National Recreation Therapy Service
Creative Arts Therapies Week - March!
Creative Arts Therapies Week, the third week of March, is an opportunity to spread awareness about creative arts therapies. Please join our National Recreation Therapy and Creative Arts Therapy Service Program Office in recognizing our Art Therapists, Dance/Movement Therapists, Drama Therapists and Music Therapists as we celebrate National Creative Arts Therapies Week. Creative Arts Therapies have a positive and transformative impact on Veterans health and recovery. Thank you for your dedication in providing quality healthcare and serving our Veterans!
VHA Recreation Therapy and Creative Arts Therapy Service
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The Creative Arts Therapies section in Veteran Health Administration is comprised of four distinct, professionally trained, credentialed therapists in art therapy, dance/movement therapy, drama therapy, and music therapy. Join the more than 175 creative arts therapists at the Department of Veteran Affairs and the Veterans they serve in celebrating National Creative Arts Therapies Week. Our services offer Veterans comprehensive creative arts therapies utilizing creative modalities and evidence-based clinical treatment interventions to promote recovery, rehabilitation, and wellness. Creative arts therapy treatment objectives target improved cognition and sensorimotor function, emotional resilience, social, and coping skills. Creative Arts Therapists strive to facilitate Veterans’ engagement in their community, while providing a sense of achievement and channeling energies into productive forms of behavior. Creative Arts Therapies include the following clinical disciplines: Art Therapy, Dance/Movement Therapy, Drama Therapy, and Music Therapy. |
Creative Arts Therapies
Dance Movement Therapy
Drama Therapy
Music Therapy
Therapists Across The Country
National Veterans Creative Arts Competition and Festival
Nationwide, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical facilities use the creative arts as one form of rehabilitative treatment to help Veterans recover from and cope with physical and emotional disabilities.
Across the country each year, Veterans enrolled at VA health care facilities compete in a local creative arts competition. This competition includes categories in the visual arts division that range from oil painting to leatherwork to paint-by-number kits. In addition, there are categories in writing as well as the performing arts of dance, drama, and music. Local creative arts competition first place winning entries advance to a national judging process and first, second, and third place entries in each category are determined. Selected gold-medal-winning Veterans are invited to attend the National Veterans Creative Arts Festival hosted by a different VA facility each year.
The Festival
Co-presented by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the American Legion Auxiliary, the National Veterans Creative Arts Festival (NVCAF) is the culmination of talent competitions in art, creative writing, dance, drama, and music for Veterans treated in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) national health care system. Veterans exhibit their artwork and original writings or perform musical, dance or dramatic selections in a live stage show performance. All Veterans invited to participate are selected winners of year-long, national fine arts talent competitions in which thousands of Veterans enter from VA medical facilities across the nation.
VA medical facilities incorporate creative arts into their therapy programs to further the rehabilitation goals for both inpatients and outpatients. This annual competition recognizes the progress and recovery made through that therapy and raises the visibility of the creative achievements of our Nation’s Veterans.
For More Information:
National Veterans Sports Programs & Special Events (va.gov)
National Veterans Creative Arts Festival - Veterans Health Administration
