Poetry therapy is “the use of language, symbol, and story in therapeutic, educational, and community building capacities.” It’s effective, with a wide range of populations, from children to elders, and with a broad range of problem areas, including family violence, homelessness, death and loss, and suicide. For example, it’s used when therapists employ poetry and creative writing to work on positive youth development with middle school children or when working with veterans and their families. A collaborative poem may be a helpful tool in gerontological work, while a dyadic poem may help facilitate couples/marital therapy.

Poetry therapy, which, according to the National Association for Poetry Therapy (NAPT)—established in 1969 as the Association for Poetry Therapy and formally incorporated as NAPT in 1981—has been a recognized healing art in the United States for more than 200 years, is a means through which individuals—such as those navigating grief or living with depression or cancer—can find voice for their feelings and a medium through which to participate in the therapeutic process.

The reasons poetry therapy may succeed where other traditional therapies may not—is that it is culturally sensitive and nonthreatening and thus able to “break through resistance, validate, and promote interaction.” Through practice and research, there are three major domains of poetry therapy—introducing a poem into the practice session (bibliotherapy tradition), promoting focused expressive writing (well documented health benefits), and utilizing symbolic or ceremonial activities to aid in life transitions. It’s consistent with the strengths perspective but easily adaptable to a wide range of theories, e.g., cognitive-behavioral, narrative, systems, and psychodynamic.

The International Federation for Biblio-Poetry Therapy provides credentials for poetry therapists. Certified poetry therapists and registered poetry therapists are master’s-level credentials obtained after completion of an approved program of didactic training, experience, and supervision.