Mission.

The National Association for Poetry Therapy, Inc. (NAPT) is an international and interdisciplinary nonprofit organization promoting growth and healing through written language, symbol, and story. NAPT members have forged an energetic community of healers, educators, and other helping professionals who value the applications of words and language.

NAPT includes members from a wide range of disciplines, and writers of all styles, including poets, journal keepers, storytellers, and songwriters. Our community includes psychologists, social workers, counselors, marriage and family therapists, educators, librarians/information specialists, nurses, physicians, occupational and recreational therapists, and clergy.

We work in many settings where people deal with personal, interpersonal, and community challenges. We are found in prisons, support groups, schools, inpatient and day-hospitals, Veterans’ Administration clinics, and more. We work with people of all ages, whether in crisis or searching for wider avenues of growth. We exist where literary art and healing intersect.

NAPT represents the language-oriented branch of expressive arts therapies. Learn more about our work in our Integrative Medicine Packet.

To learn more about our organization’s unique history, click here.

NAPT is committed to maintaining the highest standards for those practicing and training in the field of biblio/poetry therapy. To insure such, we have developed a NAPT Code of Ethics that you can read here.

Some important information for you to know:

(a) NAPT does not provide direct counseling or mental health services. If you are in need of counseling, please contact the following resources: AAMFT, or SAMHSA.

(b) NAPT does not accept any unsolicited submissions of poetry. When publications are planned, a call for submissions will be available on the website. Otherwise, submissions will not be acknowledged or returned.