4 minute read
Semper Sound
Semper Sound: Military Music Therapy Program
By Stacey Sargent
– Semper Sound Participant
The world today can be a stressful place for anyone, and for service members and veterans experiencing challenges such as post-traumatic stress or traumatic brain injury, that stress can create barriers to fully experiencing life. Military participants, specifically, need ways to process a ‘new normal’ if medically separated or disabled. Activities such as bonding with family and navigating civilian life can become tasks that feel too difficult to manage when symptoms arise, and the results of these experiences can lead to hopelessness and isolation.
However, thanks to the support of the community, those living in San Diego County have a respite from what can sometimes feel like a bombardment of stressors. Resounding Joy, which began as a team of volunteers offering music therapy-informed supportive experiences for socially-isolated seniors, has grown to include Semper Sound. Semper Sound is Resounding Joy’s program for military service members, veterans, and their families who need resilience and self-efficacy, a safe space to practice decision-making, and permission to express emotions and experiences.
Semper Sound offers music therapy led by trauma-informed Board-Certified music therapists (MT-BC), who serve as coaches, teachers, and guides for participants.
The team strives to transform the health and well-being of San Diego County by employing music as a therapeutic medium to effectively address physical, emotional, social, and cognitive goals. Music’s unique ability to target and navigate damaged areas of the brain and transcend verbal communication makes it a powerful tool when in the hands of a qualified professional.
Resounding Joy provides clinical, evidence-based therapy through partnerships with other agencies, such as the San Diego Department of Veteran Affairs, their Spinal Cord Injury Unit, and various drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs. On the community side, the organization offers Semper Sound Drums It Out and the Semper Sound Band Rehearsals, two of the weekly programs available to service members, veterans, and their families.
Imagine the feeling of sitting in a drum circle, or rehearsing or performing in a band, with others who have experienced similar challenges in their lives. Bensimon et al. (2008) notes that, although trauma can isolate and disconnect individuals from society, musical activities such as group drumming can restore social relationships by fostering feelings of belonging. Traumatic memories and evoked emotions can be managed through group improvisation while promoting a sense of relief and empowerment.
Semper Sound, in both clinical and community settings, offers a spectrum of music engagement activities and opportunities, from songwriting workshops to one-on-one music therapy sessions at no cost or sliding scale fees. Participants benefit from stress reduction, resiliency, emotional expression, self-help strategies, family bonding, tools for navigating civilian life, and symptom management for those with compounding challenges.
Music therapy through Semper Sound is accessible to those with physical challenges as well. For example, when learning guitar, a participant with physical disabilities can explore modified guitar picks and a variety of devices (including a foot pedal that holds chords) until they find an accommodation they like. The team also has experience in supporting deaf or hard-of-hearing individuals with music making. The education of the music therapists ensures that Semper Sound conducts trauma-informed activities with a facilitator who is trained to recognize signs of overstimulation, dissociation, and other symptoms of posttraumatic stress or brain injury.
Resounding Joy enhances the human experience through the therapeutic use of music, improving the health, well-being, and quality of life of military service members, veterans, and their families. To quote a Semper Sound participant, “Music therapy has greatly helped me. It is relaxing and therapeutic on many levels… I can focus on the music which allows me to not think of my physical and psychological issues.” Experiencing feelings of hopelessness and isolation as the results of post-traumatic stress, traumatic brain injury, or other challenges faced by members of the military can cause someone to feel alone. With the help of Semper Sound, people can come together from the difficulties they face and make something beautiful.
Military participants, specifically, need ways to process a ‘new normal’ if medically separated or disabled, and creative arts and music engagement programs that can accommodate all their symptoms and disabilities are the perfect assist. Music therapy can enhance social integration and quality of life for military populations, increase patient motivation and participation in interdisciplinary care, assist treatment processes from clinic to community, and provide a platform to prevent social isolation by promoting community integration through music performance (Vaudreuil, R., et al., 2018).
Resounding Joy
https://resoundingjoyinc.org
Donate to Resounding Joy
https://resoundingjoyinc.org/donate
Music Therapy for Service Member and Veteran Rehabilitation
