Arts Therapy: Improving the health of veterans

Arts Therapy is not about being an artist or needing to be creative but is a process of using verbal and non-verbal cues to build a greater sense of awareness about our emotions, relationships and responses to situations. Arts-making has a wonderful way of breaking down walls and getting people ‘out of their own way’.

As an evidence-based form of therapy, it provides a wonderful avenue for people to connect in a safe and fun setting, using different artistic techniques to express themselves with the support of a trained professional.

What this means is that, whether it's drawing, painting, sand play, arranging found objects, making sounds or even sculpting, every person's creative journey in Arts Therapy will look a little bit different and unique to their own explorative recovery journey.

Arts Therapy for veterans and their families

For many veterans, there have been experiences they simply don’t have words for. Loss and trauma too difficult and unknown to be articulated. Arts Therapy offers a safe and gentle, guided process for them to begin understanding and expressing these experiences.

Through this form of therapy, veterans are learning to:

• Express feelings that are difficult to verbalise
• Develop healthy coping skills and focus
• Improve self-esteem and confidence
• Develop effective communication skills.

Veterans who engage in Arts Therapy can find new ways to cope, self-regulate and better manage their emotions, as well as reconnect with their physical sensations or see from new perspectives by gaining a better understanding of their inner experiences.

Some gain increased self-awareness through the experience of ‘doing’ in a session. However, for many it’s a chance to create and then sit with trauma in the presence of another who can help to make the experience safe.

For children of veterans, it’s a whole new opportunity to connect and express how they feel on any given day. Dads have become born again heroes wrangling hot glue guns, red glitter unicorns and paper mâché eggs. Arts Therapy workshops are giving families much more than creative projects but rather a sense of shared purpose, newfound awareness, and improved skills for communicating (and listening).

Arts Therapy can be a wonderful way to complement other support services, such as psychological or physical rehabilitation services, or an option for those who have not found talking therapies to work as effectively for them in the past.

Arts Therapy at Mates4Mates

Since mid-2021, qualified arts therapist, Jasmine Wright from Papernook has been providing Arts Therapy services at Mates4Mates to veterans, their family members (including partners and children) and carers. As a professional member of ANZACATA, Jasmine is professionally trained and experienced in providing Arts Therapy interventions to veterans and their families.

Often veterans have walked into Art Therapy and expressed that they have no idea why they’re there – these are people who’ve served our country and are now being asked to cut out paper stars – only to be pleasantly surprised and book another session.

Mates4Mates Counsellor, Trinity has witnessed the impacts of these Arts Therapy sessions on veterans and their families who are experiencing service-related physical injuries, mental health issues and isolation.

In the individual adult Arts Therapy sessions, veterans have reported how it has positively impacted their mental health. Not only do they describe enjoying the session, but they also report increased self-awareness through the non-verbal techniques that are part of Arts Therapy. With increased self-awareness, they can better understand their needs and move forward with purpose towards recovery.

Within the Arts Therapy programs for families, parents have bonded with their children as they work together as a united team to create their shared art piece. The Arts Therapy program provides families with an opportunity to step outside the difficulties of Defence life to immerse themselves in a shared, creative experience that brings a stronger sense of connectedness and cohesiveness to the family.

The gentle nature of Arts Therapy also enables partners some time to focus on self-care and be reminded they are important too. The program allows them the chance to express themselves and to gain a greater awareness of their own needs.

The Mates4Mates Online Arts Therapy program will be held next month, with further programs available in the second half of 2022. Mates4Mates will also be running in-school Arts Therapy programs across a range of South East Queensland schools.

To find out more about our upcoming Arts Therapy programs, or other clinical programs offered by Mates4Mates, contact programs@mates4mates.org.