National Association for Poetry Therapy

Board and committees.

2026-2028 NAPT Board Member Roles

President: Cynthia Holloway Kelvin
Vice President: Jenna Robinson Treasurer & Finance Committee Chair: Eric Kreuter
Secretary: Jazmin Hamilton
Conference Chair: Catherine Tanguis
Inclusion, Equity, and Social Justice Committee Chair: Heather Rose Artushin
Marketing and Public Relations Chair: Tim Kelly

Membership Chair: Beth Couture

Regional Representatives Chair: Ellyn Zografi

Education Chair: Ashley Schaaf

Board Member(s) at Large: Ana Ljubinkovic

International Board Member(s) at Large: Yun-Jen Lin

Publications Chair: Karen "Ren" vanMeenen

Journal of Poetry Therapy Editor: Nicholas Mazza

NAPT Liaison to IFBPT: Cynthia Holloway Kelvin and Beth Couture

Awards Committee (Standing Chair): Karen vanMeenen
IFBPT Liaison to NAPT:

NOTES: The Publications Committee Chair and the Journal of Poetry Therapy are “permanent positions” held by the editor of the Museletter and the editor of the Journal of Poetry Therapy.

Committee members can be drawn from membership and do not need to be Board Members. We encourage your participation! Click here to see the current needs of our committees and for contact information for our chairs.

2026-2028 BOARD MEMBER BIOS

President

Cynthia Holloway Kelvin, Psy.D., RDT, CPT, (she/her) is a licensed clinical psychologist, certified poetry therapist and registered drama therapist. She has worked in community mental health and substance rehabilitation, supporting individuals across various stages of recovery. Cynthia currently maintains private psychology practice and facilitates workshops that integrate poetry, performance, and advocacy. She believes in the healing power of creativity, the importance of cultivating authentic connection in community, and the potential for creative expression to inspire both personal and social transformation.

Vice-President

Jenna Robinson, M.A., LMFT, PTR, is a multi-racial, Bay Area-based poetry therapist, professor, and performance poet informed by a narrative worldview. A two-time Hawaiʻi Slam champion and 2015 National Poetry Slam finalist, she has facilitated multimodal poetry therapy workshops with youth, adults, and families across California and Hawaiʻi. Through her master’s program and clinical training in family violence and poetry therapy, Jenna has developed a therapy approach melding narrative therapy, liberation psychology, expressive arts, spoken word poetry, and collective practices. She values working alongside people responding to trauma, those navigating family violence, and youth impacted by systems in her private practice, while also directing Bay Area Creative’s therapeutic writing program, Revisions. She teaches as an assistant professor in the Expressive Arts Therapy concentration of the M.A. in Counseling Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies and contributes to the field through her service on the board of the National Association for Poetry Therapy as Vice President.

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 an Editorial Board Member for the Journal of Poetry Therapy.

Inclusion, Equity, and Social Justice Committee Chair

Heather Rose Artushin, MSW, LISW-CP is a social worker with a passion for the power of the written word. Holding a bachelor’s degree in honors psychology and a master’s in social work from the University of Michigan, she specializes in child/adolescent therapy and parent support.

Her written work applies social work competencies to shed light on important issues through person-centered storytelling and evidence-based mental health education. She regularly contributes to the National Association of Social Workers, Social Work Today, the Lupus Foundation of America, among many others.

Heather has served as editor and curator of the community poetry anthology, Inside and Out, in partnership with Mental Health America South Carolina, and her debut poetry collection, [poetry]therapy, is now available from Plan B Press. As a writer her motto is, “Write for good: Making a difference, one word at a time.”

Learn more by visiting https://heatherrosewriter.com and check out her Psychology Today bibliotherapy blog at https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/well-read.

Education Chair

Ashley Schaaf (she/her), MA, APCC, is a poet and expressive arts (EXA) therapist based in San Francisco, CA, an adjunct instructor at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), and is currently in training to become a certified poetry therapist. As a clinician, she is influenced by EXA, psychodynamic, Buddhist, and liberation psychologies. Ashley currently provides intensive case management and psychotherapy services to folks with severe mental illnesses, substance use challenges, and current or historic involvement with the criminal legal system. She believes in democratizing access to creative expression and is invested in how poetry can function on the ground in communities.

Marketing and Public Relations Chair

Tim Kelly, LCSW, BC-TMH, PTR, is a clinical social worker. He graduated Rutgers University in 2018 with his MSW and has been working in Private Practice, IOP, and Hospital based clinical work. Tim works to merge poetry and journaling with Internal Family Systems Theory, DBT Skills, and nature based work for creative and wholesome healing.

Publications Committee Chair

Karen (Ren) vanMeenen, MA, MA, CAPF, is NAPT Publications Chair, Museletter Editor, Book Review Editor for the Journal of Poetry Therapy, and the Lead Editor for Giving Sorrow Words: Poems of Strength and Solace for Survivors. She is a Principal Lecturer at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, where she teaches classes in Writing, Creative Writing, Literature, and Contemporary Art. She is the longtime Editor of the media arts journal Afterimage and regularly facilitates legacy writing, expressive writing, and writing for personal growth and healing programs in the community.

Membership Chair

Beth Couture (she/they), PhD, LSW, was the Director of the Counseling Center at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA, until the University's closure in June 2024. Her clinical interests include grief and loss, LGBTQIA+ concerns, neurodivergence, existential issues, transitions, and creative concerns. Before working at UArts, she worked in community mental health and with adults with autism. Beth is also a fiction writer. Her novella Women Born with Fur was published by Jaded Ibis Press in 2014, and she has stories in Gargoyle, Drunken Boat, The Yalobusha Review, and other print and online journals. She is currently in training for her PTR under the supervision/mentorship of Nancy Scherlong.

Regional Representative Chair

In her total 19+ years working as both a social worker and licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Ellyn Zografi has discovered writing to be a powerful means for healing and self-discovery. She has conducted writing workshops and provided writing prompts for clients, staff and family caregivers at a vocational agency for adults with developmental disabilities, part of a wilderness therapy program in Southern Utah as well as integrating into her clinical private practice specializing in Couples/Relationship Counseling. Ellyn is currently working towards a certification in Biblio/Poetry Therapy (CPT) under the supervision/mentorship of Geri Giebel Chavis.

Board Member at Large

Dr. Ana Ljubinkovic is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at California State University, Stanislaus, and an external academic examiner for the MA in Refugee Care at the University of Essex, UK. Her research and teaching interests focus on trauma, collective violence, refugeehood, and the role of poetry in promoting psychological healing. Ana has previously taught at MA programs in Human Rights (UK), MA in Refugee Care (UK) and MA in Peace Education (Italy). As a consultant to the United Nations and other organizations in Africa and the Middle East, she worked in the area of psychosocial and mental health support for refugee populations with a focus on promoting traditional forms of art within the processes of trauma healing. Her work has been published in the Journal of Poetry Therapy and includes the articles Poetry as ‘self-therapy’ in intractable conflict settings, Healing dimensions of Somali poetry in response to military humanitarian intervention, and Therapeutic role of Somali humor in digesting military humanitarian intervention. Her recent publication, Bards of Dadaab: Oral poetry and psychological healing among Somali refugees in Kenya, explores the therapeutic role of Somali oral verse in coping with protracted exile. She conducted workshops at NAPT annual conferences in 2024, 2025, and 2026, and serves as a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Poetry Therapy.

International Board Member at Large

Yun-Jen Lin (she/her), BA, BBA, is an English educator based in Taiwan and a Certified Applied Poetry Facilitator (CAPF) trainee. Dedicating her practice to bridging the worlds of language arts and emotional well-being, Yun-Jen transforms her classroom into a safe, creative space where students can express themselves freely and cultivate self-awareness. Driven by a passion for supporting youth, she volunteers her time leading therapeutic poetry reading clubs for teenagers, helping them find clarity and resilience by giving voice to their inner worlds. As NAPT's International Member at Large, she is currently dedicated to building a global poetry therapy community through cross-cultural collaborations and an international poetry collection project.

Journal of Poetry Therapy Editor

Nicholas Mazza Ph.D. PTR is Professor and Dean Emeritus at the Florida State University, College of Social Work, Tallahassee, FL. In 2024, he was appointed Poet-in-Residence at the College. Dr. Mazza holds Florida licenses in psychology, clinical social work, and marriage and family therapy. He has been involved in the practice, research, and teaching of poetry therapy for over 50 years. In addition to poetry therapy, Dr. Mazza has expertise in the areas of crisis intervention, death and trauma, family therapy, group work, clinical theories and models, and the arts in community practice.

Dr. Mazza is the founding (1987) and continuing editor of the Journal of Poetry Therapy: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Practice, Theory, Research, and Education. He is a widely published scholar and poet. Among his publications, Dr. Mazza is the author of Poetry Therapy: Theory and Practice, 3rd Edition (2022). He is past president and current board member (since 1985) of the National Association for Poetry Therapy (NAPT). In 1997, Dr. Mazza received the “Pioneer Award” and in 2017, the “Lifetime Achievement” award from NAPT.

Standing committees.

Education Committee makes recommendations to the Board about the development and implementation of the educational outreach of the Association and its membership.

Conference Committee plans and implements the annual NAPT conference, and engages in long-range conference planning.

Inclusion, Equity and Social Justice Committeeexpands both the diversity of membership, as well as that of conference attendees. This committee is dedicated to promoting the involvement, within the Association membership, of practitioners and/or professionals of diverse ethnic, gender identity, sexual orientation, linguistic, socioeconomic and geographic backgrounds.

Finance Committee oversees and reviews the funds of the Association and presents a proposed budget for approval at the annual meeting of the Board.

Membership Committee makes recommendations regarding membership procedures and focuses on recruitment, retention, marketing, and member services — in support of NAPT’s vision of cultivating poetry therapy throughout the world.

The Marketing and Public Relations Committee curates and shares stories that celebrate the impact of poetry therapy and amplify the voice of the NAPT community. With a focus on outreach, visibility, and strategic storytelling, the committee promotes engagement through social media, email campaigns, and multimedia content. It works to foster connection and awareness across diverse audiences, encouraging participation in NAPT programs, events, and membership. The committee’s efforts aim to uplift the field of biblio/poetry therapy and support NAPT’s mission of growth and healing through language and story.

Regional Representative Chair helps to connect regional reps with each other and with their communities and encourages and assists in the implementation of local events in order to promote the healing effects of poetry therapy.

Publications Committee oversees the publication of the NAPT e-newsletter, The Museletter, and coordinates any other publications that the Board initiates.

Current Ad Hoc Committees include Nominating Committee, By-Laws Committee, Awards Committee and Website Revision Committee.

"NAPT" The National Association for Poetry Therapy

is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization

19001 S Richfield Ave, #20

Green Valley, AZ 85614