- There is something about music that connects in ways words cannot.

For those who have served in the military and on the front lines of our communities, healing does not always follow a familiar rhythm.

Music Healing Veterans Canada is creating a place where healing and music meet one song at a time.

- My elevator pitch line is that we are a therapy group with a music problem.

And our target audience is those who have spent a career going in harm's way.

And from that, you know, obviously in any of those careers there's all kinds of life events and music is a healing power.

So for us, it's about using the vehicle of music as a healing power to bring folks together.

You know, there's folks who've not able to maybe leave the house and now two years later they're rocking out on stage, you know, because we're doing a gig somewhere.

And it's beautiful to see.

- After years of service, adjusting to a different pace of life can take time, and the camaraderie that once came so naturally can be hard to replace.

But inside this room, that bond is rekindled in song.

- We've had three or four of our members this year have gone through really hard times, really hard, both physical and mental times, life challenges, whatever.

And the group's been there for them.

You know, either it's even with music encouragement, reaching out, someone checking on them.

Yeah.

So it really replicates, I think, all of those professions that we talked about.

They all have that sense of camaraderie, whether it's military, law enforcement, medical, whatever it is.

There's always that sense of camaraderie.

And I think when you leave that, sometimes that's the thing you miss the most.

And this is one of those groups.

I mean, we all have kind of different professional backgrounds, but we're all interested in music and that brings us together here and we all kind of have an understanding of what it was like to you know, to do interesting and challenging things as a, as a profession.

And now it's time to just do a little soul caring.

- After years spent caring for others, this becomes a time for something else, a time for themselves, a time to gather, and to let the music do the talking.

- We don't come and sit here and we don't talk about our issues up there.

We play music, but those kind of conversations happen more like outside of the group than in the jam.

There we're just singing and laughing and I always say it's great to hang out because you just, sometimes you just come in here and you just have a good belly laugh.

It's just a really nice place to be.

- Each week, they find their way here.

Different paths brought them, but the experience they share bring them together.

And whether the notes are perfect or not, the music is theirs.

- Every Wednesday night is our therapy group meeting with a music problem we get together.

You know, if people want to work on a new song, if we have people who maybe are at a lower level learning guitar, we might take them aside and, you know, get them to just do some courting stuff.

But if everybody's kind of on the same level, then we just go around the circle and it's everybody's turn to pick a, pick a song and, and whether we like it or not, we'll jam through it.

So sometimes we'll murder it and eventually we'll, we'll work it to a place where someone might actually recognize it.

- Sometimes it starts with something familiar, a song remembered, a moment shared.

After years in careers where everything moved fast, this is a place where they can slow down, reconnect, and simply enjoy being together.

- Our goal is, is to put it out there to say if, you know, if you're a veteran of, of one of these fields and you need a place to go, you don't have to be musically inclined.

It's a place to, you know, come and hang out to.

And, you know, you're at that kind of age where a lot of you are getting into empty nesting, you've maybe finished a, a very busy, demanding career and you're like, "Okay, what do I do now?"

There's that, "How do I go from 100 to 0?"

And that, that's actually very challenging mentally and physically for people that have, you know, done those careers and they do need something to transition to and to kind of, you know, put effort into.

- I had retired from the military.

I enjoy music quite a bit.

And you know, you're just looking for something to do, especially in the kind of fall, winter.

Really what I get is the, is the camaraderie, the fun, the friendships.

It's a very welcoming environment.

You know, there's different experiences to talk about, so it's really fun hearing about other people's experiences when we get going a little bit like corrections or whatever it may be, right?

- In a space built on welcome and shared experience, something deeper happens.

Music becomes more than something they play.

It becomes a way to grow and to heal.

- Obviously, there's a bunch of people that are not interested in music, so we cater to those folks who are where maybe they don't have any other tools where music can be the tool for them to heal, to have whatever life is normal after, you know, these careers.

- Definitely I've improved as a musician, guitar player, singing slightly and just the ability to play with other musicians as well.

And you know, you always hope that you're giving something back to everyone else too, so.

- There's not one person in this group that I wouldn't say that, you know, I wouldn't reach out or give them a hand if need be because they're all great people.

Being a part of this group has brought a lot of joy back into my life through my love for music.

So that's one of the things that's really special about this group is that I'm able to find that joy again.

- Through their shared love of music, they are not only rediscovering a part of themselves, they lift one another and move forward in harmony.

- Really about as, as being helpful as we can.

I mean, the truth is there's so many people from these professions that have, they probably feel abandoned or maybe no place to go and hey, you can come here.

- For WPBS Weekly, I'm Gail Paquette.