Poetry Therapy - Committees

The people I love the best
jump into work head first
without dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.
--Marge Piercy, "To Be Of Use"

Membership and Member Services
Nancy Scherlong, Vice President for Membership
NAPT draws from a multi-generational pool of individuals from a variety of backgrounds and with an abundance of interests. I like the warmth and generosity of members. At both the organizational and personal levels, I have never participated in an organization that concerned itself so much with welcoming newcomers and helping them to feel at home. And while the expertise of members is impressive, I have always found people ready, willing and able
to share their expertise in a helpful, generous manner. Not only their expertise, but also their friendship. I feel that the message from NAPT folks is not, "come into our organization," but "come into our lives. And bring your poetic soul with you."

A high priority for 2001-2003 is creating regional and local groups within NAPT so that members have a place to gather with peers and colleagues.
Please let me know if you would like to be a regional/local representative.

Communications and Public Relations
Jerri Chaplin CPT, Chair
The Communications/PR committee serves as NAPT's ambassadors, extending messages of poetic healing and hope through interviews and articles in newspapers, magazines, e-zines, professional publications, radio, television and other media. The committee also creates and supervises communications that ensure a well-informed membership, and develops communications for the general public that explains the goals, purposes and objectives of NAPT.

Diversity
Barbara Bethea, MA, Chair
NAPT has a vision in which practitioners from many different racial, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds come together to share experiences, exchange ideas, and draw upon one another's talents and skills. It continues to connect with poets and healers in other parts of the world including poetry therapy contacts in Japan, England, Scotland, Ireland, Lithuania, Israel, Italy, and New Zealand.

Conference
Mari Alschuler, VP of Conferences
The 2005 NAPT conference is scheduled for May 4-8, 2005, in St. Louis, Missouri. This year's conference theme is Gateway to Wholeness: Poetry Therapy for the Individual, Family and Community. Click here for information on the Conference.

Education
John Fox, CPT, Chair
The Education committee is the liaison between NAPT members and friends, and educational opportunities in poetry therapy. Tasks of the Education committee include maintaining current lists of training programs and interfacing with colleges, universities and graduate training programs to encourage the inclusion of poetry therapy courses in clinical training. The Education committee also makes recommendations to the Board of Directors for development and implementation of the educational activities of NAPT and its membership.

It also maintains the standards for NAPT-approved mentor/supervisors.

For a downloadable list of educational resources in poetry and healing, please click here. (You will need Adobe's Acrobat Reader to open it; get it here (free) from Adobe.) This list, organized alphabetically by state and country, identifies mentor-supervisors, classes, and workshops that support certification in poetry therapy.

Government Affairs
Nancy Scherlong CSW, Chair
The Government Affairs committee coordinates legislative efforts on behalf of the field of poetry therapy and acts as a liaison to the National Coalition for Creative Arts Therapies Associations (NCCATA).

Ethics and By-Laws
Ken Gorelick, MD, RPT, Chair
The Ethics committee reviews and makes determinations on reports or charges of misconduct or violations of the NAPT Code of Ethics by Certified/Registered Poetry Therapists. The chair of this committee also chairs the By-Laws committee, which reviews and makes recommendations for changes and updates to the Association's By-Laws.