CreatiVets: Helping Veterans Heal Through Arts and Music
According to a report released last year by the Department of Veterans Affairs, every day, 17 veterans in the United States die by suicide, and veterans are 52.3 percent more likely to take their own lives than the general population. Familiarity with firearms and the fact that the majority of veterans are male are contributing factors. Richard Casper, an Iraq combat vet, founded CreatiVets (Nashville, TN) to give veterans an opportunity to tell their stories through art and music, allowing them to heal…and hopefully, to save veteran lives in the process.
Iraq war veteran KC Shaw is one soldier who has experienced firsthand the healing power of telling his story through music. Shaw traveled from his home in Baltimore to Nashville to work with country star Jimmie Allen and songwriters Tate Howell and Brian White to write a song based on his troubling military experiences. Shaw has experienced the psychological fallout of carrying out covert missions in war zones, having a front-row seat to death and destruction, and the difficulty of trying to adjust to a normal life back home. He has lived with TBI (traumatic brain injury) and PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) and at times, it has been too much to bear. Like other Veterans, he has contemplated suicide.
Shaw was in his third year of premed studies at the University of Colorado with plans to become a pediatric oncologist when the Twin Towers were hit by al-Qaeda terrorists, killing his close friend. This triggered him to drop out of school the next day and enlist in the Army without even telling his family first. By 2003, Shaw was entering Iraq with U.S. forces, and he lost another friend when the truck carrying him was blown up. Shaw survived the battles of Fallujah and Mosull physically intact, but psychologically changed. He then joined special operation forces, but the years of secret missions caused him to lose himself. “I spent so much time being someone else, that I forgot who I was,” said Shaw. His wife and family would experience his rage, triggered by the simplest everyday experiences, when he would come home. He had been struggling with suicidal thoughts for years when, in 2019, he lost 2 service buddies to suicide within weeks of each other. That was the wake-up call for him to seek help through traditional therapy and medication. He arrived at CreatiVets when he was in the middle of his own personal transformation.
As for the process, Shaw tells his story, talking to country artist Jimmie Allen and songwriters Tate Howell and Brian White, who are in the writer’s room, strumming a guitar and taking notes on a laptop, respectively. Casper is in the room as a “battle buddy;” all veterans are paired with a fellow vet as a peer mentor.
“Songwriting helps to repurpose memories,” says Casper. “With all of these injuries – physical, psychological, moral – it is trying to find a positive way of looking at (Veterans’) stories. Art and music can save Veterans’ lives. It changed me.”
The result for Shaw? A song titled “Find Me Again.” The chorus lays out Shaw’s hopeful vision for the future: “I wanna be a man that ain’t giving up; who ain’t running when things get tough; Lover, father, son and brother; A man who’s a damn good friend; Just trying to find me again.” (Shaw’s song will be available soon to stream or download through creativets.org). For more about the CreatiVets Songwriting Program, visit https://creativets.org/programs/songwriting/.
Shaw, who left the Army in 2021, is now back home with his wife Brittany, son Miles, and daughter Elinore, and he is working for a technology company. When he’s having a bad day, he puts on his song. Says Shaw, “We all have a darkness, but it’s a guiding light. That’s what the song is to me. It’s hope.”
For confidential support, veterans and loved ones can contact the Veterans Crisis Line at 800-273-8255 or text 838255.