History

The American Association for Therapeutic Humor was founded in 1987 by Alison L. Crane, RN, one of the leading public speakers throughout the 1980's on the therapeutic uses of humor in the healthcare setting.  Alison started the Association in a spare bedroom of her townhome, after it became apparent that audiences wanted easier access to research-based information on all aspects of humor. 

Her one-year-old assistant, Sarah, was her constant companion and helped Alison perfect her filing systems, since Alison had to redo them each time Sarah discovered a new way to get into the file cabinets. Initially, Alison produced a 6-10 page quarterly newsletter called Laugh It Up, but starting in March 1990, an additional 2-page newsletter called Laugh It Update was also produced for members, and focused on one specific subject with each issue.  The Association also offered an annual one-day workshop on therapeutic humor, and twice collaborated with the Institute for the Advancement of Human Behavior to put on the highly successful Humor and Pastoral Counseling Conference (affectionately named "The God Conference" by Alison and Joan Piaget at IAHB.)

In 1996, the organization established a website with its own internet domain name ( www.aath.org ).

AATH was renamed the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor in October 2001 to reflect its international membership as well as its focus on both theoretical as well as the "applied" aspects of integrating humor into a variety of therapeutic modalities.

Presidential Succession

1988 - 1990 Alison L. Crane, RN, MS
1990 Jim Pelley and Connie Todt, RN
1990 -1993 Kathy Passanisi, PT, CSP, CPAE - physical therapist
1993 -1994 Bruce Strombach - Hospital administrator
1995 -1996 Patty Wooten, RN - cardiac nurse
1997- 1998 Ed Dunkelblau, PhD- clinical psychologist
1999 - 2000 Steve Sultanoff, PhD - clinical psychologist
2001 - 2002 Ann Weeks, RN, DNS - nurse and family therapist
2003 - 2004 Shirley Trout, PhD - educator
2005 - 2006 Allen Klein, MA, CSP - author, professional speaker

2007 - 2008 Lenny Dave - Speaker, author

Annual Conferences

1988  Toronto, Canada (held concurrently with the Laughter and Play Conference)
1989  Seattle, Washington (held concurrently with the Western Region Power of Laughter and Play Conference)
1990  Santa Cruz, CA (in conjunction with Humor in the Hills Conference)
1991 St. Louis
1993 Chicago
November 1995 San Francisco
November 1996 Orlando
January 1998 Washington DC
January 1999 Phoenix
January 2000 Nashville
February 2001 San Diego
February 2002 Baltimore
February 2003 Chicago (included Canadian humor scholar Rod Martin PhD)
March 2004 San Francisco (included Swiss humor scholar Willibald Ruch PhD
February 2005 Safety Harbor , Florida
February 2006 - Austin, TX

February 2007 - Panama City Beach, FL (20th Anniversary Celebration)
February 2008 - Cruise from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas