Board Members
Athena A. Drewes – President
adrewes@hvc.rr.com
Dr. Athena A. Drewes is a NYS licensed child psychologist, NYS Certified School Psychologist and Registered Play Therapist and Supervisor. She is Director of Clinical Training and APA-Accredited Doctoral Internship at Astor Services for Children & Families, a large multi-service nonprofit mental health agency in Dutchess, Orange and Bronx counties of New York. She has over 25 years clinical experience in working with sexually abused and traumatized children and adolescents in school, outpatient and inpatient settings. Dr. Drewes also has over 15 years experience treating children and teens in Astor’s Therapeutic Foster Care program. She served six years as a Board of Director of the Association for Play Therapy and Founder/first President for four years, and recent past Vice-President, for four years, of the New York Association for Play Therapy. She is an adjunct professor at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, and Sage Colleges in Albany. She has written extensively about play therapy and has been an invited guest lecturer throughout the US, England, Taiwan, Australia, Argentina, Mexico, Ireland, and Canada on play therapy. Her books include School-based Play Therapy (also translated into Chinese); Cultural Issues in Play Therapy; Supervision Can be Playful: Techniques for Child and Play Therapy Supervisors; Blending Play Therapy with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Evidence-Based and other Effective Treatments and Techniques; School-based Play Therapy: Second Edition; and Integrative Play Therapy (translated into Korean).
Stephen P. Demanchick – Vice President
sdemanc8@zimbra.naz.edu
Stephen P. Demanchick is an Assistant Professor for the Creative Arts Department at Nazareth College and Director of the Nazareth College Play Therapy Center for Children and Families. He earned his Ph.D. from University of Rochester in 2007. Stephen is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, a Registered Play Therapist, Nationally Certified Counselor, and NIRE certified child-centered play therapist. Stephen has completed the APT leadership academy training. Stephen serves on the editorial board for the International Journal of Play Therapy, is a member of the APT director nominations committee, and is the former Chair of the APT University Education Committee. As chair of our university education committee, he clinically supervised the development and content of two initiatives, Play Therapy Works and History Speaks. His interests include play therapy process work, filial therapy, CCPT with individuals with developmental disabilities, and clinical supervision. In 2011, Stephen won the APT Service Award.
Kim Berkery – Recording Secretary
kimberkery@yahoo.com
Kim Berkery is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and a Registered Play Therapist-Supervisor. She earned her Masters degree in Counseling Psychology from Marymount University and is a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of Virginia as well. She has served on the NYAPT board for the past two years as the Recording Secretary. She is an active member of the chapter and continued commitment to the advancement of play therapy. Ms. Berkery is currently the Clinical Supervisor at YES Community Counseling Center, a non-profit community agency in Massapequa, New York. Ms Berkery provides therapeutic services to children, adolescents and families as well as supervision of staff and interns. She also has a private practice in Rockville Centre, New York where she utilizes play therapy and a family systems approach. She has received advanced training in sexual abuse and trauma, suicide prevention and intervention, critical incident debriefing, and sand therapy.
Ms. Berkery demonstrates over 15 years of experience in various settings with children, adolescents, and families. She worked in a residential treatment center for sexually and physically abused adolescents in Fairfax County, Virginia. In addition, she was the Program Manager for Inova Kellar Center (Fairfax Virginia) in the Adolescent Day Treatment Program, Intensive Outpatient Programs (Mental Health and Substance Abuse) and Coordinator for the Children’s Day Treatment Program.
Rebekah Crofford – Corresponding Secretary
Crofford_Rebekah@roberts.edu
Rebekah Crofford, PhD, LCSWR, RPTS has been in the field of social work for close to 20 years. Throughout her career she has worked predominately with children and families where there are multiple risk factors. She enjoys working primarily in strengthening the parent child relationship through play therapy. Her passion for children and families is evidenced by her current position as graduate faculty in the Division of Social Work at Roberts Wesleyan College where she teaches courses on Play Therapy, assessment and interventions with children and families. In addition, Dr. Crofford provides play therapy supervision to mental health professionals has a small private practice and provides trainings in play therapy in the Rochester, NY community. When not working she serves on the Board for the New York Association for Play Therapy and at Christian Central Academy and volunteers in her church community. She has a husband of 18 years and 3 children whom she takes great delight in.
Shelia Doherty – Treasurer
sdoherty@astorservices.org
Shelia Doherty, PsyD, RPT-S is currently the Assistant Executive Director-Residential Programs at Astor Services for Children and Families. She has been working with severely traumatized children in residential and hospital settings for almost 34 years. Sheila has been practicing and supervising play therapy at Astor for the last 20 years. She was one of the founding members of NYAPT and has been an active member since NYAPT’s inception. She has served on the NYAPT Board (Treasurer/Recording Secretary) for the past 10 years. Sheila has provided leadership and a commitment to the advancement of play therapy through her efforts in practice, teaching and supervision. She can be recognized by her playfulness, laughter and great sense of humor.
Joan Bender, MA, LMHC – Board Member
jbender@st-cath.org
Joan Bender is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in New York. She earned her Master’s degree in Community Psychology from Sage Graduate School. She is employed as the Director of Training and Professional Development at St. Catherine’s Center for Children, a multi-service, human service agency in Albany, where she coordinates, conducts and creates training workshops to meet the needs of the direct care, clinical and administrative staff. In addition to her employment at St. Catherine’s, Joan serves as a member of the Sanctuary Faculty through the Sanctuary Leadership Development Institute at Andrus Children’s Center in Yonkers. She is also a 2007 Capital District 40 Under 40 business leadership award winner.
Joan’s clinical experience includes using a variety of individual, group, family and play therapy modalities with at risk children and families, separated families, and the assessment and treatment of children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.
Joan’s areas of interest include sensory integration, healing from trauma, sand tray therapy, therapist self care and play as a tool for organizational change.
Annie J. Monaco, LCSW-R- Board Member
anniemonaco@verizon.net
Annie J. Monaco, LCSW-R has been a certified social worker since 1995. She has extensive training in play therapy, family therapy, offender work, and trauma therapy. She specializes in working with parents, teenagers, children, and foster care kids. In addition to her private practice, Annie is an independent affiliate of Child Trauma Institute and she trains therapists nationally and internationally about trauma, working with children and teenagers. Annie is also an EMDR trainer and consultant and provides consultation to many therapists around the country on integrating EMDR and play therapy.
Laurie Zelinger – Board Member
drzelinger@gmail.com
Dr. Zelinger is a New York State Licensed Psychologist as well as a Certified School Psychologist in New York State, New York City, and New Jersey. She is also a Registered Play Therapist/Supervisor of the Association for Play Therapy and in April 2009, was elected to the position of “Director” on the Board of Directors for the New York State branch of the organization. Dr. Zelinger has additional certification in the following areas: The Grieving Child Bereavement Certification, Banana Splits Divorce Program, Child Abuse Prevention, NYS OMRDD Behavior Management of Aggressive Clients, and in CPR (including updated re-certification). Dr. Zelinger recently completed certification as a Red Cross Disaster Mental Health Team Associate Volunteer. Dr. Zelinger wrote “The O MY in TonsillectOMY and AdenoidectOMY: How to prepare your child for surgery” (2008) and was on the editorial team for the American Girl book;
“The smart girl’s guide to staying home alone” (2009). She also authored a chapter for the 2nd edition of Play Based School Interventions book (in press) edited by Dr.’s Athena Drewes and Charles Schaefer. This chapter is entitled “Understanding and Generalizing Communication Patterns in Children with Selective Mutism.”
Since 1996, Dr. Zelinger has been a full-time School Psychologist with the Oceanside, NY Public Schools where she works with elementary students and provides supervision to graduate student interns from many local universities. In addition, she has a private practice in Cedarhurst, NY where she treats children and their parents. Dr. Zelinger has held Adjunct Clinical Supervisor positions at Pace University’s Psychological Services Department, St. John’s University and NYU Department of Psychiatry.
