Rock 4 Recovery - Houston Service

Rock 4 Recovery
Music Therapy Program
“Using Music as a Weapon“
Definition of Music
Therapy:
This program is a brand new non-profit for
veterans of all ages, gender and service
history. The mission is to provide a safe and
comfortable area for veterans to express their
feelings and thoughts through music. Music
throughout the years has been found to have
positive affects and healing abilities for
soldiers with invisible wounds of war such as
PTSD and TBI.
It is designed to provide the opportunity to
experience music in many ways. A veteran
can learn to play an instrument of his choice,
write songs, read music, etc. Even if the
veteran does not choose to play an
instrument he can learn a vast amount of
other information we offer. There will be
music industry professionals from the
entertainment industry that will be
volunteering their time to teach and mentor.
Veterans are also welcome to come listen to
the music, relax and enjoy the friendship of
his fellow soldiers.
We have received the attention of national
artist and celebrities and some have
graciously volunteered to hold different clinics
to show their appreciation and support of our
veterans. The music room is located inside of
the American Legion Post 416 near
downtown Houston. The American Legion
graciously donated the room and renovated it
with materials supplied by Home Depot. The
long term goal is to expand the program
throughout the city and eventually
nationwide.
In partnership with the Mayor’s Volunteer
Initiatives Program, Houston SERVICE (a Cities of
Service initiative) and the Mission Continues, the
Rock for Recovery Music Therapy Program aims
to continue the work done on veteran
reintegration in the greater Houston area. By
partnering with various veteran organizations, we
aim to strengthen veteran programming.
Currently, there are 117 cities in the Cities of
Service coalition that represent over 55 million
Americans – the coalition exist to empower
citizens to volunteer within their community and a
leading call to service has been veteran’s
outreach.
As stated by Mayor Annise Parker, Houston
Service aims to “enhance the mentoring
programs for our returning veterans.” There are
those out there that can donate their time. Those
that can teach a returning combat veteran music
and give to their community at the same time.
This also br idges the gap with those that
want to help our veterans .
“Let’s help out our fellow
veterans and give back
to those that have
sacrificed their freedom
for ours “
Our goal is to partner with every music
therapy program available to our veterans
and link them together. We can all make a
difference and help others move forward.
Warrior Spirit Band and a fellow wounded warrior
Fort Benning, Ga
“Music therapy is the
systematic application of
music in the treatment of
the physiological and
psychosocial aspects of an
illness or disability. It
focuses on the acquisition
of nonmusical skills and
behaviors, as determined
by a board certified music
therapist through
systematic assessment and
treatment planning. “
Working with Our Veterans
When our veterans return they will be
faced with many hardships. Once
again they will have to fight - but a
very different war
In the past year alone the number of
diagnosed cases in the military
jumped 50%- and that’s just
diagnosed cases.
All the volunteers, teachers and mentors
that participate in our program will be
dealing with individuals who have been
diagnosed PTSD, TBI and various other
combat wounds of war.
They will be made aware of the physical
and psychological dimensions of every
type of injury they might encounter.
Studies estimate that 1 in every
5 military personnel returning from
Iraq and Afghanistan has PTSD.
20 % of the soldiers who have been
deployed in the past 6 years have
PTSD. That’s over300,000.
Donating a DDrum snare to a warrior –
Ft. Bragg NC.
17% of combat troops are
women; 71% of female military
personnel develop PTSD due to sexual
assault within the ranks.
What we will be offering
The Rock 4 Recovery program will do its best to offer
the most comprehensive music therapy program
available to our veterans. We will have some of the
best musicians and industry professionals available to
teach and mentor our students. By having the best
we can ensure that our veterans are getting top
notch instruction. Below is a list of some of the classes
that will be rolled out as the program grows.
-
Guitar / Bass + other string instruments
-
Drum / percussion
-
Piano / Electronic Keyboards
-
Band Management / Marketing
-
Recording Music
-
DJ’n / Mixing
-
Vocal Lessons
-
Stage Presence / Performance
-
Once a week a different organization will
show a veteran how to navigate the VA
system and answer questions. Sometime we
will host resume classes as well.
More Classes will be added as we get volunteer
teachers and industry professionals.
We will also have professional music
therapist attend various classes to monitor
our progress.
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By using targeted music interventions a
variety of goals may be addressed such as:
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Fine motor skills
Gross motor skills
Balance and/or gait
Breath support
Oral motor skills
Communication/ receptive
language skills
Pain management
Executive functioning/ cognitive
skills
Social skills
Self expression/ self awareness
Overall health and wellness
Manage stress
Express feelings
Enhance memory
(Taken from American Association of
Music Therapy
websitewww.musictherapy.org )
The Founder
“Using Music as a Weapon “
SSG(ret) Paul Delacerda
E-Mail:
paul@warriorspiritband.com
Web Site:
www.warriorspiritband.com
Phone:
910-977-3734
Founded by SSG(ret) Paul Delacerda, a
wounded warrior formerly of the 82nd Airborne
Division and drummer for the first wounded
warrior band “Warrior Spirit”. This program is a
spinoff of the bands mission to empower the
wounded warrior through music. He has been
playing drums for over 20 years. After being
disabled in Iraq due to an IED explosion he was
told he would never play again. Through
perseverance he was able to overcome his
injuries and show others that giving up was
never an option. Through the band he found
that music has the power to heal those
struggling with various disabilities, to include
PTSD and TBI. With the rise of suicides in the
veteran community this is a great way to also
reduce those numbers. Our Music therapy
program is not clinical or your typical therapy
session. There's no group circles, just drum
circles, no medications given, just a big dose of
rock and roll or whatever grooves you.
How You Can Help
The music therapy program takes a lot to run.
We constantly need guitars and other musical
instruments. We rely on the charity of others to
keep this program going.
“Warriors Playing for Warriors”
All the proceeds from fund raisers and various
other events go back into the recovery of our
veterans. The immediate need at this time is
equipment to sustain our classes.
There will be a donation page set up on our
website for those that wish to give even if just
a little to keep us going. We also take
instrument donations; this will help the
veterans that cannot afford it.
Become a Teacher or
Mentor
SSG(ret) Paul Delacerda
BEYOND THE STAGE..…
This is a great way for professional musicians
to get involved with our program. Using the
video technology that is available, we can
showcase celebrity musicians and those that
are not able to be at our facility .
Through the use of programs such as, ( ie;
Skype, video chat ) software the possibilities of
what we can do are endless. This will allow us
to connect our music program to virtually
hundreds of potential students to and those
that may be hospital bound.
There is never a centralized location that the
artist, teacher or mentor is stuck to. Every
location can broadcast at any given time. Being
able to interact with the teacher and our
students helps as well. A question can be
answered in real time. The video channel we
use will be a closed channel and only for our
warriors and teachers.
Looking for a way to give back to our veterans?
Are you an accomplished musician or industry
professional? Contact us and let’s get the ball
rolling!
Rock 4 Recovery
connects with the Military
With the cooperation of AW2 we
can connect with all of our
wounded warriors.
With the advancement of video conferencing, at
Rock 4 Recovery we will bring that technology to
Caption describing picture or graphic.
our wounded warriors. With the cooperation of the
military and (AW2/WTU’Ss), we will broadcast our
clinics to our warriors that otherwise wouldn’t
have the chance or ones that might be hospital
bound. Once the system is setup, a warrior(s) can
interact with our music clinic as it happens. We
will also be archiving every broadcast so that it
can be accessed at anytime afterwards.
VETERANS
MUSIC THERAPY PROGRAM
“ USING MUSIC AS A WEAPON “