Those emotions and memories, which can be difficult to express, are then processed in the therapy sessions. Through Valor, \u201cdefenders\u201d recreate their memories and tell their stories, creating their futures through art, songwriting and learning how to play musical instruments to express themselves.<\/p>\n
Art therapist Lana Mayhew, who earned her master\u2019s degree from Wright State in 1993, uses specific art mediums such as papier-m\u00e2ch\u00e9 masks with defenders.<\/p>\n
\u201cDefenders will paint what they show the world on the outside of the masks,\u201d said Garrison. \u201cDefenders will paint what is hidden from the world on the inside of the mask.\u201d<\/p>\n
The outside of Garrison\u2019s mask, for example, displays religious and patriotic symbols. On the inside is the word \u201canxiety\u201d in yellow, \u201cdepression\u201d in black and \u201ctrauma\u201d in red.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/files\/2021\/06\/Ryan-Garrison-57098_014-508x644.jpg\")
<\/a>Ryan Garrison, an organizational leadership graduate, and his wife, Julie, use music and art therapy to help veterans and first responders who have posttraumatic stress injuries. (Video by Kris Sproles \/ photos by Erin Pence)<\/p><\/div>\n
Garrison\u2019s wife, Julie, does the music therapy. She has a master\u2019s degree in music therapy and worked adjacent to Walter Reed National Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, at the National Intrepid Center for Excellence. The center provides care for military members with traumatic brain injuries and psychological health conditions.<\/p>\n
The music therapy involves the use of instruments such as guitars, keyboards, and percussion instruments like a tubano drum, the West African Djembe and a hand-activated percussion instrument, or HAPI, which emits soothing metallic tones. Guitars are used to creatively express trauma.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s difficult to articulate emotions,\u201d Julie said. \u201cA lot of people who have experienced trauma don\u2019t know how to express it. So they are able to non-verbally get it out, and through that process we\u2019re available to talk.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said first responders see traumatic events repeatedly and many may have PTSI.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey may not know that they have it,\u201d she said. \u201cThey just live and are resilient and strong. So having a space like this \u2026 can be a first step in going out and seeking treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Valor Therapeutics<\/a> works with eight military veterans in group sessions at a Beavercreek church. They meet once a week for 90 minutes over an eight-week period.<\/p>\n Garrison said the therapy is free and safe. There is no prescribing of medicine and nothing goes on anyone\u2019s medical record.<\/p>\n Garrison grew up in Princeton, Indiana, about 30 miles north of Evansville. He enrolled at Butler University to study sports medicine, then later transferred to Southern Indiana University. His college career was interrupted after he joined the U.S. Air Force following the 9\/11 terrorist attacks.<\/p>\n Garrison\u2019s family is no stranger to the military. His grandfather joined the Army during World War II at age 36. His other grandfather lied about his age and joined the Air Force when he was 17. Garrison\u2019s brother is in the Air Force and he has uncles who were in the Army, Navy and Air Force and a cousin who was in the Marines.<\/p>\n In the Air Force, Garrison served as an air transportation specialist, helping load aircraft. When he was stationed at Andrews Air Force Base, he helped prep Air Force One during the Bush and Obama administrations.<\/p>\n Garrison was deployed overseas three times \u2014 once to Pakistan and twice to Iraq \u2014 between 2002 and 2006 to load aircraft.<\/p>\n When he was hit by the rocket-propelled grenade in 2006, the blast tore the lining around two of the discs in his spinal column, causing the fluid to leak out.<\/p>\n \u201cThe two discs are like dried pork chops. I constantly have chronic pain there,\u201d said Garrison, who is unable to sit or stand for more than 30 minutes at a time. \u201cThe nerves that run down my leg go through that part of the spine. So when it gets swollen and everything gets tight, they pinch that nerve and my legs go numb.\u201d<\/p>\n Garrison realized he had PTSI one day when he blew up at his wife for \u201coverhelping\u201d him load the dishwasher. He punched a hole in the wall with his elbow and stormed out of the house, slamming the front door.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was blind rage and not knowing why,\u201d he recalled. \u201cThat was a lightbulb moment. God finally kicked me in the butt (and told me) there\u2019s something wrong here.\u201d<\/p>\n The next day Garrison called the military and self-reported himself as having PTSI, which he attributed to an accumulation of stressful experiences during deployment punctuated by the grenade attack.<\/p>\n Ryan Garrison started developing Valor Therapeutics as his senior organizational leadership project at Wright State.<\/p><\/div>\n After medically retiring from the Air Force in 2016, Garrison and his wife settled in Dayton and he enrolled at Wright State.<\/p>\n \u201cWright State has a very good logistics program,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s what really drew me in.\u201d<\/p>\n But Garrison found another interest and switched his major to organizational leadership, graduating with a bachelor\u2019s degree in 2018.<\/p>\n Garrison got the idea for the nonprofit in 2015 and began to develop it in 2017 as part of his senior organizational leadership project at Wright State.<\/p>\n Constantly at his side is his service dog, Luke, who has pulled him out of hundreds of anxiety attacks and nightmares as well as a flashback triggered by a terrifying traffic accident.<\/p>\n Garrison, his 5-year-old son and Luke were returning home from a park in January when a motorist ran a red light and hit their pickup truck, flipping it on to its side and spinning the vehicle 180 degrees.<\/p>\n Garrison was suddenly back in Iraq, trying to rip off his flak jacket and looking for a bunker to shelter in. Luke, a PTSI mobility dog who is trained to react to Garrison’s anxiety cues, poked him in the side and then shoved him with a paw.<\/p>\n \u201cI kind of snapped out of it,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n Garrison tells clients at Valor who have PTSI to think of their demons as a dragon.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s something that can be conquered, it can be trained, it can be tamed,\u201d he said. \u201cYou come here and you get the armor.\u201d<\/p>\n Garrison said it feels good to treat people with the same problems that he has had. \u201cI don\u2019t want to be there anymore,\u201d he said, \u201cand I don\u2019t want anyone else to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Organizational leadership graduate Ryan Garrison provides music and art therapy to help veterans and first responders who have posttraumatic stress injuries. Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/files\/2021\/06\/Ryan-Garrison-57098_005-508x337.jpg\")
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