Veteran Music Therapy Retreat in Nashville, Tennessee. October 11-14, 2018

Just days after our Cleveland odyssey, the Challenge America team traveled to Nashville where we hosted what was undoubtedly our most successful music therapy retreat to date. This event kicked off with our very first training clinic for certified music therapists, who joined us for two days of classroom training followed by two days of hands-on observation of our program in action. By adding this new dimension to the program, we hope to have these practicing therapists spread our music therapy model to underserved veteran communities across the country.

Of course, it was the work with our amazing veteran participants that truly made this a memorable event. Several of our past participants joined us for a very moving final concert, where our amazing songwriters and participants delivered heartfelt performances that had the packed audience of family and friends laughing and crying, time and time again. It was a honor to have the one and only Amy Grant in attendance as well. Our new friends from The Hallmark Channel were also on hand to film the event and final performances for Amy’s holiday special on December 10. Like our past events, the veterans at this retreat confirmed our belief in the efficacy of this work and inspired us to continue our mission to leverage the healing power of music and the creative arts to address the most significant challenges facing the brave men and women who sacrificed so much on our behalf.