Creative Purpose: The mission behind my artwork.

Hello there! My name is Anne and I am an Air Force military spouse, mixed media artist turned social worker whose personal experience attempting to seek mental health care within the military insurance system while in crisis changed my life. I realized that my artistic abilities have the power to help others going through the same experiences as me. That’s when I shifted my career from graphic design to social work and have been establishing a creative therapy program for the military community for a couple years now.

The goal of my art business is not just to sell artwork; it is to use the proceeds to make creative therapies accessible and available to the military community.

Incensed over how difficult seeking health care through Tricare insurance is and has always been for military dependents, advocacy became apart of this mission. This issue is a long-standing problem that happens so often, I fear that military families have adapted to tolerating it—when together our community can create change. The second part of my mission includes advocacy through policy work in which I call for creative therapies to be covered under military insurance (something that is currently only covered at outpatient/inpatient facilities) and for the federal government to ensure that military insurance directories and information is up to date.

As an artist, when you sell an original work of art or any work of art for that matter, an internal happy dance of validation happens. For me, it is so much deeper than that. As a military spouse who experiences chronic mental health symptoms, I have devoted my life to establishing a creative therapy program for the military community.

With military mental health statistics on the rise and a very real stigma amongst the ranks, it’s time to get creative.

The goal of my art business is not just to sell artwork; it is to use the proceeds to make creative therapies—which have been proven to help those who experience specific military related mental health symptoms—accessible and available to the military community. When you purchase something from me, you support that mission.

I am establishing an all-inclusive, creative therapy program for active-duty military, veterans and their families--as mental health symptoms know no age, gender, or race. It is not enough to recognize the sobering statistics and stigma; it is time to adapt and provide more options and adequate mental health care to our nation’s military community.