2024-2026 NAPT Board Member Roles 

2024-2026 BOARD MEMBER BIOS

Treasurer

Eric Kreuter serves as Treasurer on the Board of the National Association for Poetry Therapy. He has contributed articles to the Journal of Poetry Therapy and has presented at NAPT’s Annual Conferences. Dr. Kreuter is a partner with the accounting and advisory firm of Marks Paneth LLP, providing forensic and litigation support services to a broad range of clientele. He has a doctorate in clinical psychology and has published books and articles on a variety of topics.

Secretary

Jazmin Hamilton, MA, MFT, currently serves as Secretary on the NAPT Board. She is a Marriage & Family Therapy Registered Intern in the state of Oregon. She is the recipient of the Al Stiefel award from George Fox University. Jazmin is a member of the AAMFT and NAPT and is the NAPT regional representative for Oregon. She focuses on working with couples, families, and adult individuals using Emotionally Focused Therapy integrated with aspects of Internal Family Systems Theory. Interpersonal Neurobiology research and Attachment Theory serve as the foundation of her work with clients. Jazmin has her Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature and infuses poetry into her work with clients wherever possible.

Conference Committee Chair

Catherine Tanguis, MA, NBCT, CAPF, worked for over 30 years in the Greater New Orleans area, as both a high school English teacher and community college adjunct instructor. She graduated with a master’s degree in English from the University of New Orleans, with concentrations in Rhetoric and Composition and American Literature and has been a National Board-Certified Teacher since 2005. Along the way, her passion for encouraging creative writing with both adults and young people, led to her to serve as Co-Director of the Greater New Orleans Writing Project, founding and serving as Co-Director of the Southeast Regional Affiliate of the Scholastic Writing & Arts Awards, as well as working in various capacities for the National Council of Teachers of English Writing Recognition Programs. She also is a Fulbright Program Alumni. Her love for encouraging creative writing with young people led her to found and sponsor the award winning student art & literary magazine Prism for a decade. Since completing her CAPF, Catherine has facilitated poetry therapy groups in the Greater New Orleans area. She has served as NAPT conference chair in 2021 and 2023 as well as currently and is a reviewer for the Journal of Poetry Therapy.

 Jenna Robinson, MA, LMFT is the NAPT Regional Representative for San Francisco/ Northern California. She is currently in her RPT training under the supervision/mentorship of Dr. Sherry Reiter.

Jenna is a spoken word poet, professor, and expressive arts therapist in clinical practice, specializing in serving people who have experienced trauma and abuse. She conducts groups as an expressive arts therapist for at-risk populations of all ages and genders across the Bay Area.  She is core faculty in CIIS’s Expressive Arts Therapy program and the Wright Institute’s Counseling Psychology program. Jenna currently serves as Inclusion, Equity, and Social Justice Chair and hosts our virtual Open Mics.

Education Chair

Sherry Reiter, PhD, LCSW is a Registered Poetry and Drama Therapist and Founder of The Creative “Righting” Center, a distance poetry therapy training program leading to certification. She is also the creator of Poets-Behind Bars. Her book Writing away the Demons: Stories of Creative Coping through Transformative Writing is co-authored by clients and colleagues. Sherry is past President of The National Association for Poetry Therapy and The International Federation for Biblio/Poetry Therapy. She currently serves as Education Chair.

Publications Committee Chair

Karen (Ren) vanMeenen, MA, MA, CAPF is NAPT Publications Chair, Museletter Editor, and Book Review Editor for the Journal of Poetry Therapy. She is a Senior Lecturer at Rochester Institute of Technology, where she teaches classes in Writing, Creative Writing, Literature, and Contemporary Art. She is the longtime Editor of the media arts journal Afterimage as well as the Director of Special Projects at the literary center Writers & Books, where she organizes large community reading programs such as Rochester Reads.

Board Members-at-Large

Akeera Peterkin (she/they), LCSW,CASAC,CPT specializes in trauma, identity, and intersectionality. The communities she supports include but are not limited to: BIPOC (Black, indigenous, and people of color), LGBTQAI+, TGNC, creative spirits, introverts, highly sensitive people, empaths, students, and trauma survivors. She has several years of experience in mental health and substance use disorde

Ashley Schaaff (she/her), MA, APCC, is a poet and expressive arts therapist based in San Francisco, CA, an adjunct Master's in Counseling Psychology program instructor at the California Institute of Integral Studies, and currently training to become a Certified Poetry Therapist under the supervision/mentorship of Dr. Barbara Bethea. As a therapist, she is influenced by EXA, psychodynamic, Buddhist, and liberation psychologies.
Ashley provides intensive case management and psychotherapy services to folks with severe mental illnesses, substance use challenges, and current or historic criminal legal system involvement. Passionate about prison abolition and amplifying the voices of those historically silenced, she has conducted poetry workshops in Michigan correctional facilities.