When something so horrible happens to you that no words can describe it, creativity can express what cannot be spoken. Often people who were abused as very young children lack the ability to vocalize their grief, anger, fear or distrust. Either they were too young to talk at the time of the trauma, or they had not yet developed the vocabulary to describe what they experienced. One amazing benefit of addressing unresolved trauma later in life, is the ability to articulate how you feel about it now.
“With complex trauma, creative art and writing has kept me going since age eight,” says Tacoma poet and artist, Diana Gaidies. She goes on to comment about a more traditional form of treating PTSD, “Exposure therapy did not work because of the complex trauma. I have fought long and hard to help myself with PTSD.” Diana has found hope and healing through her artwork and poetry. Her books Please Listen and Creative Calm are pictorial collections combined with poetry that describe her healing journey.
Combat veterans who have witnessed the horrors of war can have difficulty processing the strong emotions attached to wartime memories. Although adults during the time of the trauma and certainly mature enough to have an extensive vocabulary to draw from, soldiers often refrain from discussing their experiences. “Considering that they are trained to protect and defend, it is no surprise that they would continue to do just that, by not tainting someone else with the horror of their experience,” remarks Rebecca Cooper, Vice President of Communications at The Center for Hope & Renewal, a program in Gig Harbor that educates people about PTSD and the healing process, including the use of art therapy.
Drawing upon creative ways to communicate silent thoughts and feelings about a traumatic experience is an important part of the healing process. Rick Lawson, founder of The War Experience Project, understands how to make creativity available for veterans in Tacoma. Rosemary Ponnekanti reported in the News Tribune on Saturday, that Lawson, a combat veteran, started The War Experience Project two years ago as a result of finding his own healing through art. Rick Lawson was quoted as saying, “When I returned from Iraq, people would ask me . . . things like, ‘Did you kill anyone?’ and I thought, ‘You don’t know what you’re asking. It’s not that easy.’”
Rick Lawson found healing by expressing his take on war through painting on his old camouflage jacket. The War Experience Project offers painting workshops for veterans and active duty military. The workshops are free with jackets, paint and brushes supplied. The jackets will hopefully be exhibited in Tacoma’s storefront art project, Spaceworks. By giving civilians an opportunity to see veterans’ expressions of how war has impacted them, “Then maybe the next time they’re with a veteran, they can just be with them as a person or even initiate an honest dialogue,” says Lawson.
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