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Ironically, poetry therapy drives some heads insane, and possibly with good reason: what takes a lifetime for some to master, is now constructed in five minutes in a clinic. Still, if you fancy your chances at becoming an RPT (Registered Poetry Therapist...), or checking out its merits, you'll find some leads below in this piece by Perie J. Longo, PhD., RPT

Though it was recorded there was a Roman physician named Soranus in the first century A.D. who prescribed poetry and drama for his patients, the link between poetry and medicine has not been well documented.... In the 1950'’s, Eli Greifer, a poet, pharmacist and lawyer began a "poemtherapy" group at Creedmore State Hospital in New York City and in 1959 at Cumberland Hospital in Brooklyn, facilitated by psychiatrists Dr. Jack J. Leedy and Dr. Sam Spector. Dr. Leedy published the first definitive book on poetry therapy in 1969, Poetry Therapy, which includes essays by many of the early pioneers in the field. About this time more and more people in the helping professions began to use poetry integrated with group process. Among them was Arthur Lerner, Ph.D. of Los Angeles who founded the Poetry Therapy Institute in the 1970'’s on the west coast and in 1976 authored Poetry in the Therapeutic Experience... more here