Eight county organizations receive grants to help improve former service members’ lives.
With her combination of musical training, youthful enthusiasm and quiet compassion, Megan Wong could serve as the poster child for the healing and transformative power of the arts.
“We’re finding out at a neurological level about the transformation that happens through music. We heal each other,” she says, “because the best thing we have to help us through difficulty is human connection. This is why certain works really speak to us in a way that’s not just verbal. And music connects every single part of your brain, your emotions, your planning, your memories.”
Wong heads the Semper Sounds project of Resounding Joy, Inc., a music therapy non-profit founded in 2004 by Barbara Reuer. The organization is one of eight in San Diego County to receive a California Arts Council (CAC) grant from its newest program, the Veterans Initiative in the Arts.
Arts Council director Craig Watson says the grant program “is rooted in the California Arts Council’s desire to address the needs and improve the lives of California’s veterans through the arts.”
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Betsy. Healing through these creative therapies is so fun, rewarding and transformational. Gosh, I remember having music and art classes every day in school growing up and it's so sad our children and youth choose them as electives. So many multiple intelligence and creative aspects of ourselves are lingering in the background. It will be wonderful to see these creative therapies coming again to the forefront for all of us across the life span.
Thank you for this article. This is an excellent program. I have seen music therapy, art therapy, and expressive arts therapy to be very helpful with veterans and others dealing with PTSD.
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