry therapy and cultural healing. His poetry deals with the transformative power of landscape and language.
*Sherry Reiter, PhD, PTR-M/S, CSW, RDT/BCT. Sherry initiated the trans- formation of APT( founded in 1969) to NAPT (1982) and served as President of NAPT from 1993-1995. She was President of the NFBPT for about ten years until 2003. She is a clinical social worker and Director of The Creative Righting Center, as well as coordinator of Poetry Behind Bars, where trainees mentor poets at Indiana State Prison (long-distance). Sherry’s most recent work is Writing Away the Demons: Stories of Creative Coping through Transformative Writing (North Star Press, 2009).
Karen vanMeenen, MA, CAPF: As a continuing Executive Board Member of NAPT, Karen serves as Chair of the Publications Committee. In this capacity, she edits The Museletter as she has done for the past seven years, and is interested in the possibility of producing additional print publications along the lines of Giving Sorrow Words: Poems of Strength and Solace, published through funds granted by the NAPT Foundation in 2002 and now in its fourth printing. She states, “Poetry therapists are people of words, and maintaining a strong print presence through regular publications and periodic anthologies is imperative for our mission, as is providing an accessible, engaging, and useful web site.” Write to Karen through this site's contact page (choose "Publications" in the send-to field).
