LIBERTY STATION – A nonprofit furnishing free therapeutic arts and crafts to military veterans and active-duty service members held the grand opening of its new Creative Engagement Center at Liberty Station on Veterans Day.
The new center marks a return to the community where Heal Vets was founded 55 years ago, continuing its mission of providing eligible veterans and their families with opportunities to participate in creative activities designed to promote connection, purpose, and well-being. Those activities include free therapeutic craft kits to active-duty military personnel and veterans to help heal the invisible wounds of war.
The therapy kits often become an integral part of the patient’s treatment plan for those recovering from traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression or other wounds of war. Heal Vets has distributed more than 31 million kits from hundreds of craft categories.
Those therapeutic kits provide real relief for transitioning back into civilian life, testified one participating vet.
“The transition from active duty was rocky for me,” said Oceanside Army vet Lee Ambrose Park, who was honorably discharged this June. “I didn’t necessarily plan on exiting active duty so early, and moving across country was tough on short notice to move closer to home.
“When my wife brought home the kit, I was actively searching for employment and getting pretty stressed out about the next professional steps for me,” continued Park. “The kit slowed me down, I did the wallet and the coin pouch, and I’m currently working on the bowl cozy as a birthday present for a family member. It gave me something completely different from constant interview prep and worrying about the future, and it grounded me.”
Help Heal Veterans CEO Capt. Joe McClain USN (Ret) reviewed the significance of the new Creative Engagement Center and its mission.
“Sometimes it takes a while,” he said of the process involved in vets rehabbing from war trauma. “A lot of the issues that some of our service members have just really don’t go away. Everybody’s on a different pace of healing. Everybody’s journey is different. Sometimes, something that may have happened years ago doesn’t manifest until years later.”
McClain said creativity has proven to be key to therapeutic success. “We are very much into creativity in supporting the healing process,” he said. “We’re almost like a gateway that helps people to discover the creativity within themselves.”
Of the free art kits distributed to vets, along with the therapeutic programming provided at the Liberty Station Creative Engagement Center, McClain said: “We try to create an open space where people can come and talk, or if they just want to stop by and pick up a kit to-go. It might be easier for a veteran to come in here and get a little bit of healing, then to go to their doctor right off. But by doing this we can maybe encourage them to take that next step on their healing journey.”
Help Heal Veterans is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 1971. Its new center is located at 2825 Dewey Road, Suite 201 in Arts District Liberty Station. Mona Daniel is the new facility’s creative engagement specialist.
Heal Vets Veterans Day will hold a celebration for the new center on Nov. 11 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, remarks from Help Heal Veterans leadership and community partners, a craft workshop, and an opportunity for guests to tour the new center and learn more about its programs.
For more information, visit healvets.org.