Creative Art Therapy Impacting the Lives of Our Veterans
Supporting our military veterans through community-based art programs provide veterans with the opportunity to heal after serving our country
Many military veterans living in the United States struggle to overcome intense physical and emotional trauma they developed while serving active duty military service. Since the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, millions of military veterans have come forward to seek treatment for mental health illness. The U.S. Government Accountability Office recorded between 2006 and 2010, approximately 2.1 million military veterans received treatment from the VA for mental health condition associated with anxiety, depression, and PTSD. Although this number has increased significantly over the past decade, there is still a desperate need to expand access to mental health services to veterans in communities across the nation.
One program, Creative Forces, a collaboration between the National Endowment for the Arts, the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, and state arts agencies is addressing these issues through creative art therapies. The initiative is a community-based art program connecting military service men and women with a network of healing arts leaders. According to the website: “We are creative arts therapists, musicians, painters, potters, writers, woodworkers, dancers and doctors, military service members and veterans, community leaders and policymakers. Some of us work on military bases. Some of us work at hospitals. Some of us work at community art centers.”
Art therapy has become a viable option to care for veterans. Within the past decade, research studies conducted by health and human science professionals have revealed that creative art therapies rank top 4 (out of 40) medical interventions and treatments provided to veterans who may be suffering from PTSD and other related mental health conditions. Though there is still much more research that needs to be done to determine the long-term effectiveness of creative art therapy, the potential benefit of creative art therapy has granted veterans the power to manifest creativity in their personal and professional lives to cope with internal battles and share experiences.
To provide support to our service members, the Arts Council is partnering with After Action Network and Johnson County Parks & Recreation District to provide art classes designed especially for the veterans in our community. This program will not only provide free art classes, materials, and space to veterans, but will also showcase artwork created by veterans through a special exhibition in the spring.