NCCATA
National Coalition of Creative Arts Therapies Associations, Inc.
NCCATA Board
Amy Furman, MM, MT-BC
Chair
Amy is a Past President of the American Music Therapy Association. She has worked in a variety of settings collaborating with other creative arts therapists and related service providers. She has written articles for professional journals, music therapy monographs and book chapters. A regular presenter both nationally and internationally, her specialties include individuals with ASD, English Learners, and inclusion/mainstreaming in the school setting. .
Karen Knappenberger
Treasurer
Karen is a Registered Drama Therapist and Board Certified Trainer in private practice. She has previously served as the Treasurer for the North American Drama Therapy Association and as a member for the Drama Therapy Fund.
Dr. Margaret Carlock, ATR-BC, ATCS
Chair Elect, Secretary
Margaret is a registered, board-certified art therapist and certified art therapy supervisor. Margaret has worked extensively with individuals and groups of all ages, engaged in program development and graduate education. Through her practice, Chroma SoulArts, Margaret offers virtual and in-person creative arts community groups and retreats and provides consultation and presentations globally. She is a clinical faculty member at Prescott College, coordinating the Expressive Arts Therapy Post Master’s Certificate Program.
Association Representatives
Nadia Paredes
American Art Therapy Association
Nadia Paredes is the current President of the American Art Therapy Association. She is
a Registered Art Therapist, Licensed Martial and Family Therapist and Intuition Painting® Facilitator. She founded Nadia Paredes - Creative Studio, a bilingual resource for Mental Health prevention, unblocking Creativity and authentic self-expression. Her offerings include mindfulness based programs using embodied arts, art journaling for personal wellness and international speaking engagements. She hosts an Instagram, TikTok and Podcast in Spanish called Revolución Creativa, where she shares information about using art as a Mental Health practice. Nadia is also an Art Therapy supervisor and adjunct professor at Loyola Marymount University.
American Music Therapy Association,
Angela M. Snell, M.S.Ed, MT-BC
The current President of the American Music Therapy Association Angie is a school music therapist and educational consultant from Monroe, Michigan. She specializes in music therapy services in least restrictive environments, assessment, and special education law. Angie is an experienced change agent with additional graduate degrees in Educational Leadership and Special Education Administration. She has served in local, state, regional, and national leadership roles, including AMTA Speaker of the Assembly, and past president of the Great Lakes Region of AMTA and Michigan Music Therapists.
Laura Santner
National Association for Poetry Therapy
Laura Santner, LCSW, PTR-CM, CCATP is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, a Certified Clinical Anxiety Treatment Professional, a Registered Poetry Therapist, and a Certified Mentor in Poetry Therapy. Ms. Santner has been involved with the National Association for Poetry Therapy (NAPT) on various committees and board roles since 2006 and currently serves as President. Ms. Santner is also a New York Regional Representative for Poetry Therapy. Ms. Santner can be found in several publications and has presented on Poetry Therapy to spread awareness and provide education, in addition to facilitating numerous workshops and groups to promote growth and healing.
Dr. Angela M Grayson
American Dance Therapy Association
Dr. Angela M Grayson, BC-DMT, LPC, NCC is an award-winning Therapist, bestselling Author, transformational Healer, Speaker, and Educator. She speaks and teaches globally regarding mental health, multiculturalism and diversity, sacred dance, and dance/movement therapy. In her private practice, Dr. Angela seeks to enhance the quality of life through verbal and nonverbal creative expression, as well as educate, support, and provide opportunities for transformation of self along a spiritual journey of
healing and wholeness. She is the 17th National President of ADTA and the first Black
and Native American descendent president of the organization.
Adam Stevens MA, RDT North American Drama Therapy Association
Adam D-F. Stevens (they|them), MA, RDT, is a Registered Drama Therapist (RDT) who works with queer, POC, and neurodivergent youth in transforming their loss, grief and trauma into unapologetic, abundant joy and empowerment. Adam serves as an adjunct faculty member in the Creative Arts Therapy/Applied Theatre Programs at Antioch University in Seattle, and CUNY and Marymount Manhattan College in NYC. They are the Artistic Director for NYU’s Collideoscope Repertory Theatre Company, CRTC. Adam is a board member for the National Alliance for Children’s Grief, NACG where much of their work includes bringing a multicultural, social justice, and creative lens to bereavement work. Adam's superpowers are rooted in the fantastical forces of creativity and love.
Membership: Member Associations
American Art Therapy Association
Art therapy emerged in the 1940s as a mental health profession in which clients, facilitated by the art therapist, use art media, the creative process, and the resulting artwork to explore their feelings, reconcile emotional conflicts, foster self-awareness, manage behavior and addictions, develop social skills, improve reality orientation, reduce anxiety, and increase self-esteem. A master’s degree is required for entry level practice in art therapy. Art Therapy Master’s programs, accredited against the educational standards established by the American Art Therapy Association include theories of art therapy, counseling, and psychotherapy; ethics and standards of practice; assessment and evaluation; individual, group, and family art therapy techniques; human and creative development; multicultural issues; research methods; and internship experiences in clinical, community and other settings.
AMTA is dedicated to the advancement of the public’s awareness of the benefits of music therapy and to increasing access to quality music therapy services for those in need. Music therapy is a well-established healthcare profession dedicated to the improvement of health and well-being through use of carefully structured and evidence-based interventions informed by the best available research in published literature. Having been founded as a profession through service to veterans of World Wars I and II, music therapy has over 60 years of clinical history in the United States. AMTA's purpose is to support the progressive development of the therapeutic use of music in rehabilitation, special education, and community settings. Representing some 4,000 members, AMTA is committed to the advancement of education, training, professional standards, credentials, and research in support of the music therapy profession.
American Dance Therapy Association
Based on the empirically supported premise that the body, mind, and spirit are interconnected, the American Dance Therapy Association defines dance/movement therapy as the psychotherapeutic use of movement to further the emotional, cognitive, physical, and social integration of the individual. Dance/movement therapy is practiced in mental health, rehabilitation, medical, educational, and forensic settings, and in nursing homes, day care centers, disease prevention, private practice, and health promotion programs. The dance/movement therapist focuses on movement behavior as it emerges in the therapeutic relationship. Expressive, communicative, and adaptive behaviors are all considered for both group and individual treatment. Body movement as the core component of dance simultaneously provides the means of assessment and the mode of intervention for dance/movement therapy. Dance/movement therapy training and education occurs on the graduate level to achieve credentials as a Registered Dance/Movement Therapist (R-DMT) and the advanced level, Board Certified Dance/Movement Therapist (BC-DMT).
North American Drama Therapy Association
The North American Drama Therapy Association was founded in 1979. Drama Therapy is an active, experiential approach to facilitating change. Through storytelling, projective play, purposeful improvisation, and performance, participants are invited to rehearse desired behaviors, practice being in relationship, expand and find flexibility between life roles, and perform the change they wish to be and see in the world.
National Association for Poetry Therapy
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 but is not limited to, psychologists, social workers, counselors, marriage and family therapists, educators, librarians/information specialists, nurses, physicians, occupational and recreational therapists, and clergy. NAPT represents the language-oriented branch of expressive arts therapies.