Art therapy has been proven to reduce stress, help with trauma and depression and alleviate other mental, physical and emotional strains. Now military service members, veterans, families and caregivers have a dedicated resource to combat these and other challenges.
The Workhouse Arts Center, a 55-acre campus in Lorton that’s one of the country’s largest and most innovative multi-use art spaces, recently brought Alyssa Goggan onto the staff of the organization’s Workhouse Military in the Arts Initiative (WMAI). The WMAI’s mission is to increase equity and opportunities for both active and retired military to take part in arts programming that is both sensitive towards and relevant for their unique experiences, including art making, performance art, culinary arts, and health and wellness. The goal for the programs is a holistic and transformative experience that supports growth and healing.
“I’m honored to be joining the WMAI to support and provide care to current and former military members and their families,” Goggan said in a recent statement. “It is my belief that art has the power to heal, build community and make a significant impact on our daily lives.”
Goggan received her Master’s in Art Therapy from The George Washington University. She is a Provisional Registered Art Therapist (ATR-P) and Licensed Graduate Professional Counselor (LGPC) and a Licensed Graduate Professional Art Therapist through the Maryland Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists. For the past two years she has provided therapy in a hospital setting; prior to that, during her graduate clinical internship she worked with adolescents of military families. Goggan combines clinical experience working with a variety of patients with a passion for strength-based, trauma-informed and client-centered art therapy. In her new role she will be using art to address needs including anxiety, depression, family dynamics, grief and trauma.
“My role as the art therapist is to provide a confidential and supportive environment for art therapy clients to set and achieve personal goals, through individual and/or group art psychotherapy,” she explained in a statement. “Completed within the art therapy studio space, art therapy clients may find a sense of peace, inspiration and comfort outside of the traditional clinical space.”
The WMAI offers free, confidential individual and group art therapy in a non-clinical setting including Open Studio Saturdays, Military Family “Make & Take” Art Workshops, dedicated Sunday Ceramic and Glass Classes, subsidies for Workhouse art classes and Recovery Forge Studio.
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