Often a troubled veteran is better off reaching for a paint brush, a guitar pick or a woodworking tool than another pill.

That’s the principle behind a creative arts program at the Abie Abraham VA Health Care Clinic, 353 N. Duffy Road.

“The creative arts program is fairly new when it comes to the Veterans Administration, probably within the last five years, maybe less,” said Karen Dunn, health promotion and disease program manager at the center.

“We started doing it a lot last year with the ‘Create a Healthier You’ campaign,” she said.

The reasoning behind the art therapy, she said, is to find new ways to deliver whole health to veterans in a way that matters the most to them.

“Veterans suffer from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder), anxiety and depression,” said Dunn.

She said veterans tend to focus on these conditions, and that especially was the case during the COVID pandemic when many veterans were isolated.

Art therapy is a way to get veterans to focus on something other than their maladies. It could be painting, woodworking, string art, photography, music or poetry.

“If they are focused on that, in a way that is way more productive,” said Dunn.

Added benefits include that the veterans may be taking an art class with other veterans which could lead to new friendships and veterans learning a new skill or picking up a hobby they had discarded.

While art classes are taught at the center, Dunn said she reaches out to form community partnerships with businesses and organizations in the community.

One partnership is with Steele’s Brushes and Ceramics, 1631 N. Main St. Ext.

Started by Christine Steele in 2015 and in its present location since 2021, Steele’s Brushes and Ceramics offers its customers a chance to paint on canvas or ceramics, create wood designs or create pottery,

Steele said, “People can study art, and we have a bunch of other classes here. I teach most of the classes, but we do have a pottery wheel instructor.”

Steele has taught classes at the VA center. Veterans can also come to the North Main Street Extension location on their own for a reduced price, said Dunn.

Steele said making art, whether painting a ceramic statue or making a pot, means “having a chance to let your mind rest and create and explore color. It gives yourself a chance to step out of your comfort zone and create art.”

Cheryl Schaefer of Butler, who served in the Army for more than 10 years, said she learned about Steele’s studio from the creative arts program at the VA center. Schaefer takes art classes at the center and comes to Brushes and Ceramics to work on her own.

Schaefer has worked in ceramics, pottery, poured paintings, string art and wood art.

“We have numerous things. If we didn’t know how to do something, they taught us,” she said.

“My husband (Jeffrey) has come and had a blast,” said Schaefer. “He’s been going to the VA for treatment for a bad back and neck.”

“The art is for enjoyment and has allowed us to do new things, but it is also very relaxing when you learn to do new things,” she said.

She added that taking art classes and dabbling in different mediums might be handy when her husband Jeffrey retires.

“He doesn’t have any hobbies, and he’s going to need something to do when he does retire. He reads all the time, but he can’t do it 24/7,” she said.

Navy veteran Robert Faitelson has been going to the studio three or four times a week. He said using a dry brush technique to paint ceramic figures is a good way to counter his severe PTSD.

He attributes his condition to serving as a Navy corpsman through Desert Shield, Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom.

“Basically it keeps me calm,” he said. “It’s an occupational therapy. My hands don’t shake as much. This place is really calming.

“And other veterans show up,” he added.

“They’ve helped me. Doing this calms me down and made my home life better, ” said Faitelson. “I want to try pottery. Christine brings in something new and I want to try it.”

Holistic medicine uses many therapies, according to Dunn. If it isn’t art, it could be fitness or music or equine therapy.

“Even if you don’t think you are creative, we want you to come in and try it out,” said Dunn.

Dunn said the 100 veterans in the creative arts program heard about it through their primary care physicians, the center’s ancillary staff or through word of mouth.

To pursue therapies that will benefit veterans, the VA center is reaching out to the community.

Steele and her studio are just part of the community partnership effort the VA center is trying to form with other businesses and organizations, said Dunn.

In the past, the VA center has collaborated with the Butler Art Center, 344 S. Main St., where an artists group created a series of portraits of veterans earlier this year.

Art center member Terry Hagen said he gave the artists group the idea to do the portraits of veterans at a gathering every other Wednesday.

Dunn said getting veterans to sit for portraits is part of her approach of using art as therapy for veterans.

The art center has an exhibition of the veterans’ portraits running though Nov. 18.

Dunn said the VA center also is seeking to work with the Butler Area Woodturners so the group can provide classes in woodworking for veterans.

Dunn said the center even has art kits for veterans who can’t get out or who don’t want to be in a group setting.

She hopes to have the art therapy program set up in VA outpatient centers in Cranberry Township, Clarion, Mercer County, Lawrence County and Armstrong County.

“It’s really exciting to see the change in our veterans who participate in these programs,” Dunn said.

Any creative act whether in paint or song or metal is a form of therapy, according to Dunn.

“It’s focusing on something else. It’s satisfying to make it. It gives you some pride. If you can sell these, it may be giving you a purpose,” said Dunn.

Sometimes, said Dunn, “You can see it in their faces when they are doing something that gives them joy.”

“Whether it’s music or art, it can be anything artistic and creative; it’s an opportunity to add another tool to their toolbox,” she said.

Dunn said, “Let’s try these different classes, programs for some joy and passion instead of adding a medication.”