PLEASE SIGN this petition so that we can offer mindfulness classes free of charge to Maryland Veterans. We need to show broad support for the concept! Your support could save a life!!!

Look, American Veterans face enormous pressure after their military service.

We lose about 20 Veterans a day which is 52% higher than non-veterans. Here in Maryland over 400 Veterans take their lives each year. If you could help stop it, would you?

Fortunately, a number of studies have shown that mindfulness practice helps both health professionals to experience less burnout and greater empathy for client situations (Krasner et al., 2009), and the Veterans themselves.

"Mindfulness appears to offer promise for those people contemplating suicide as a method to end their suffering....encouraging preliminary evidence suggests that therapists can foster mindfulness in a relatively brief period of time and that mindfulness can affect a variety of processes thought to contribute to suicidal behavior. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3383812/#R33

Under the policy articulated by the Department of Veterans Affairs National Strategy for Preventing Veteran Suicide. Washington, DC. Available at https://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/suicide_prevention/docs/Office-of-Mental-Health-and-Suicide-Prevention-National-Strategy-for-Preventing-Veterans-Suicide.pdf. (2018); which calls for both community based and clinical application of nonpharmacological/ behaviorally based interventions such as mindfulness to have "broad dissemination;" I offer this class to educate using a combination of artforms to help support this mission.

By acquiring the skills for guided meditation which include emotion regulation, interpersonal effectiveness, and distress tolerance through the experience of learning simple songs, stories, and traditions, we can provide effective and immediate positive distraction procedures.

These are things artists have known and provided throughout the ages, and we are introducing them to Maryland's Veterans through this grant which is the first of its kind from the Maryland State Arts Council.

It is an all-day class for up to 25 Veterans, but it needs your cooperation.

Can you please sign this petition so that the class might be offered online?

"We appreciate the sacrifices made by our Veterans throughout all the ages and this is an opportunity for all of us to reciprocate.”

https://msac.org/programs/arts-education/arts-education-grant

The Arts in Education Grant provides matching funds to eligible Maryland-based nonprofit organizations, government entities, and community settings to support educational engagements led by Teaching Artists on MSAC’s Teaching Artist Roster.

It is hoped that you will support this endeavor, by providing your approval to offer this class on behalf of all those, but particularly those who are suffering right now who were willing to give their lives so that we could enjoy the freedoms and lifestyle that we have thus far. Families, workers and providers benefit most profoundly, so I am asking your cooperation on their behalf as well.