Board Members
| Name | Title | ||
|---|---|---|---|
 | Mary Anne Assini | President | maassini2000@yahoo.com |
| Mary Anne Assini is a licensed clinical social worker and registered play therapist supervisor. She is a child and adolescent therapist at Ellis Outpatient Services in Schenectady and Play Therapy Program co-coordinator at Sage Colleges in Albany, NY. Mary Anne works with children and adolescents and their families, provides play therapy supervision and coordinates play therapy seminars. She is also an adjunct professor at Sage Graduate School teaching courses in play therapy. Prior to assuming the presidency Mary Anne had held the office of vice president with the New York State Association for Play Therapy for four years. Prior to that she was the corresponding secretary. Mary Anne’s vision for NYAPT is to continue to focus on 1) increasing community awareness and understanding of the benefits of play therapy and 2) expanding education and training options for students and professionals throughout New York State. | |||
 | Dr. Athena A. Drewes | Vice President | adrewes@hvc.rr.com |
| Dr. Athena A. Drewes is a NYS licensed child psychologist, NYS certified school psychologist, and Registered Play Therapist–Supervisor. She holds a Master’s in Clinical Psychology from NYU, and a PsyD in Child Clinical-School- Community Psychology from Pace University. She is Director of Clinical Training and the APA–Accredited Doctoral Internship Program, and sees foster children in therapy, at The Astor Home for Children, a full range, multiservice, nonprofit mental health agency with over 750 employees serving Dutchess, Bronx, and Orange counties in New York. Dr. Drewes is adjunct professor of play therapy at Marist and Sage Colleges, past Board of Director of the Association for Play Therapy (2001–2007), Founder and Past President of the New York Association for Play Therapy, and Director of the Play Therapy Institute. She is Secretary for the Child and Adolescent Special Interest Group of Division 56 Trauma of the American Psychological Association. She is on the editorial board for Training and Education in Professional Psychology, and the International Journal of Play Therapy. Drewes has written and lectured extensively about play therapy nationally and internationally. She is co-editor and chapter author of School-based Play Therapy (Drewes, Carey, & Schaefer, 2001), Cultural Issues in Play Therapy (Gil & Drewes, 2005), and Supervision can be Playful: Play-based Techniques for Child and Play Therapist Supervisors (Drewes & Mullen, 2008). She is editor of the soon to be released Blending Play Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Evidence-based and Other Effective Treatments and Techniques (Wiley, 2009) and co-editor of School-based Play Therapy. Second Edition (with Schaefer, Wiley, 2009). She is also a Supervisor on the Disaster Mental Health Leadership Team of the Red Cross in Greater New York, and a member of the Disaster Response Network of the New York State Psychological Association. She has worked for over 25 year across all settings with children and adolescents, specializing in treatment involving sexual abuse, trauma, attachment disorder, foster care children, supervision, and play therapy in the schools. |
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 | Sheila Doherty | Treasurer | sdoherty@astorservices.org |
| Sheila Doherty, PsyD, RPT-S is currently the Clinical Director at the Astor Home for Children. She has been working with severely traumatized children in residential and hospital settings for almost 30 years. Sheila has been practicing and supervising play therapy at Astor for the last 17.5 years. She was one of the founding members of NYAPT and has been an active member/participant since NYAPT’s inception. She has served on the NYAPT Board (Treasurer/Recording Secretary) for the past 8 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! | |||
| 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. |
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 | Susan Hansen | Board Member | shansentherapy@aol.com |
| Susan Hansen received her MSW from Fordham University with a specialization in child and family services. She is employed as the Program Supervisor of the Family and Child Unit at the Ulster County Department of Mental Health and has worked within the Social Service and Mental Health field for the past nineteen years. She has extensive clinical experience in the area Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in children and provides direct services via individual, family and group therapy to children, adolescents and families who have experienced severe trauma and abuse. Susan oversees all the clinical programs within the Family and Child Unit including the NEXIS Program (Neighborhoods Evolving by Connecting Individuals with Systems) designed as a joint venture between Ulster County Mental Health Department, the Department of Social Services and Family of Woodstock. She is a co-author of an article entitled Comprehensive Care for Traumatized Children published in the Psychiatric Annals in which the implementation of the NEXIS program is discussed. She is also the author of a chapter entitled, An Expressive Arts Group Therapy Model: Latency-Aged Children with Abuse-Induced Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder which appears in Expressive/Creative Arts Methods for Trauma Survivors. In addition, she is the creator of the Kids Together Group Therapy Program and the primary author for an article in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Group Therapy. This manuscript entitled, Kids Together: A Group Play Therapy Model for Children with ADHD Symptomalogy outlines the framework for the program as well as preliminary research supporting its effectiveness. Susan is a board member in the New York Chapter of the Association for Play Therapy and has been a workshop presenter for the Play Therapy Institute at Mount. St. Mary College in Newburgh, New York. She has received her Registered Play Therapist/Supervisor certification. |
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 | Kim Berkery | Recording Secretary | kimberkery@yahoo.com |
| Kim Berkery is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in New York. She earned her Masters degree in Counseling Psychology from Marymount University and is a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of Virginia as well. Ms Berkery is also a Registered Play Therapist-Supervisor. She 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. 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 13 years of experience in various settings with children and adolescents. 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. |
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 | Laurie Zelinger | Director | 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. |
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 | Joan Bender | Director | 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 Development Leadership 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. |
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