Cynthia Blomquist Gustavson, MSW, ACSW, LCSW  attended Gustavus Adolphus College in her native Minnesota, graduated from Boston University, earned a Masters of Social Work from Louisiana State University, did graduate work in theology at United Seminary of the Twin Cities, and doctoral work in education at Oklahoma State University.

An award-winning poet, psychotherapist and leader in the field of poetry therapy, Gustavson is the author of In-Versing Your Life (Blooming Twig Books, 2006), an acclaimed series of six poetry therapy guidebooks. Her latest therapy publication, Bully! The Big Book for Bullies and the Bullied (Sept. 2011, Blooming Twig Books) won a “Mom’s Choice Award.” She has won other awards in recent years for her children’s book Ballad of the Rag Man (2009) and her poetry collection Please Use This for Children and Not for War and Guns (2010). Her latest poetry collection, Between Tahlequah and Tulsa, was published in 2014, and her memoir, A Mischief of Mice, just came out in July of this year.

Gustavson’s poetry and articles have been printed in magazines and journals, such as The Christian Century, Sojourners, The Journal of Poetry Therapy, and Families in Society. She was asked to write a chapter, “The Use of Poetry Therapy for the Treatment of Sexual Abuse Trauma,” in the textbook, Expressive Therapies for Sexual Issues (Springer, NY, NY. 2013). She has been an invited lecturer internationally and domestically, giving readings, workshops, and speaking on the use of poetry and the arts in therapy. She has taught graduate-level courses at Louisiana State University, and Northeastern State University in Oklahoma, as well as lecturing at psychiatric grand rounds at the Oklahoma University School of Medicine. Gustavson is retired from practicing  psychotherapy in Tulsa, OK.

She is on the editorial board of Nimrod International Literary Magazine. Gustavson served on the national Church Council for the ELCA from 2013-2019, was on the editorial board of The Lutheran magazine, and is currently on the Board of Directors of Bethany College, Lindsborg, Kansas. She has been married to Dr. Ed Gustavson for 54 years, has two children and one grandchild, and is a member of Fellowship Lutheran Church.