11/19/2019
Press Release:
Contact: Jason Moon
Warrior Songs Inc.
[email protected]
Press Release
Trauma Transformed through Art
16 Women veterans to be featured in art show – free to the public
Chandler, Arizona: Warrior Songs, a finalist for this year’s Phoenix Mayor’s Arts Awards, is a non-profit organization committed to facilitating the healing of veterans through music and the creative arts. November 20th - 24th, Warrior Songs is hosting a Creative Arts Healing Retreat for 16 Women Veteran Military Sexual Trauma (MST) survivors in Scottsdale, Arizona. The retreat culminates with an art show where the veterans will display their healing creations on Saturday, November 23rd from 6:00pm to 8:30pm at the Franciscan Renewal Center located at 5802 E Lincoln Dr, Scottsdale, AZ 85253. This event is free and open to the public. 13yo and older is encouraged do to the frank nature of the topics that will be discussed.
The retreat is offered free of charge to 16 Women Veterans who survived Military Sexual Trauma. 8 of the veterans will be local while the other 8 are from across the country. The retreat is facilitated by an experienced all volunteer staff of 5, three are veterans, two who are civilian therapists. Over the course of the 4 day retreat, the veterans explore aspects of their military service and subsequent trauma through a variety of art modalities including writing, painting, drawing, and songwriting. Each session is followed by an educational/instructional mind/body competent to assist in reducing any PSTD symptoms that arise from exploring the trauma. The art show is a key component to the healing power of the retreat as it allows the veteran to communicate the parts of the trauma that they most need to express publicly. Many participants share things they have never told to another person, and feel unburdened afterwards. Audience members from previous art show often state that the experience is one of the most profound and moving experiences of their lives.
Local staff has been fundraising to cover the cost of the retreat since February 2019. After receiving a grant from The Arizona Department of Veterans’ Services, fundraising complete. Retreat facilitator and Iraq war veteran Graciela Marroquin says, “As a woman veteran, who proudly served 14 years of service, and as an MST and combat PTSD, survivor and victor - I would like to invite and ask you for your support the Warrior Songs Creative Arts Retreat. These women who proudly served are our wives, mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts, grandmothers, and friends. Please enable and allow, for their voices to be heard.”
