Ashley's Proposal

For my service-learning project, I am hoping to work with veteran patients ranging from ages 25-85 who are receiving therapeutic services at the VA Hospital here in Lexington, Kentucky. I came to learn about the needs this population has through a friend, Ryan Montgomery, who I met through our church community while serving together on our worship team. He has been working as a physical therapist at the VA Hospital for about six years. We were discussing this service-learning project, and he expressed a desire to partner with me to brainstorms alternative ways to serve his patients. Hearing about his concerns made me wonder what more we could do for them. I want to find a way to use music to help these veteran patients better achieve their healthcare and personal goals, as well as provide tools and resources for their care team to utilize for their future patients.

I have always had an interest in learning how to better serve out military community. I have an adopted brother who was in the Air Force and was shipped over seas during the war in Afghanistan. I recall that when he returned, he struggled a lot mentally and physically. The only event he ever mentioned was a bombing his company endured. This took place back in the early 2000s, and to this day he does not speak of his time there. He was returned home and honorably discharged due to a medical issue with his knee. I recognize that our society has attempted to support our troops, but there is always so much more that could be done. When I learned that I could contribute to the well-being of our veterans by providing music resources to aid their recovery process, I knew I needed to be a part of it.

I believe working on this service-learning project will benefit me in tremendous ways. First, it will increase my knowledge over how best to serve out local veterans. Moreover, it will help me better understand the process of how music can aid in the physical and occupational therapy goals these veteran patients are trying to achieve. It will teach me to think outside of the box, because I will not be having direct contact with these veteran patients. I will have to rely on my ability to relay information and my capability of utilizing feedback to better the resources I create throughout this service-learning journey. I think this could inform my music therapy practice by helping me to find ways to better serve my clients who have a military background. It will also help me to practice reaching out for help. I am prone to trying to figure everything out on my own, and this will help me to branch out and utilize my resources.

I have incredibly little prior experience in working with veterans. However, that is part of why I am so interested in supporting this population. I want to know more so that I can do more. I am in the process of working with Ryan, the physical therapist, and he is willing to partner with me in this endeavor. I am willing to research and learn more about accommodations that benefit veteran patients, specifically when it comes to insomnia and chronic pain. I know this will be a group effort, and I do not have a solid plan on what exactly to do quite yet. However, I will seek insight from my community partner to come up with what will work best for these veteran patients. This could look like coming up with meditation exercises to help decrease stress and increase relaxation, providing ways to incorporate music into their at-home exercise plans, or providing a seminar for the therapies department.

First and foremost, I want to figure out the needs and barriers these veteran patients are dealing with. Since Ryan is a musician himself, he has told me about his conversations with the patients and their interest in music. He believes that music resources would be received well. There are a few people, like the head of the therapies department, who I may need to get permission from before starting this project. I am curious to see what aids the university might have that help our military veteran students on campus. I am hopeful that it will spark some ideas for things I can initiate and implement. I also wonder what the city of Lexington does for its military veteran community members. Perhaps there are supports and services the city offers that the VA patients could utilize to better their healthcare experience. If it is possible to find music therapists or teachers who have experience with working with military veterans, I would love to talk about the strategies and tools they use.