The TLA Network expresses deep appreciation for Teri Grunthaner, our outgoing executive director who is transitioning to new work.

Over the last five years, Teri helped us evolve from a tiny non-profit group to an organization that offers a host of trainings, classes, and events that help us honor and explore the power of words. Teri began working for TLAN at a time of financial crisis shortly after the 2014 Power of Words conference, which she attended. She worked diligently with the council (TLAN’s governing board) on fundraising and revisioning ways to make TLAN sustainable, financially but also organizationally. Teri’s special secret power included finding online and other systems to help us organize every aspect of administering our programs and events. She was also a warm and loving presence at many Power of Words conferences, including in Kansas City, Maine, and Vermont, where she made presenters and attendees feel welcome.

Caleb Winebrenner, long-time TLA Network Council member and chair of the Power of Words conference says,

TLAN has a vision for a more conscious and creative world. Without Teri’s diligent work, her attention to detail, and her strategies for making the organization run smoothly, our growth in the last five years would not have been possible. But the real joy of working with Teri was her patient listening, her kind heart, and her enthusiasm for how the arts can brighten the world. While I’ll miss working with her, I’m excited to see the work that she offers the world with her own TLA practice in expressive arts therapy.

The entire TLAN community also expresses deep gratitude toTeri, who helped the organization grow its class offerings, certification, annual conference, and behind the scenes, developed many comprehensive systems for every aspect of TLAN’s record-keeping, budgeting, outreach, and other tasks.

Teri is excited to be moving on to launch her business, Radical Heart Expressive Therapy (https://www.radical-hearts.com/).