•                                                             Welcome       

The National Association for Poetry Therapy, Inc. (NAPT) is a nonprofit, international, and interdisciplinary organization promoting growth and healing through written language, symbol, and story. Members represent a wide range of professional experience, schools of therapy, educational affiliations, artistic disciplines, and other fields of training in both mental and physical health. In addition to its professional membership, NAPT welcomes all people who are interested in the power of the healing word. We hope you will be able to learn from the many workshops, lectures, and informal networking opportunities available. We trust you will be inspired to absorb, reflect, and write. Please visit us on Facebook, Instagram or www.poetrytherapy.org to contact the NAPT Board and for more information about NAPT.

I wish to thank the entire Board for being able to work together to ensure that NAPT grows and thrives as we move into the future. I am deeply honored to have this opportunity to work with such a dynamic and talented group of individuals. I want to thank all the pre- and post workshop, regular workshop, and special events presenters for help shaping this year’s conference program. I also wish to thank the Proposal Review Committee, which consisted of Karen van Meenen, Jenna Robinson, and Laura Santner, who worked together to select the wonderful workshops offered at this year’s conference. Our Marketing & Public Relations Chair Tim Kelly has done an outstanding job keeping our organization and events in the forefront. A special thanks to the scholarship committee, Barbara Kreisberg and Ana Ljubinkovic. I particularly want to thank our president Laura Santner for her support and leadership. And last but not least, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Barbara Kriesberg, our past conference chair, for her continued support and dedication to NAPT and to our annual conference, but most of all for her unwavering patience, kindness, and friendship.

Catherine Tanguis, MA, NBCT, CAPF    

Conference Chair  

About registration.

• Be sure to log in before you register to receive your member conference discounts.
• You can join NAPT prior to registering for the conference to receive your discounts.
• Problems with your password? Request a link to change yours or log in with Google or Facebook.
• You will be asked to select your workshop choices for the main conference. 

• If you registered for the Full Conference, you will have access to ALL events from 4:00pm on Thursday through the closing on Saturday evening.  
• WORKSHOP LIMITS:  Some of our workshops have participant limits. If a session has reached its limit, it will be designated as FULL on the registration page. Do not proceed to register for it. 
• You will receive a confirmation email once your registration is complete. Please save that email and your registration details and print out a copy to bring with you to the conference. You will need to know what workshops you registered for.
• The week prior to the conference, you may be contacted by your workshop presenter with instructions or ancillary materials, so be on the lookout.
• Our lunch will be buffet style this year. About ten days prior to the conference, you will receive an email from us requesting that you state any food allergies or special requests.
• REFERRAL DISCOUNT: If you refer a new member or attendee, you will receive a $25 rebate off your registration fees once that person is registered. You can use the referral section during your registration process or contact our bookkeeper Mary Johns at naptbkkr@poetrytherapy.org.
• REFUNDS: NO refunds after March 30, 2026. 
• For general questions about the conference or registration, please contact naptconferencechair@gmail.com.
  
  

Ready to register? 

• Please have the Conference at a Glance handy for reference. You can download it here.                                                (Our Session Description Page contains more information on the workshops as well as our presenter bios. Click here to view.)
• Click here to become a member in order to receive conference discount prices and other benefits!
• Click here to view our Conference Registration Prices.
• How to register:

          Option #1: I plan on attending the Full Conference: Choose the Full Registration option. You will then be able to              add on any Pre-Conference Workshops and/or the Triple Workshop if you desire. You will be able to choose your            workshops here. Be sure NOT to add Friday & Saturday again if you clicked Full Registration to avoid being                charged twice!

          Option #2: I plan on attending one day, either Friday OR Saturday: Choose the A La Carte option. There you will              be able to pick your day, register for workshops and add any Pre-Conference Workshops and/or the Triple                       Workshop if you desire.

 You must register for the Full Conference or Friday or Saturday in order to attend any Pre-Conference or Triple  Workshops.

                                                                            Click Here to Begin Registration

•  Please email naptconferencechair@gmail.com with any questions.

About our conference.

• Our conference features workshops in four tracks: clinical/health care, educational setting, social justice, and spirituality. The track will be included in the workshop description.

• SCHOLARSHIPS: NAPT is offering $200 scholarships to go towards registration. We encourage those working towards credentialing with the International Federation for Biblio/Poetry Therapy, first time attendees, and those representing underrepresented populations to apply, particularly those experiencing financial difficulties and for whom the registration fees would be a hardship. We also have a special scholarship in memory of longtime NAPT member and friend Dr. Mari Alschuler. This special scholarship will be reserved for those who work with LGBTQ+ clients in honor of Mari's legacy.  Click here to learn more. 

• PEER HOURS: Those working towards certification in Poetry Therapy are required to log peer hours. Only workshops with currently credentialed presenters can provide peer hours. Where applicable, the workshop description will include the amount of peer hours that can be credited towards certification with the International Federation for Biblio/Poetry Therapy. To learn more about certification, a Credentialing Information Workshop will be offered on Friday. You can learn more about certification here.

• CONFERENCE VIRTUAL BOOKSTORE: Please check out the wide array of books for sale in our virtual bookstore including those of our Keynotes and other valuable contributors in the field of Poetry Therapy. These are useful resources to add to your library. Click here to go to our Conference Virtual Bookstore. Please remember to bring any book(s) to the conference that you wished to have signed. 

• CONFERENCE LOCATION & HOTEL GROUP RATE: Our Conference will be held at Embassy Suites Chicago Downtown Magnificent Mile. We have a room block reserved for April 14, 2026 through April 18, 2026. We ask you to use the group link we provide to book your rooms as booking outside the group or with third parties results in NAPT paying extra fees.   Click here to reserve your room.  

• AIRPORT INFORMATION & TRANSPORTATION: The nearest airport to Embassy Suites by Hilton Chicago Downtown Magnificent Mile is Chicago Midway (MDW). It is 48 minutes away. Chicago O'Hare Airport (ORD) to Embassy Suites is 58 minutes away. Uber, Lyft, taxis, and public transportation are all options. Click here for more information.

• For those needing an NAPT Certificate of Attendance for Continuing Education for any main event and/or keynote, you will receive it at the conclusion of your workshop from your workshop facilitator. For mental health licensure renewal, educators and others needing Continuing Education for their professional development, you will receive from your workshop facilitator Certificates of Attendance for specific clinical or education focused workshops. These certificates, along with the conference program describing the workshops and events, should be submitted for CEU approval.

• We believe it is important to create a safe space for sharing within our workshops; therefore, recordings of the workshops will not be made available.

• For each workshop, you will be asked to fill out a workshop evaluation form. You will be sent a link to complete an online feedback form for each workshop you attended. You will also be asked to fill out an overall conference evaluation form at the conclusion of the conference. Please complete the online feedback forms by May 1, 2025. We value your feedback and will use it to improve our future conferences.