The Creative "Righting" Center^TM
Sherry Reiter, PhD, PTR/MS
presents

Meeting September–June

WHERE:	The Institutes of the Arts in Psychotherapy New York City 526 West 26th Street, Suite 309
COST:	$180.00 for Fall Semester $300.00 for Spring Semester
WHEN:	Sundays 12:30-4:30pm on the following dates:

September 18	One City, One Prompt  A free community event: 12:30-3:30 “Connecting Words and People in Community; Uniting Threads of Identity” The CRC partners with Transformational Language Network and Swirl, Inc. Facilitators: Amanda Lacson, MA & Sherry Reiter, PhD, PTR-M/S, RDT-BCT
October 9	The Joys of Journaling Poetry therapists use many techniques that originated in the fields journaling and journal therapy. Explore seven powerful techniques including the portrait, map of consciousness, altered point of view, and dialogue.
November 6	Thunder and “Writening”: Exploring Anger and the Possibility Of Forgiveness While some anger is productive and beneficial, other angers are red-hot, insidious, and corrosive to mind, body and spirit. We write to externalize, explore, and exorcise anger, working on one of the most difficult spiritual challenges -- forgiveness.
December 18	The Truth in Magic: Therapeutic Use of Fairy Tales and Myths Special Guest: Juliet Bruce, PhD, Expressive Arts Counselor. Juliet specializes in healing story and frequently presents narrative trainings for professionals. Emotional and spiritual well-being require the capacity to tell a coherent story about one's life. It doesn't have to be happy, or even historically "true," but it does need to integrate and find meaning in experience.
January	RECESS
February 26	In the Winter Light: Coping With Depression Depression is called "the common cold of psychiatry," and it is rampant at this time of the year. In addition to providing valuable Information about depression, in this session we work with shadow and light to explore the literature that informs, inspires and sustains us through us in the dark of winter.
March 25	The Express Stop I: Oral Interpretation and the Re-Claiming Of Voice Often overlooked in the poetry therapist’s training, the use of voice as an instrument of identity is of prime importance for both the facilitator and the participants. This workshop will focus on vocal explorations that affect the emotional experience in poetry therapy. Discover the joy of speaking from the heart , bringing poets’ words to life in an authentic way, and really being heard. As Paul Newham says in his book, The Healing Voice, “Your voice is your identity in sound."
April 15	The Poetry of Witness Special Guest: Emily R. Blumenfeld is a Certified Applied Poetry Facilitator whose work and writing center on themes of voice and silence, writing and healing, social justice, and mothering. Today we are bombarded by the toxicity of "common shock" ranging from watching a bully, to our experiences of loss, trauma and knowledge of the violence of war and genocide around the globe. The poetry facilitator is in a unique position to cultivate empathy and compassion in a torn and fragmented world.
May 20	The Express Stop II: Workshop This workshop focuses on practice of poems prepared by participants. In "The Alchemy of Voice", Stewart Pearce says: "The voice can move us to tears, shatter a glass or hear a broken heart. It can mesmerize, seduce, infuriate or command; inspire fear and dread, trust and love. The sound of a voice can evoke memories, sensations, thoughts and feelings..." It is essential to the poetry therapist's art and craft.
June 24	Beauty: Elixir for the Soul Beauty is one of the cornerstones of poetry therapy. This session will focus on the poetry of beauty in nature that inspires and sustains us. A banquet prepared by brilliant poets through the centuries and from around the world.

You are invited to partake in the experiential, interactive process of poetry therapy.  Experience will be gained in choosing and using poetry and story gems with different populations. You will also have the opportunity to facilitate a group and receive feedback. An hour of group supervision will be devoted to brainstorming creative alternatives for challenges in the field. Writers, teachers, creative arts therapists, librarians, therapists, pastors and professional helpers are welcome. Each session equals 2 peer group hours, 1 didactic hour and 1 hour of group supervision.

Visitors are welcome to experience a session at no cost to consider whether they want to register for the fall or spring term, but need to reserve a space by contacting Dr. Reiter at sherryreiter@yahoo.com  Come join a vibrant circle of persons who recognize the healing and growth potential of words.

New People are Welcome!

Questions? Please Call  (718) 998-4572

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Sherry Reiter, Ph.D., the Director of The Creative “Righting” Center, is a clinical social worker who is a Registered Poetry Therapist and Mentor/Supervisor, as well as a Registered Drama Therapist and Board Certified Trainer. Past President of the National Association for Poetry Therapy, she has also served as the Certification Chair for NAPT. She has been teaching poetry therapy for over thirty years, first at The New School for Social Research and  currently at Hofstra University. Over the past twenty years, she has received the following awards from NAPT: The Outstanding Achievement Award (1984), The Distinguished Service Award (2002), and The Art Lerner Pioneer Award (2004). In 2007, she was the recipient of the Morris Morrison Education Award for excellence in teaching and bringing poetry to marginalized populations.